The No. 60 men’s tennis team (7-6 overall) will need to think hard about what held them back this weekend. The team began its weekend of play with a 5-2 loss to No. 22 Memphis, and despite a very close contest the men couldn’t win the big points and dropped most of the singles matches.
Fast forward to Saturday and the men’s team was looking to rebound against Western Michigan. The result came down to the last singles match, and in a 3-3 tie the Spartans watched the Broncos take the last singles match of the night en route to a 4-3 win for Western.
“We lost a tough match (to Western Michigan). It came down to the last match on the court and we lost 4-3, (we) won the doubles point and weren’t able to get three singles matches,” head coach Gene Orlando said. “We just weren’t able to win the big points at the right time and give credit to Western. They played well.”
This is the second consecutive match in which the Spartans started off strong with a win in doubles but the team could not split their singles matches. The team couldn’t quite capitalize off of the momentum built from earning the first point of the night.
Going into the weekend, the team was 6-1 in it’s last seven games when it opened the match winning doubles. The only loss came on the road to Louisville on Feb. 14. Now, however, MSU is 6-3 even after winning the doubles point after dropping both games and opening the matches with a win in doubles.
According to Orlando, a common theme of the weekend was the team dropping big points or when the set is close the team can’t quite win the set despite being very competitive.
“(We need to improve on) playing the big points better. That’s what I would say, (we have to) keep on playing our game, being aggressive and going for our shots in the big moments,” Orlando said.
Orlando believes the team fought hard against WMU but the Broncos came into the match giving their everything and laying it all on the line to upset the Spartans and MSU could not match that intensity.
“The Western Michigan match was more of a trap-match. Obviously we played it put hard against Memphis and we talked about it beforehand that we had to be ready (for WMU),” Orlando said. “Not that we weren’t but we’re going to get the best from Western every time we play them, and they’re a very talented team and we just couldn’t match that same energy where you give it your all.”
The team will shift its attention to next Saturday when it takes on Dartmouth and Youngstown State in a double-header. Orlando believes his team may have fallen short this weekend but they will be better for it in future matches.
“What does it mean for us in the future? I think it means we were challenged, we were roughed up and it’s only going to make us tougher,” Orlando said.
