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Michigan State Men's Tennis Set For Big Ten Championships
 
No. 10 seed Spartans meet seventh-seeded Minnesota in first round.
 
 
 

 
Senior Nick Rinks and the Spartans face off against Minnesota in the first round of the Big Ten Championships on Thursday at 3 p.m. CT.
 
 

April 23, 2008

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2008 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Michigan State men's tennis team has drawn the 10th seed in the year's Big Ten Championships, and will meet No. 7 seed Minnesota in the first round on Thursday, April 24 at 3 p.m. CT. The winner of the opening-round contest will meet second-seeded Wisconsin in Friday's quarterfinals at 2 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT VS. MINNESOTA
The Gophers handed Michigan State a 6-1 loss in Minneapolis on April 4. Minnesota now holds a 39-16 edge over MSU in the all-time series dating back to 1951.

2007 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Spartans had an early exit from last year's championships as they were downed by Northwestern, 4-1. Nick Rinks had the only win for the Green and White, taking out NU's Willy Lock in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, and bringing home All-Big Ten honors.

REGULAR-SEASON FINALE
The Michigan State men's tennis team fell to No. 34 Wisconsin, 7-0, in the team's regular-season finale at the MSU Outdoor Tennis Courts last Sunday afternoon. The Spartans struggled from the start as Wisconsin swept the doubles competition. MSU fought hard in singles, but the Badgers were too much down the stretch, pulling off victories at all six positions. Junior Scott Rasmussen took his singles match into a super tiebreaker for the third set at No. 5, but came up short in the end, as he lost to Felipe Bellido, 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-6).

Wisconsin came out swinging, as it swept the Spartans in doubles, taking the 1-0 lead. Playing in their first match of the year together at No. 1, MSU's John Allare and Adam Monich fell to Nolan Polley and Moritz Baumann, 8-4. At No. 2, Wisconsin's Luke Rassow-Kantor and Michael Dierberger took out Alex Forger and Billy Gardner, 8-2, while Nick Rinks and John Stratton lost a close one at No. 3 to UW's Jeremy Sonkin and Marek Michalicka in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-5).

In singles action, MSU came out battling, but Wisconsin made the shots down the stretch, sweeping the Spartans in all flights. Allare played a tight first set against Michalicka, but eventually fell 7-5. Michalicka would cruise from there, taking out the Spartan junior in the second set, 6-2.

In their last regular-season matches in the Green and White, senior Rinks fell to No. 55 Baumann, while senior Monich was beaten by Sonkin at No. 4, 6-2, 6-1.

A LOOK BACK
The Spartans had a dominating start to the 2008 dual-match season, going 11-3, their best start under head coach Gene Orlando. Michigan State had a big win over No. 51 Middle Tennessee State in late January, and hung tough in some one-point losses against No. 11 Notre Dame and No. 33 Vanderbilt. Big Ten compeition was fierce, however, and the Spartans fell in their first eight matches in conference play. MSU picked up its only Big Ten win of the season against Northwestern last Saturday, 4-3. State ended the regular season with a conference record of 1-9.

SENIORITY RULES
Seniors Nick Rinks (15-7) and Adam Monich (14-8) have led the way for the Spartans in singles dual-match play. The doubles duo of Rinks and Monich sits atop the Big Ten in wins at No. 1 doubles, notching a record of 11-0 in dual-match play, and are currently ranked 24th in the nation.

STRONG SINGLES
The Spartans have a combined record of 47-25 at the No. 1, 3 and 4 positions in dual-match play, going 17-7 at No. 1, 14-10 at No. 3, and 15-8 at No. 4. Nick Rinks has played all of his matches at No. 1, going 15-7. Junior John Allare holds a 9-9 record at No. 3, while Adam Monich is 2-1 at flight 3. Monich has posted a 11-7 record for the Spartans at No. 4, and recorded his first-career victory at No. 1 singles over Gabriel Garcia of IUPUI on Feb. 2.

BY THE NUMBERS
Michigan State is 8-0 on the season when winning at No. 2 and 7-0 when claiming victory at No. 5 singles. MSU has won 10 of 14 matches when winning the doubles point, compared to a 1-8 record when losing the one-point advantage.

WIN WATCH
Gene Orlando needs just one more victory to record his 200th win as head coach at Michigan State.

COVERAGE
Coverage of the 2008 Big Ten Men's Championships can be found live at hawkeyesports.com. Click here to find live scoring for all matches. The Big Ten Network will broadcast the men's championships on Wednesday, May 7 at 8 p.m. ET.