Huskers Suffer 4-1 Loss vs. Michigan State

The Nebraska men’s tennis team suffered its first conference loss at Michigan State, 4-1 in East Lansing at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center on Friday. The Huskers (8-4, 0-1) won one singles match in their match against the Spartans (4-7, 1-0)  

In doubles play, Nebraska started off slow, falling behind by two games at both No. 1 and 2 doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Henry Lamchinniah/Matt Shearer (NEB) were not able to overcome the deficit created by the No. 23 ranked doubles pair, Danial Rakhmatullayev/Taym Alazmeh (MSU) and they ultimately dropped their match, 2-6. At No. 2 doubles, graduate student Henry Bilicic stepped on the doubles court for his first match this spring season alongside Colson Wells. The pair dropped their match vs. Matthew Forbes/Aristotelis Thanos (MSU), 2-6, which clinched the doubles point for the Spartans. 

At No. 3 doubles, Jeri Lassila/Joan Torres Espinosa (NEB) were the only Huskers to hold on against the Spartans but their match vs. David Saye/Mitchell Sheldon (MSU) was declared 4-4, unfinished. 

Nebraska dropped five of the six first sets to start singles play with Nikolay Sysoev being the only one to take the first set. Espinosa, at No. 6 singles, was the first to fall vs. Mitchell Sheldon, 3-6, 1-6. Michigan State grew its lead to 3-0 as Lassila fell to Rakhmatullayev, 2-6, 3-6 for only his fourth singles loss of the season. 

Sysoev was able to achieve a top-15 ranked win beating No. 11 Forbes in two sets, 6-4, 6-3 to get Nebraska’s first and only point of the match. Linquet lost his match at No. 1 singles vs. Thanos, 4-6, 3-6, clinching the overall match for Michigan State, 4-1. 

The match between Niels Van Der Sijs and Saye was abandoned at, 1-6, 6-4. The match between Wells and Alazmeh was also abandoned at 6-7, 2-3. 

UP NEXT
Nebraska men’s tennis will travel to Ann Arbor over the weekend taking on No. 52 Michigan (4-4) on Sunday, March 8 at 11 a.m. (CT) at the Varsity Tennis Center.