Monday, 02/27/2012

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State is coming off their second doubleheader of the season to take on the No. 30 ranked Fighting Irish. This is the Spartans first true road match of the season with all other matches being at home or at neutral-site tournaments. Action will be at Eck Tennis Center in South Bend, Ind. at 10 a.m. on Sunday Feb. 26.

Notre Dame Scouting
Notre Dame is currently ranked 30th in the nation with a 9-4 record. The Irish have faced some tough opponents already taking on eight ranked opponents thus far this season. All four of their loses have been against those ranked in the top thirty, but they have bounced back and also picked up four wins against ranked teams as well. In their last match ND defeated the University of Michigan on the road scoring a 4-3 victory. Notre Dame leads the all-time series against the Spartans, 48-32 including a 5-2 win in East Lansing last year.

Last Time Out
Last weekend the Spartans hosted their second doubleheader of the season and came away with two 6-1 wins. MSU started off the day with a match against a tough Western Michigan team but were able to hold off the Broncos, only dropping one singles point the entire match. In the second match of the day the Spartans took on the Dayton Flyers, once again coming away with a 6-1 victory while only suffering one singles defeat.

Conference Kudos
The Spartans have picked up two weekly Big Ten awards this season with the most recent recipient being Denis Bogatov. The Gurnee, Ill. native notched a 2-0 singles and 2-0 doubles record on Jan 14 and helped the Spartans improve to 3-0 in dual action in their tripleheader against Bradley, Morehead State and Wright State.

Earlier this season, Aaron Pfister also picked up an individual Big Ten accolade after being crowned the conference's indoor champion in Iowa City back in November 2011. The sophomore went undefeated, posting a perfect 6-0 singles record on his way to winning the title and also advanced to the final round of the Flight A doubles draw during the tournament.

Meet the Spartans
The Michigan State men's tennis team will feature a student-athlete every week this spring in attempt to "Meet the Spartans". This week sophomore Drew Lied (Brookfield, Wisc.) sat down with msuspartans.com to answer some questions about his time at Michigan State and what he does outside of tennis. Next week, Spartan fans will get to know freshman Gijs Linders.

Next Up
MSU will host their final doubleheader of the season next Saturday Mar. 3 at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility. The Spartans will take on Ball State in the first match of the day at 12 p.m. followed by a 6 p.m. night match against Cleveland State.