EAST LANSING, Mich.\u00a0\u2013 Michigan State women’s tennis closed out their final\u00a0home\u00a0tournament of the season on Sunday, wrapping up the Spartan Invitational,\u00a0presented by Auto Owner’s Insurance, at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Spartan Invite tournament hosted\u00a0players from Indiana,\u00a0Minnesota\u00a0and Xavier to compete in the action,\u00a0playing both singles and doubles against each other all weekend in a “hidden dual” format.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our goal coming into this was from the first day to the last day, we\u00a0wanted to see improvements,” MSU head coach Kim Bruno<\/a> said. “I can say for every single girl that had the opportunity to play, they did. We ended this weekend a lot stronger than we began, so\u00a0that’s\u00a0the most important part. It was a good finish to a good fall.”\u00a0<\/p>\n The final day of the Spartan Invite\u00a0concluded with five Spartans competing in singles contention against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Sophomore Ellie Blackford<\/a> solidified an undefeated weekend when she defeated Jeselle Ante in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory against the Gopher\u00a0player.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Blackford went 6-0 in her matches\u00a0in\u00a0the Spartan Invite, the only Spartan to go undefeated the whole weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Following\u00a0Blackford’s\u00a0victory was senior Matilde Morais<\/a>,\u00a0who dominated Anlin Xie in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Redshirt-junior Oriana Parkins-Godwin<\/a> put up a valiant effort against Minnesota’s Mia Liepert, but\u00a0ultimately fell,\u00a07-6 (7-5), 6-1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Similarly,\u00a0senior Sarah Fazlagic<\/a>\u00a0faced off against Sofia Pinto and while she put up\u00a0a strong performance, dropped her match in two sets,\u00a06-4, 6-0.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n