Although they played hard, players were disappointed with the outcome of the evening. With four out of five matches ending a two-game favor of Ohio State, the pressure was put on senior Brett Forman who played in a tiebreaker against Ohio State’s JJ Wolf, ranked 43rd nationally. 

Forman, playing to the best of his abilities and with immense pressure, came up short with a score of 10-7 in the super tiebreaker. The three-game record for Forman and Wolf ended with 7-5, 4-6, 10-7. 

Heading into their match against Indiana, head coach Gene Orlando is still optimistic.

“I thought we competed well," Orlando said. "Obviously, they’re the No. 2 team in the country and I felt like we played right there with them. I felt like we played at a pretty high level and knowing that we’re not going to see a team that’s better than that if we continue to play at a high level, we’ll find ways to win.” 

Forman expressed similar sentiments after his close match.

“I felt pretty confident," Forman said. "We knew they were a good team, but we’ve had close matches with them in years past, so whatever ranking they had we weren’t going to come in afraid. We’re just going to try to play our game the best that we can."

In regards to a service line call that wasn’t ended up aiding Ohio State, Forman said it is just the nature of the game.

“I thought it was a close call, I called it out line judges didn’t think so," Forman said. "They’re doing the best job that they can, they’re going to miss balls just like a tennis player misses shots.” 

Next up for MSU is a matchup against Indiana at noon March 30 in East Lansing.