After a less than ideal start to the season, back-to-back wins in Saturday’s doubleheader has gotten the No. 59-ranked men’s tennis team back on track.
The team dropped three of its first four matches, losing to No. 11-ranked Duke 7-0 to open the season. The Spartans then lost to No. 31-ranked North Carolina State 4-1.
MSU got its first win of the season against North Carolina Agricultural and Technical 7-0, but the team dropped its next match to No. 7-ranked Georgia 4-1. They then bounced back to defeat No. 64-ranked Elon University 4-0.
The Spartans played four ranked opponents through five games, going 2-3 in the process. With a 2-3 record, MSU needed a good showing in Saturday’s doubleheader against two unranked teams in Toledo and Detroit. The Spartans did just that, cruising to 7-0 victories in both matches.
Freshman Jasper Koenen was happy with his performance Saturday, having won both of his doubles and both of his singles matches.
"(It) was a really great day ... I was really happy with the way I’ve been practicing all week,” Koenen said. “Getting ready for a doubleheader ... is always tough, two matches (is a) long day, but I was really happy with the way I played. I took care of business in both matches. In doubles, Doug (Zade) and I played really solid, winning pretty handily in both matches 6-1 and 6-0.”
No. 76-ranked singles player senior Gijs Linders said he believes that with a good week of practice, the team will be ready for the doubleheader coming next Saturday against Ball State and Eastern Illinois.
“We will look back at our matches and reflect on what we could have done better and on Monday we’ll have a lift and a practice in which we address those low points,” Linders said. “Tuesday until Friday we’ll hit the courts hard. We will play a lot of tennis, we’ll grind and then we’ll be ready for Ball State (and Eastern Illinois) on Saturday.”
Head coach Gene Orlando said he won’t look past the upcoming opponents, despite being favored.
“Ball State always plays us tough. It’s never easy on the road,” Orlando said. “I think that we will be ready, but they’re going to come at us and we have to answer the call.We can’t allow a good team to gain confidence during a match, and if we get off to a good start, we can take them out of the match early,” he said.
