“We lost a heartbreaker in the doubles and got off to some pretty good starts in singles,” MSU head coach Gene Orlando said. “But once things went the other way we weren’t strong enough mentally to close it out.”

Freshman Ronnie Hulewicz started his match off strong, with a 6-1 set against Penn State’s Guillaume St-Maurice. St-Maurice rallied in the second set but still fell to Hulewicz 7-6.

“Overall I played pretty well,” Hulewicz said. “I did let the other person get back in it when I had a chance to close it out, but I guess hopefully I can learn from this.”

At No. 1 singles, senior John Allare’s match against No. 1 Penn State’s Adam Slagter proved to be tougher. Allare’s first set was close, with a tiebreaker ultimately going in Slagter’s favor, 7-6. Slagter clinched the match with a 6-1 set after a long rally.

“In the first set my chances led to chances and he was real competitive,” Allare said. “When he gets hot it’s hard to play him, he’s a decent sportsman, he plays really hard.”

At No. 2 singles, Forger faced tough competition against Penn State’s No. 2 Brendan Lynch. The three-set match saw Forger starting off strong with a 6-4 win and then falling hard with a 6-1 loss in the second set. Forger fought hard in a tough third set but was unable to defeat Lynch with a 6-4 loss for the Spartans.

“My level of play varied a lot from set to set,” Forger said. “I played pretty well in the first set, badly in the second set and I played both good and bad in the third set but not well enough to win.”

Despite the loss, MSU is looking forward to Wednesday’s match against Michigan.

“We’ve just got to keep on working and staying positive and get Michigan on Wednesday,” Orlando said.