April 4, 2008

Results

MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 70 Michigan State men's tennis team was upset by Minnesota, 6-1, on Friday night at the Baseline Tennis Center. The Spartans are now 11-9 (0-6 Big Ten), while Minnesota improves to 3-14 (1-4 Big Ten).

The match began outside, but was interrupted halfway through the singles competition by passing showers. Following a 40-minute delay the match was moved indoors.

The Spartans came out looking strong as they took the early 1-0 lead over Minnesota, winning two out of three matches in a very close doubles competition. At No. 3 Nick Rinks and Tyler Sauerbrey finished off Raoul Schwark and Derek Peterson, 8-6, while Adam Monich and John Allare took out Tobias Wernet and Chi Pham, 9-7, at No. 2.

The Gophers controlled singles play, however, taking out the Spartan in all six flights. MSU's No. 1 Rinks was the first to fall, as he was defeated by Schwark, 6-1, 6-2. MSU's Forger lost to Wernet at No. 2, 6-1, 6-3, while John Stratton was dropped by Pierre Dumas at No. 6, 6-1, 6-1. The Spartans looked to be making a comeback after moving the competition inside, winning second sets in flights 3-5. But the Gophers quickly shut the opportunity door in the third sets, as MSU's No. 3 Allare lost to Bilankov, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. At No. 4, MSU's Monich was defeated by Sabastian Gallego, 6-2, 6-7 (7-2), 7-5, while Clark Richardson was beaten by Pham, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.

"I knew this was going to be a tough matchup for us if we were going to play outside," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "We came out tough in doubles though, and we looked to be gaining some momentum. But they really took it to us in singles play. After we moved inside, I really thought we turned the match around, but momentum seemed to shift their way in the third sets and we just couldn't rebound from that."

Michigan State travels to Iowa City, Iowa, for the second match of the weekend as it takes on the No. 52 Hawkeyes on Sunday at 11 a.m.