Senior Alex Froger goes to return the ball to Tariq Ismail of Youngstown State during the one singles match at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility on Saturday. The Spartans earned a win a against the Penguins.
The MSU men’s tennis team continued its early success in the 2009 season, winning a doubleheader Saturday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility.
The Spartans earned the sweep by defeating Cleveland State 5-2 in the morning and Youngstown State in the nightcap 7-0.
“Any time you get two victories, it’s nice,” MSU head coach Gene Orlando said. “We were challenged this morning. The second match, we were the better team and able to take care of the match early.”
The Spartans marked their territory after taking all three doubles matches against Youngstown State to begin the match.
Junior Jason Norville and senior John Allare quickly beat Steve D’Angelo and Robert Emig 8-1.
Shortly after, MSU sophomore Clark Richardson and freshman Ronnie Hulewicz mimicked the score against Patrick Hamning and Christopher Leson.
The Spartans steadily took the singles, but senior Scott Rasmussen and Youngstown State’s Tariq Ismail battled longer than the others.
Rasmussen was slightly behind in the beginning, but mustered up energy and defeated his opponent 7-5, 6-3.
Orlando said he reminded Rasmussen that he is a senior and an example for the rest of the team, and Rasmussen pulled it together.
“I tried to keep a lot of energy my first and second match,” Rasmussen said. “I stuck to my game plan and did what I know I do best. And at the end of the day, I think I executed it.”
Sophomore John Stratton swiftly took his match against Leson with a 6-0, 6-0 win.
“I felt good about it. I feel that these beginning matches are important for the season and help establish a presence at home,” said senior Alex Forger, who defeated Michael Kathary in No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-1.
The players said the team had no problem showing its camaraderie during the game, often rooting for one another while playing their own match.
“We have a really close-knit team,” Stratton said. “We are working hard and enjoying ourselves.”
To prepare for Big Ten play, Orlando said the team is playing doubleheaders to build stamina.
“It is more demanding and gets us in playing shape,” he said.
The Spartans will play four double-headers this season, and next weekend’s will be the third consecutive weekend in which MSU will face off against two opponents in the same day.
“Our schedule will continue to get stronger and stronger and that is going to help us before (Big Ten play), which is still two months away. Each match is going to make us stronger,” Stratton said.
MSU will continue with nonconference play through February before opening the conference schedule on March 20.
The team is riding a wave of confidence and remains positive going into next weekend’s matches against Western Illinois and Valparaiso.
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“We’re working hard at practice,” Stratton said. “As long as we play our games and work hard this week, we should play well this weekend.”
