Michigan State Pushes No. 65 Purdue in 4-1 Loss
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State women's tennis team pushed visiting No. 65-ranked Purdue to the limits, but came up short losing, 4-1, Saturday afternoon inside the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.The Boilmakers (10-6, 3-3 B1G) opened the dual taking the doubles point on courts two and one. Finishing on court two, Purdue would control its way to a 6-2 victory.
On court one, the Boilmakers would secure the doubles point with a 6-3 comeback victory. The Spartan sophomore pairing of Matilde Morais and Issey Purser partnered for the second time this season. The young duo was in a back-and-forth match with Carmen Gallardo Gueva and Tara Katarina Milic, leading 3-2. The Purdue tandem would catch steam and rattle off four-straight games to take an early 1-0 lead heading into singles action.
Michigan State (9-10, 0-5 B1G) didn't make it easy for the Boilmakers with all six singles matches being in tight battles, with three courts (2,4 and 6) all going into a third set.
The Spartans their lone point of the dual on court five with a gritty performance by graduate Nicole Conard. The Boca Raton, Florida, native defeated Tara Katrina Milic in straight 7-6 [7-4, 8-4] sets in a tightly contested bout.
Junior Liisa Vehvilainen was eyeing in on a victory in her matchup against Kennedy Gibbs. In a match that was in its third set, Vehvilainen was pushing the pace on the final set leading, 5-0, before the match went unfinished.
Purdue would take courts one and four in straight sets, then iced the dual on court six in three sets.
Michigan State will have a quick turnaround as it completes its B1G homestand facing Indiana on Sunday, March 30th. First serve is set for 11 am inside the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
Saturday recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
Spartans Get First B1G Victory Over Indiana, 4-0
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Fueled by an electric doubles point, the Michigan State women's tennis team blanked visiting Indiana, 4-0, inside the MSU Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.Back in the win column, MSU improved to 10-10 overall and earned its first B1G victory of the season, sitting at 1-5. The Hoosiers fall to 6-14 overall and 0-6 in conference play.
The dual started off with strong doubles play for the Spartans taking the doubles point, winning courts two and three.
Sophomore Marley Lambert and junior Liisa Vehvilainen teamed up for the third time this season on court two. The pairing knocked off Saby Nihalani and Li Hsin Lin in a back and-forth match, the Indiana doubles would pull within one after being down 5-2 but wasn't enough as the Spartans took court two, 6-4.
Shortly after on court three, freshman Ria Bhakta and graduate Nicole Conard would lock the doubles point for Michigan State, defeating Elizabeth Dunac Sarah L'allier, 6-4.
On court one, sophomores Matilde Morais and Issey Purser were down, 5-1, before they captured the momentum and began rallying back to tie the bout, 5-5, before going unfinished.
The energy carried over to the main court for Morais with a 6-3, 6-2 straight set sweep over Nicole Teodosecu.
Vehvilainen continued the scoring for the Green and White, the Turku, Finland, native cruised over Dunac, 6-1, in the first set. In the second set, Vehvilainen was pushed in a tight battle but held off the Hoosier to win in straight sets, 6-4, to extend the Spartans lead, 3-0.
The clinching moment came on court six with freshman Natalie Stasny going toe-to-toe with Magda Swierczynska. After losing in the first set, Stasny rebounded and won the next two sets in commanding fashion 6-3, 6-1.
Michigan State will be back in action next weekend as it hosts in-state rival and B1G foe No. 2 Michigan on Saturday, April 6. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m.
POSTMATCH QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH KIM BRUNO
On the energy shift when Morais and Purser rally back from a 5-1 deficit…
That was key. When you're down, you begin to have two courts who think they have to win to secure the doubles point. Then all of a sudden, we're in all of them. You felt the energy across all three courts. It boosted them to give them a piece of mind and say, 'we're all in this. Let's go.' The crowd felt that, then they got louder and cheering. That was fun.
On what they talked about after securing the doubles point…
We just needed to continue that momentum into our single matches. We were down in a couple of matches but were never out in any of them. They were able to turn the first sets around and battle back.
On getting the first Big Ten victory…
This has been a long time coming, we been in way too many matches to let them slip, so I'm really proud of the girls. They came back from a tough weekend last weekend, they put themselves in a position to win yesterday against Purdue. I thought that performance was much better from the weekend before. All those things added up for us to win today. I'm proud of everyone, it was a full team performance.
On how to carry this momentum into their match against Michigan…
The Big Ten season didn't start off how we wanted to start it; we had a few bumps in the road getting here. This is what we needed to give the girls a belief that they can win against any team. Just got to keep it rolling forward.
THE RESULTS
Singles competition
1. Matilde Morais (MSUW) def. Nicole Teodosescu (IND) 6-3, 6-2
2. Liisa Vehvilainen (MSUW) def. Elisabeth Dunac (IND) 6-1, 6-4
3. Ria Bhakta (MSUW) vs. Saby Nihalani (IND) 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
4. Issey Purser (MSUW) vs. Li Hsin Lin (IND) 2-6, 6-4, 2-5, unfinished
5. Nicole Conard (MSUW) vs. Lene Mari Hovda (IND) 4-6, 6-4, 0-1, unfinished
6. Natalie Stasny (MSUW) def. Magda Swierczynska (IND) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Matilde Morais/Issey Purser (MSUW) vs. Nicole Teodosescu/Lene Mari Hovda (IND) 5-5, unfinished
2. Liisa Vehvilainen/Marley Lambert (MSUW) def. Saby Nihalani/Li Hsin Lin (IND) 6-4
3. Nicole Conard/Ria Bhakta (MSUW) def. Elisabeth Dunac/Sarah L'allier (IND) 6-4
Match Notes: Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (1,2,6)
Sunday recap courtesy of MSU Athletics.
