For the first time in program history, Michigan State men’s tennis advanced in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.
For the first time in program history, Michigan State men’s tennis will be advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. With a program that has been around for 110 years, this is something that the Spartans have been waiting for a very long time. This was something that fans of this program was probably not expecting in just two years under head coach Harry Jadun who took over and turned this program around in a quick fashion.
A lot of this turnaround is because of the talent they are bringing in but also because of Jadun’s connection to Michigan State. He was an All-American men’s tennis player at Michigan State and he was an assistant coach for five years. Jadun was able to build this program into a competitive team in the Big Ten, which allowed them to get into the NCAA Tournament. Their draw was revealed and they would play undefeated Denver.
Heading into this matchup, Denver was also having a historic season. You saw two teams having historic seasons and teams that were pretty evenly matched.
The match started with Michigan State getting the doubles point. This was a great start and that continued through the singles matches. With a mix of young talent and experienced players, the team got out to an early lead and took the first three matches and clinched the win. These matches had key wins by graduate transfers Ronald Hohmann and Sebastian Collard. These grad transfers clinched two of the three points from the singles matches and they would later get the other point. This was a moment that clinched the win for No. 2 seed Michigan State over No. 3 Denver.
The matches aren’t over for this weekend as this team will take on the regional host Harvard which is ranked No. 12.
While history has already been made, Michigan State men’s tennis have the chance to make even more history by bringing home a regional championship on Saturday with a win over Harvard.