Feb. 20, 2008

Results

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MSU Head Coach Gene Orlando

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis team played host to No. 65 Western Michigan at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing on Wednesday night. The Spartans (9-3) looked determined in their eight-straight victory at home this year, downing the Broncos, 6-1. Seniors Nick Rinks and Adam Monich won their sixth doubles match of the season, as they stay undefeated at No. 1, and are now ranked 21st in the nation. Dating back to last season, the Spartan have won 10-straight matches at home.

MSU took the early advantage, winning two of three doubles flights and taking the first point of the match. In addition to the win at No. 1, John Allare and Tyler Sauerbrey took out Kazuya Komada and Michael Calderone, 8-6, at No. 3 doubles.

In singles action, Monich was the first on the board for the Spartans, downing Bryan Norville at No. 3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Allare picked up a win just seconds later at No. 4, finishing off Calderone, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5), giving MSU a 3-1 lead. Rinks soon sealed the win for the Spartans at No. 1, after fighting his way back from a first set loss. Western Michigan's Kevin Haywood pulled out the first set in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-4), but Rinks dominated from that point on, rolling through Haywood, 6-1, 6-3, in the second and third frames. Alex Forger also struggled out of the gate at No. 2, falling 6-3 in the first set against Alex Birchmeier. The two battled back and forth for the second set, but Forger prevailed, 6-4. The Spartan junior set it on cruise control from there, blanking Birchmeier in the last set, 6-0.

"I knew going in that this was a very talented team," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "Even after winning the doubles point, I just felt like we were going to have to do a little extra to pull out this win. Western Michigan came out hard in doubles. You know when Rinks loses a first set that we are in for a heck of a match. But we were able to pull out three first sets, and Rinks came back and closed it out in his second and third sets. Just like that match against Ball State, the final score in not a good indicator of how close the match was. We played hard and were fortunate to pull it out. It seems things are starting to go our way and hopefully we can keep it going."

Michigan State returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 23 as it plays host to Cornell at 12 p.m. and Green Bay at 5 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing.