March 12, 2008

Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis team fell to No. 10 Michigan, 5-2, on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor. The Spartans are now 11-6 (0-3 Big Ten), as Michigan improves to 10-2 in dual-match play this season, and 2-0 in Big Ten play.

The Spartans came out looking strong as they took the early 1-0 lead over the Wolverines, winning two out of three matches in doubles. Nick Rinks and Adam Monich improved their undefeated doubles record to 11-0 on the season, defeating No. 24 Michigan's Matko Maravic and George Navas, 8-4. Alex Forger and Billy Gardner secured the doubles point for the Spartans, as they picked up a big win at No. 2, defeating the No. 7 ranked duo in the country, Michigan's Jason Jung and Mike Sroczynski, 9-7.

The Wolverines dominated the singles competition, however, sweeping MSU in flights 2-6. At No. 1, MSU's Rinks extended his record to 13-2 on the season, as he took out Sroczynski in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6. At No. 4, Monich lost his matchup for only the third time this season, as he fell to Michigan's Mazlin, 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8).

"Tonight we had another battle," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "I thought we competed hard and played with a lot of energy tonight, but unfortunately we just couldn't pull out the win. We got off to a great start with our doubles play and we had a lot of momentum going into the singles competition, but we lost five first sets in singles, and it's tough to recover from that. I'm proud of the doubles though tonight. It was another great win for Adam (Monich) and Nick (Rinks), and I was really impressed with Alex (Forger) and Billy (Gardner) pulling off the upset against the No. 7 doubles team in the nation."

Michigan State resumes competition on March 29 as it hosts its first Big Ten match of the season against Indiana. Play is set to begin at 12 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing.

COMPLETE RESULTS
Michigan vs. Michigan State
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Singles
1. No. 106 Nick Rinks (MSU) def. Mike Sroczynski (MICH), 6-4, 7-6
2. No. 52 Matko Maravic (MICH) def. Alex Forger (MSU), 6-2, 6-3
3. Jason Jung (MICH) def. John Allare (MSU), 6-3, 6-3
4. Andrew Mazlin (MICH) def. Adam Monich (MSU), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (10-8)
5. George Navas (MICH) def. Scott Rasmussen (MSU), 6-1, 6-2
6. Chris Madden (MICH) def. John Stratton (MSU), 6-1, 6-1

Doubles
1. No. 19 Rinks/Monich (MSU) def. No. 24 Maravic/Navas (MICH), 8-4
2. Forger/Gardner (MSU) def. No. 7 Jung/Srocsynski (MICH), 9-7
3. Mazlin/Madden (MICH) def. Allare/Sauerbrey (MSU), 8-3