Feb. 16, 2008

Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team played host to No. 65 Western Michigan at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing on Saturday night. The matches were very highly contested between both teams, going back and forth all night. The Broncos scored first as they won the important doubles point, which tonight, proved to be the difference in the match. Western Michigan then went on to win three singles flights, defeating the Spartans, 4-3.

The Broncos came out tough from the start against MSU sweeping all three doubles flights, 8-6, 8-5, 8-5. At No. 1, MSU's Christine Bader and Stephanie Kebler fell to Kerstin Pahl and Priyanka Parekh, 8-6, while Lindsey Lonergan and Manon Noe, who were undefeated together in doubles before today, lost to Western Michigan's Ashley Moccia and Noriko Saruta, 8-5, at No. 2.

In singles action, the Spartans fought back as MSU's No. 5 Milosavljevic rolled past Ashley Moccia 6-0, 6-2. Lonergan soon followed, downing the Bronco's Amanda Moccia, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 4, giving the Spartans a 2-1 lead. WMU picked up its first singles win of the night as MSU's Bader fell at No. 1 to Kerstin Paul, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4. After three and a half hours of competition the last three matches all ended within two minutes of each other, as MSU freshman Ally Wickman dropped a heartbreaker to Emily Dudzik at No. 6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, and No. 3 Kebler lost to Noriko Saruta, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, clinching the match for Western Michigan. In the last match of the night MSU's Noe pulled out a close match at No. 2, defeating Priyanka Parekah, 6-4, 7-5, but it was too late for the Spartans, as the Broncos walked away with a 4-3 victory.

"Obviously this was a hard one to lose," said MSU head Coach Erica Perkins. "The doubles was disappointing as we did not execute, and Western Michigan did a very good job of putting an extra ball in play. I was very happy with how we came out in the singles. Across the board we fought hard and had fantastic energy, and that translated into winning first sets on five of six courts. We put ourselves in position for a big win today, but at the end, came up short. We've got to continue to focus on putting balls in the court on big points. Losses like this are always tough to take, but these players are resilient, and I think we definitely learned some lessons about competition tonight."

Michigan State returns to action next weekend as it goes back on the road for a two-day doubleheader in Bristol, Tenn. The Spartans will face off against Charlotte on Saturday, Feb. 23, then match up against East Tennessee State on Sunday, Feb. 24.