{"id":617022,"date":"2026-04-20T18:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617022\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:04:12","slug":"msu-mens-tennis-claims-title-women-finish-season-with-rivalry-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617022\/","title":{"rendered":"MSU men’s tennis claims title, women finish season with rivalry finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michigan State men’s and women\u2019s tennis closed out their 2025\u201326 regular seasons on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum this weekend \u2014 a history-chasing win for the men and a reflective, hard-fought finale for the women.<\/p>\n

On the women\u2019s side, the Spartans\u2019 final match of the season against Michigan carried emotion. A rivalry against Michigan always does, regardless of the sport, but this one never quite tipped fully in MSU\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

Doubles set the tone early. The No. 1 pair of sophomore Ellie Blackford and senior Matilde Morais delivered a composed 6\u20134 win, but Michigan answered back. A tightly contested match at No. 2, featuring sophomore Amara Brahmbhatt and redshirt junior Hanna Tsitsavets, slipped into a tiebreak, where the Wolverines pulled away 7\u20133. A decisive 6\u20131 result at No. 3, where sophomore Nina Plihal and senior Issey Purser battled, handed Michigan the doubles point.<\/p>\n

From there, singles became the place of opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Amara Brahmbhatt was the clear bright spot for MSU. In a match defined by control, she battled through a first-set tiebreak, taking it 7\u20136 (7\u20132), before closing out the second set 6\u20134. Her powerful backhand and ability to dictate play stood out in a lineup where momentum was otherwise hard to sustain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if you look at our one and two, they\u2019ve been so solid for us all year,\u201d head coach Kim Bruno said. \u201cAmara just goes out there and plays her game, controlling the court on her terms. When she does that, she\u2019s unbelievably successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

But across the rest of the courts, MSU struggled to hold leads or shift momentum. Ellie Blackford opened strong with a 6\u20132 first set before dropping the second 6\u20131 as the match flipped. Matilde Morais, Hanna Tsitsavets and Nina Plihal all found themselves caught in the same pattern \u2014 flashes of strong play undone by Michigan\u2019s consistency and power.<\/p>\n

\"260322-fgi-teniswomenucla-3\" <\/p>\n

MSU\u2019s Amara Brahmbhatt (sophomore) cheers for the point during doubles play at the MSU Tennis Complex on Sunday, Mar. 22, 2026.
\n \u2014 Photo by
\n Fatih Gorkem Imamoglu<\/a>
\n | The State News<\/p>\n

Matilde Morais lost momentum and couldn\u2019t hold onto early leads in either set, dropping the match 6\u20134, 6\u20133. On Court 5, Nina Plihal opened strong with a 6\u20133 first-set win but couldn\u2019t hold off the comeback, dropping the next two sets 6\u20133, 6\u20133.<\/p>\n

Following this, Hanna Tsitsavets faced a tough outing of her own, falling 6\u20132, 6\u20130 as Michigan\u2019s pace and control dictated play throughout the match.<\/p>\n

Oriana Parkins-Godwin showed signs of a comeback, clawing back from a first-set deficit to force and win a tiebreak, but couldn\u2019t carry that momentum into the second set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s tennis,\u201d Bruno said. \u201cIt\u2019s a momentum-swing sport. You\u2019ve got to recognize those moments and make sure when you\u2019re building, you keep going up instead of dropping. The girls laid everything out there. They left their mark, for sure. It was a tough season, but I\u2019m super proud of this group.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the women\u2019s season came to a close, the men ensured theirs ended with a statement.<\/p>\n

Facing Purdue with a Big Ten title on the line, MSU stumbled out of the gate,\u00a0struggling in doubles and dropping the opening point, immediately putting themselves in a deficit. For a team chasing history, it could have been the moment everything unraveled.<\/p>\n

Instead, it became another example of how this team keeps coming back from places that seem tough.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s match was unbelievable by the guys,\u201d head coach Harry Jadun said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t play very well in the doubles point. Singles was on a nice edge there for a little bit, and then we did what we did all year long, pulled ahead, you know, in the last half of the second set, and really just got to four points.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"dsc2244\" <\/p>\n

Ozan Baris, a senior on the Michigan State men\u2019s tennis team, prepares for a return against Purdue sophomore Maj Premzl during a singles match at the MSU Tennis Center in Lansing, Mich., Sunday, April 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Photo by
\n Cassie Comer<\/a>
\n | The State News<\/p>\n

Singles became a showcase of the depth of their entire lineup and how they embodied composure in every way. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Senior Aristotelis Thanos delivered a steady 6\u20134, 6\u20132 win at No. 2, controlling the match with poise and awareness. He now holds the record of 11 singles wins in 13 matches, the most by any player this season. Senior Ozan Baris followed this very high with a tiebreak of 7-4 in the first set before closing out in straight sets of 7-6, 6-2, while Taym Alazmeh and Mitchell Sheldon added commanding wins of their own.<\/p>\n

Alazmeh, feeding off the momentum of the crowd and the presence of the mind needed on the court closed out his own match in straight sets again of 6-4, 6-2. Sheldon, in particular, set the tone early in his match, converting breakpoints almost immediately and never relinquishing control in a 6\u20134, 6\u20133 win.<\/p>\n

\n Support student media!
\n Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt the pressure a little bit,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cBut our coaches always say, if we don\u2019t have it yet, we\u2019re not playing to lose anything \u2014 we\u2019ve got to go take it. I just tried to use that energy and play my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

That mindset defined the Spartans\u2019 turnaround. After the doubles loss, the team leaned on trust and energy to reset.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all trust each other to bounce back,\u201d Sheldon said. \u201cWe know we have to bring energy in singles and lift each other up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result was a comeback that mirrored MSU\u2019s entire season, and the very reason they were crowned the 2026 Big Ten regular-season champions, nearly after 59 years.<\/p>\n

As the regular season closes, the contrast in how it ended is clear, but in many ways similar. The women leave with lessons from a season of growth and near misses, while the men carry momentum and history into the postseason.<\/p>\n

\n Discussion\n <\/p>\n

Share and discuss \u201cMSU men’s tennis claims title, women finish season with rivalry finale\u201d on social media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan State men’s and women\u2019s tennis closed out their 2025\u201326 regular seasons on opposite ends of the emotional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-617022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}