March 18, 2009

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State men’s tennis team will travel to Iowa to take on the Hawkeyes this Friday, March 20 with play beginning at 2 p.m. in the first Big Ten match of the season for the Spartans. MSU continues play in Minneapolis, Minn., with a match against the Gophers on Sunday, March 22 at noon.

Spartan Recap
Michigan State traveled to California last week, taking on three teams. The Spartans posted a 4-3 win against Santa Clara and then fell to Tulsa and California, 6-1, in both matches.

Freshman Ronnie Hulewicz improved to 13-1, picking up singles wins in all three matches. He picked up the only singles win for the Spartans against Cal and Tulsa. Senior Scott Rasmussen and junior Jason Norville picked up wins against Santa Clara in singles and the doubles teams of John Stratton and Austin Brooks, and Alex Forger and Rasmussen both picked up wins as well. Forger and Rasmussen later teamed together to defeat their Tulsa opponents at No. 3 doubles.

Freshman Sensations
Austin Brooks and Ronnie Hulewicz have started their freshmen year out strong and have established themselves as assets to the Spartan team.

Brooks currently stands at 8-5, playing mostly at No. 3 and 4 singles. He fell in a super tie breaking set against his Tulsa opponent while in California last week. His last singles win came against Illinois State, where he won 7-6 (8-4), 6-4. Last week he partnered with John Stratton to defeat Kyle Dandan and Tommy Hicks of Santa Clara at No. 2 doubles, 8-3.

Meanwhile, Hulewicz has tallied a 13-1 singles record playing at mainly No. 5 singles. His 13-1 ledger is the best record on the team thus far in dual play. Hulewicz’s picked up a singles win in all three matches in California and is riding an 11-match win streak. He was the only Spartan to pick up a win against No. 60 California and the only singles player to defeat his opponent of No. 29 Tulsa. He is 2-1 at No. 3 doubles, partnering with juniors Jason Norville and Brendan Kinkopf and sophomore John Stratton.

Senior Leadership
Seniors John Allare, Alex Forger and Scott Rasmussen have all posted strong records in the first part of this season. Ranked 22nd regionally, Allare has won nine of 14 singles matches, posting a 4-4 record at No. 1 and 5-1 at No. 2. Including fall play, Allare has compiled an impressive 19-8 tally. The doubles tandem of Allare and Norville has posted a 12-5 record overall, playing primarily at the No. 2 position.

Forger currently has a 7-5 record, going 2-3 at the No. 2 position and 5-2 at No. 1. Forger and partner Clark Richardson are 7-3 in doubles play, and Forger has an 8-3 record with freshman Ronnie Hulewicz. Most recently, he has played with Rasmussen to win three of the last four doubles matches, making the tandem 4-1. He is currently ranked regionally at No. 27 and including fall play, has compiled a 15-6 doubles record.

Rasmussen stands at 9-5 in dual season play with two wins coming at the No. 2, 3 and 4 positions. Three of his wins came at the No. 3 position, two at the No. 2 spot and the remaining four wins at the No. 4 spot. He has partnered with Forger and junior Brendan Kinkopf in doubles action to tally a record of 7-1, three wins coming with Kinkopf and four with Forger.

Filling the Lineup
Juniors Brendan Kinkopf and Jason Norville, and sophomores Clark Richardson and John Stratton have substantially contributed to the depth of the Spartan lineup.

Kinkopf is 4-0 at No. 6 singles, and 4-0 in doubles action partnering with Hulewicz and Rasmussen. Norville has tallied a 7-4 record primarily at the No. 4 and 5 singles positions, and stands at 12-5 with Allare in doubles play. Stratton is 4-1 at No. 6 and 3 singles positions, while Richardson has gone 3-0 at the No. 5 singles position and is 7-3 in doubles play with partners Alex Forger and Ronnie Hulewicz.

Spartan Quickfacts
The Spartans have taken the doubles point in 10 of their 15 matches this season. On the road, the team is 3-1, falling only to nationally-ranked Tulsa and California. At home, MSU is 9-1, with the only loss coming from No. 25 Notre Dame.

MSU is currently ranked 68th nationally, marking the second time this season the Spartans have been ranked. MSU was ranked 61st in the rankings a week prior. The Spartans began the 2007-08 season ranked at 67th, and finished the season 70th nationally.

The Iowa Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes are currently ranked 67th nationally and are coached by Steve Houghton and assistant coach Steve Nash. The doubles tandem of Christian Beirich and Nikita Zotov is ranked 55th in the nation. This match marks the 59th meeting between the Hawkeyes and the Spartans. Iowa leads the all-time series, 33-25. The two last met in 2007-08, with Iowa defeating MSU, 5-2. Currently, Iowa holds an 8-2 record in dual play.

The Minnesota Gophers
Coached by Geoff Young and assistant coach Urban Ljubic, the Gophers are nationally ranked 37th. The doubles team of Tobias Wernet and Michael Sicora is nationally ranked 77th while freshman Ishay Hadash is 62nd in singles action. Minnesota is 11-3 so far this season and will be meeting the Spartans for the 55th time. Minnesota leads the all time series, 39-16. The last time the two met was during the 2007-08 season with Minnesota picking up the win, 6-1.

Up Next
Big Ten play continues for the Spartans as they to travel to Evanston, Ill., to take on the Northwestern Sunday, March 28 with play beginning at 12 p.m.

MSU Men's Tennis

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