Spartans Rally Past Drake, 4-3
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State men’s tennis team defeated Drake 4-3 on Saturday at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.
The game between the Spartans and the Bulldogs was the first home sporting event for the Michigan State Athletics since a mass shooting on the East Lansing campus on Monday, February 13, that killed three students and hospitalized five.
Michigan State players wore “Spartan Strong” shirts during their warm-up, and Drake’s team wore green bulldog-logo warm-up shirts in honor of MSU.
“Like everyone else, our guys had a wide range of emotions and reactions throughout the week, and they’re still processing everything that happened,” said MSU head coach Harry Jadun. “For them, I think, just coming out here and competing – we wore the special ‘Spartan Strong’ shirts during the warm-up – they played a little more inspired. Having the community out here to kind of envelop them and just surround them was really special. That’s what Spartans do – you’ve seen it all week. Just the community that came together to lift us up through this situation was a really special moment.”
The game was originally scheduled for Wednesday (February 15) but was pushed back to Saturday morning.
Drake (7-5) took a 1-0 lead by winning the double in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, but the Spartans quickly took a 2-1 lead Graydon hideout passed Reid Jarvis for 5th in singles, 6-1, 6-1 and Luke Bayliss defeated Olle Sonesson Lidholt in fourth place 6-4, 6-4.
The back-and-forth continued as Drake reclaimed the lead at 3-2 after victories in the No. 6 and No. 2 singles. David Saye fell to Will Blevins in sixth place, 7-5, 6-4 and Anthony Pero dropped a 7-5, 6-4 decision against Evan Fragistats.
At No. 3 singles, Max Sheldon rallied to win the final two sets against Oliver Johansson to tie the clash 3-3. After falling 6-4 in the first set, Sheldon came back to win the second set 6-1 and outlived Johansson in the third 6-4.
The duel came top in a matchup of nationally ranked players as No. 31 Ozan Baris, making his home debut, defeated No. 68 Jeremy Schifris in three sets to earn the victory for the Spartans. In a long first set, Baris won 7-6 (7-5) in the tiebreak to gain the early advantage. Despite losing the second set 6-3 when the match was on the line, Baris controlled the third set 6-1 to claim the ranking victory.
FINAL: MSU 4, Drake 3#SpartanStrong 💚 pic.twitter.com/TJhGA01XZG
— Michigan State Men's Tennis (@MSU_MTennis) February 18, 2023
After the match, Drake’s men’s tennis coach Davidson Kozlowski presented Jadun with a green Drake tennis shirt.
“Hats to Drake, they’ve been super classy all week and been accommodating of us and postponed the game to a later date,” said Jadun. “I got emotional when they showed up and their trainers were wearing green t-shirts with the Drake logo on them. I thought that was a very special touch from them. I just appreciate them coming out here and supporting us and the community. For them too, it’s about more than tennis. They were able to look past this one sporting event and see that it is about humanity and a community that is reeling and recovering from tragic events.
Michigan State (4-4) is scheduled to return to action against Western Michigan on Friday, March 3.
