Men's Tennis Tops Michigan State 4-1

Sunday, February 14

East Lansing, Mich.

11 AM

University of Louisville

Michigan State

February 14, 2016 | Men's Tennis

Cards pick up third straight win

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The University of Louisville men's tennis team defeated Michigan State 4-1 Sunday afternoon at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. The Cardinals improve to 6-5 on the season while the Spartans drop to 7-3.

"It is really nice to beat a good Big Ten team on the road," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "It was a great effort. We started off with a dominating doubles point, but the Spartans bounced back with leads on five of the six singles courts. It was close for a while. The crowd was loud but our players who were not playing especially Santiago Salazar were firing up the singles players. It was a total team effort."

The Cardinals (6-5) opened the match by taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. The freshman duo of Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and George Hedley cruised to a 6-1 win over Ivan Rakic and Billy Shisler on court two while junior Sean Donohue and sophomore Courtney Lock teamed to beat Alexander Kim and Colin Harvey 6-3 at the three-spot to clinch the first point.

In singles, freshman George Hedley increased Louisville's lead to 2-0 when he beat Shisler 6-1, 6-4 at No 5. The Spartans answered on court two where Michael Dube beat Morin-Kougoucheff 6-1, 6-4 to make the score 2-1. Lock's 7-5, 6-2 victory over Rakic on at the six-spot made the score 3-1. The match was decided at the No. 2 spot where senior Jeffrey Brown rebounded from a 7-5 first set loss to Alexander Kim to claim the next two sets 6-3, 6-1.

"George (Hedley) is one of the hottest players in the ACC right now," said Ecarma." Courtney was down 2-5 but came firing back to win 7-5 6-2. Then it was time for senior Jeff Brown, recovering from a set deficit to win in three sets. That is what we expect of seniors. We have played 11 matches in a short period of time already so it will be good just to rest and train for a while."

The Cardinals return to action on March 4 when they play host to Murray State at 9:30 a.m. and open ACC play against top-ranked Virginia at 5 p.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

Men's Tennis Results
No. 46 Louisville 4 – Michigan State 1
Feb 14, 2016 at East Lansing, Michigan
(MSU Indoor Tennis Facility)
Singles
1. Mac Roy (MSU) vs. Alex Gornet (LOU) 6-4, 5-7, 2-1, unfinished
2. Michael Dube (MSU) def. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU) 6-1, 6-4
3. Jasper Koenen (MSU) vs. Brandon Lancaster (LOU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-5, unfinished
4. Jeffrey Brown (LOU) def. Alexander Kim (MSU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
5. George Hedley (LOU) def. Billy Shisler (MSU) 6-1, 6-4
6. Courtney Lock (LOU) def. Ivan Rakic (MSU) 7-5, 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,2,6,4)
Doubles
1. Michael Dube/Mac Roy (MSU) vs. Alex Gornet/Jeffrey Brown (LOU) 5-5, unfinished
2. C. Morin-Kougoucheff/George Hedley (LOU) def. Ivan Rakic/Billy Shisler (MSU) 6-1
3. Courtney Lock/Sean Donohue (LOU) def. Alexander Kim/Colin Harvey (MSU) 6-3 Order of finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (5,2,6,4)
Match Notes:
Louisville Men's Tennis 6-5; National ranking #46
Michigan State 7-3