Men's Tennis

Jan. 30, 2008

Results

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Michigan State men's tennis team traveled to South Bend, Ind., on Wednesday to compete against No. 11 Notre Dame. MSU took the first point of the match in doubles, but the Irish were too much for the Spartans in singles, and escaped with a narrow 4-3 victory.

Michigan State got off to a great start against the Irish, coming out and taking the doubles point at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. No. 1 Nick Rinks and Adam Monich, ranked fourth in the region, took out Sheeva Parbhu and Brett Helgeson, 8-4, while at No. 2, MSU's Alex Forger and Billy Gardner defeated Andrew Roth and Stephen Havens, 8-5.

In singles action, the Irish made up for their doubles loss, as they would take four of six matches from the Spartans. At No. 1 singles, Rinks played arguably his toughest matchup of the season, taking on Notre Dame's Parbhu, who is fresh off defeating the No. 3 ranked player in the nation, Virginia's Dominic Inglot. Rinks came out aggresively and took the first set, 6-4, but Parbhu would answer in the second frame, winning 6-0. Rinks rebounded in the the third set, however, as he defeated Parbhu, 6-2, and is now a perfect 7-0 on the season in dual-match play. At No. 4 singles, MSU's Monich also extended his perfect record on the season, as he downed Stephen Havens in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, and now sits at 6-0 in dual-match play. At No. 3 singles, MSU's John Allare came out on a fire, beating Andrew Roth in the first set 6-0, but Roth would pick up the pace after his first set defeat, as he took out Allare in three frames, 0-6, 6-3, 6-3.

"We played a great match this afternoon; I'm really proud of the guys," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "We came out with a lot of intensity today, and we battled hard. It was big to get the first point of the match in doubles, because that's something we were unable to do last weekend. Notre Dame is a great team, and we played them tough. It always feels better to pick up the win, but I can't fault the guys for the effort today, because they gave it their best."

MSU returns home this weekend, as it plays host to Toledo at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2. The Spartans continue play in the afternoon, as they will entertain IUPUI at 4 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility in East Lansing.

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