Michigan State falls in tough battle on the road in east coast clash at Cornell
Ithaca, N.Y. – Michigan State men's tennis fell on its final road trip of February to No. 27 Cornell.
Before heading out to New York, the Spartans slid in the weekly ITA team rankings, now at No. 33.
Junior Ozan Baris moved up from his long-standing rank of No. 8 to No. 6, his highest ITA ranking. Redshirt-sophomore Aristotelis Thanos moved back to his prior ranking, No. 27. Freshman Matthew Forbes moved up to No. 60, while senior Max Sheldon was the final Spartan in the ranking at No. 74.
Baris/Thanos was the only doubles pairing ranked for the team at No. 52.
Two familiar pairings hit the courts for the Spartans with sophomore Taym Alazmeh/freshman Danial Rahmatuallyev at the number one doubles spot and the Sheldon brother duo, Max and freshman Mitchell Sheldon, at spot number three. Thanos/Forbes were the newest pairing for the Spartans at number two doubles.
Alazmeh/Rakhmatullayev took on Kholsa/Verdes from Cornell. The duo fought hard but fell, 6-2.
On the next court over, Thanos/Forbes went up against Papoe/Sinha from Cornell.
The Sheldon pairing had a tough back-and-forth match, but went unfinished with the double point in favor of Cornell.
With singles matches starting, the Spartans knew that they had to fight back to earn the team win.
Alazmeh went up against Rodrigo Fernandes from Cornell. The pair fought hard against each other but Alazmeh fell to Fernandes, 4-6, 3-6.
At the No. 1 spot, Thanos took on Radu Papoe of Cornell. Thanos made quick work of Papoe, 6-3, 6-4, earning the Spartans their first point of the match.
Ma. Sheldon tied up the score for the Spartans with his tough victory against Adit Sinha, with Ma. Sheldon rallying for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 win.
With the score tied up 2-2, Rakhmatullayev continued his match trying to earn another point for the Spartans to put the team up. Rakhmatullayev fell to Nathan Mao, 6-1, 4-6, 4-6.
Freshman Vuk Radjenovic looked to help the Spartans earn the victory with his match against Felipe Pinzon. A tough match between the pairing earned Cornell another point.
Forbes had a tough match against Jack McCarthy from Cornell. The duo fought back and forth, but Cornell earned the point and the match victory with a win against Forbes, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5).
After playing on the road for their last six matches, the Spartans are back home for their Big Ten Conference opener against Washington on Friday March 7 at 5 p.m.
Results
No. 27 Cornell 4 (8-3), No. 33 Michigan State 3 (4-5)
Doubles
- Rushil Khosla/Eric Verdes (Cornell) defeated Taym Alazmeh/Danial Rakhmatullayev (Michigan State), 6-2
- Radu Papoe/Nathan Mao (Cornell) defeated Matthew Forbes/Aristotelis Thanos (Michigan State), 6-4
- #85 Adit Sinha/Jack McCarthy (Cornell) vs. Max Sheldon/Mitchell Sheldon (Michigan State), DNF
- #27 Aristotelis Thanos (Michigan State) def. #40 Radu Papoe (Cornell), 6-3, 6-4
- #74 Max Sheldon (Michigan State) def. Adit Sinha (Cornell), 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
- Jack McCarthy (Cornell) def. #60 Matthew Forbes (Michigan State), 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5)
- Rodrigo Fernandes (Cornell) def. Taym Alazmeh (Michigan State), 6-4, 6-3
- Vuk Radjenovic (Michigan State) def. Felipe Pinzon (Cornell), 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0
- Nathan Mao (Cornell) def. Danial Rakhmatullayev (Michigan State), 1-6, 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,1,2,6,5,3)
Recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
