April 20, 2008

Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State men's tennis team fell to No. 34 Wisconsin, 7-0, in the team's regular-season finale at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans struggled from the start as Wisconsin swept the doubles competition. MSU fought hard in singles, but the Badgers were too much down the stretch, pulling off victories at all six positions. Junior Scott Rasmussen took his singles match into a super tiebreaker for the third set at No. 5, but came up short in the end, as he lost to Felipe Bellido, 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6).

Wisconsin came out swinging, as it swept the Spartans in doubles, taking the 1-0 lead. Playing in their first match of the year together at No. 1, MSU's John Allare and Adam Monich fell to Nolan Polley and Moritz Baumann, 8-4. At No. 2, Wisconsin's Luke Rassow-Kantor and Michael Dierberger took out Alex Forger and Billy Gardner, 8-2, while Nick Rinks and John Stratton lost a close one at No. 3 to UW's Jeremy Sonkin and Marek Michalicka in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-5).

In singles action, MSU came out battling, but Wisconsin made the shots down the stretch, sweeping the Spartans in all flights. Allare played a tight first set against Michalicka, but eventually fell 7-5. Michalicka would cruise from there, taking out the Spartan junior in the second set, 6-2.

In their last regular-season matches in the Green and White, senior Rinks fell to No. 55 Baumann, while senior Monich was beaten by Sonkin at No. 4, 6-2, 6-1.

"This was a tough team that we played today," said MSU head coach Gene Orlando. "They'll finish right up there in the Big Ten and they came at us today. But we've got to put this one behind us now and just concentrate on the Big Ten Championships. I'm really proud of our seniors for the leadership they showed here on senior weekend. Rinks and Monich both had great careers at Michigan State and they've done a lot for this program."