Kicking off an action-packed weekend, the Michigan State women’s tennis team lost a 4-2 battle to the Liberty Flames on Friday night. The match was dedicated to celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day earlier this week and the 50th anniversary of Title IX.
The loss moved the Spartans to 1-2 on the season.
After taking the doubles point, MSU’s singles struggled to find consistency and dropped four matches out of five. Michigan State Head Women’s Tennis Coach Kim Bruno said it was a hard-fought effort nonetheless.
“I’m proud of how the girls competed,” Bruno said. “We’re going to keep our heads up and look forward to this weekend. It’s all we can do.”
The Spartans started hot by winning all three doubles matches, highlighted by a commanding 6-2 win for MSU sophomore Liisa Vehvilainen and junior Ayshe Can. The duo mounted a 2-0 lead and remained in control throughout the match.
The following two doubles matches were hotly contested. Freshman Marley Lambert and graduate student Nicole Conard dropped their first game but rallied back to take the match 6-4. Likewise, freshman Issey Purser and senior Dagmar Zdrubecka teamed up to clinch the doubles sweep in a neck-and-neck 7-6 win.
Despite the loss, MSU’s doubles teams certainly put on a show. Bruno attributed this success to practice and preparation.
“We’ve been practicing a lot of doubles, just really solid fundamentals and getting forward first, winning at the net,” Bruno said. “For me, that’s winning doubles, and I think we did a good job of that.”
In the singles category, Vehvilainen continued to shine in her 6-2 and 6-1 victories. The North Texas transfer has been a bright spot for MSU so far, moving to 6-4 in singles on the season.
After a strong doubles performance, Conard struggled to find a rhythm in singles. She went down early to Liberty junior Micaela Ode Mitre in both sets, with Ode Mitre taking each by a score of 6-3.
Likewise, Lambert battled until the very end but ultimately came up short, falling 6-4 twice to Liberty senior Marina Davtyan.
The first set between Purser and Liberty junior Tiffany Nguyen came down to the wire. Purser mounted a 5-3 advantage but couldn’t close it out, dropping the set 7-6 with a 7-2 tiebreaker. The ensuing set was less competitive, as Nguyen sealed her victory with a comfortable 6-1 win.
Trying to make up for lost ground, MSU freshman Juliette Nask matched up with Liberty junior Esther Lovato. After dropping the first set in a tight-knit 7-5 battle, Nask took Lovato to a deciding third set. However, Lovato cruised to a 6-1 victory in the final set and clinched the win for the Flames.
Can’s match against Liberty sophomore Maria Juliana Parra Romero went unfinished, with Lovato’s win over Nask sealing the deal for the Flames. However, before the match finished, Can trailed by a slim 5-4 margin in a deciding third set.
Bruno had high praise for Liberty following the match.
“Liberty was a tough team,” Bruno said. “At the end of the day, we got beat. We didn’t beat ourselves a ton.”
Despite falling short in the end, the Spartans have no time to lick their wounds as they look ahead to a doubleheader on Sunday. Bruno said the team has to reflect on the film and adjust accordingly.
“We’ve got to learn in these moments here,” Bruno said. “We’ve got to go back and look at some film, see where [the players] faltered, and make those adjustments moving into Sunday.”
The Spartans will host Miami of Ohio at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by a matchup with Bowling Green just hours later at 2 p.m.
