The No. 60 men's tennis team was defeated by the No. 22 Memphis Tigers 5-2 Thursday evening on the Spartans home court.
"The guys gave everything they had, it was a great start winning the doubles point, we had some momentum going in (to singles) give Memphis a lot of credit they are No. 22 in the country," head coach Gene Orlando said.
The match started with a very competitive set of doubles matches. All three doubles matches were close but the MSU teams of No. 109 senior Gijs Linders and sophomore Brett Forman along with senior Doug Zade and freshman Jasper Koenen both won their matches within seconds of each other both by a score of 6-4. The wins gave MSU the point in doubles and a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
In the first completed singles match of the evening, MSU freshman Michael Dube was defeated in straight sets by Memphis freshman Kai Lemke both by a score of 6-3. The win for the Tigers tied things maing it 1-1.
The Spartans would reclaim the lead shortly after when Forman defeated sophomore Patrick Mayer in straight sets by a score of 6-4 in the first and 6-2 in the second.
Memphis came back strong winning in the next two completed singles. Linders was defeated by No. 102 Tigers senior Connor Glennon in straight sets 6-0 in the first one and then a heartbreaking 7-6 loss. The next completed match was also a loss for the Spartans as Koenen was defeated by freshman Shakeel Manji.
The next match came down to the wire as MSU junior John Patrick Mullane squared off against No. 40 freshman Andrew Watson. Watson took the first set 6-3, while Mullane took the second 6-4. Watson took the third and final set with a score of 6-4, giving Memphis a 4-2 lead and securing the win for the Tigers.
They continued the final match despite the result already being determined. No. 100 senior Harry Jadun dropped the first set to Tigers freshman Ryan Peniston 6-7 and then took the second set by a score of 7-6. The two finished their match with a superset to speed things along, and Peniston took the third set giving the Tigers a 5-2 win.
"We were right there and we just weren't able to win the big points at the right time," Orlando said. "I told the guys in the locker-room that they gave their best effort and they gave everything they have and they shouldn't feel bad, obviously it hurts because you gave everything but if we continue to play like we played today we're going to be a tough team to beat."
MSU will have to forget the result and move on quickly as the team travels to Kalamazoo to take on Western Michigan on Saturday.
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