EAST LANSING, Mich.- The Penn State men’s tennis team fell to No. 32 ranked Michigan State, 4-3, on Saturday. Ranked at No. 91, Loren Byers defeated the No. 5 player in the country, Ozan Baris at the top singles match. Freshman Reiya Hattori and sophomore Nolan Ranger also collected strong wins in their singles matches.
Byers earned his second win of the season over a Top 10 opponent. He knocked off Ohio State's No. 10 Aidan Kim (7-5, 6-4) on March 8.
DOUBLES
At the top spot, Sam Bossem and Byers fought tough, but dropped their match, 6-4, to Vuk Radjenovic and Danial Rakhmatullayev. Marcus Schoeman and David Lindsay fell, 6-2, on Court 2 to Ozan Baris and Matthew Forbes.
At third doubles, Reiya Hattori and Ranger were trailing 4-5 to Mitchell Sheldon and Aristotelis Thanos when the match went unfinished as the doubles point had already been clinched by the Spartans.
SINGLES
At first singles, Byers took down No. 5 ranked Baris in a thrilling 7-5, 6-3 match.
At sixth singles, Ranger stepped up to defeat Josh Portnoy, 6-4, 6-3, in a strong matchup.
Hattori took the fourth court defeating David Saye, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-6.
On Court 2, Schoeman dropped his match, 6-2, 6-3, to Radjenovic. At the third spot, Bossem played tough, but fell to Sheldon, 7-5, 6-3. On Court 5, Lindsay dropped his match to Rakhmatullayev, 6-3, 6-2.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will take on Michigan to close out the weekend on Sunday, Mar. 30. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. at the Preston Robert Tisch Tennis Building in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Visit GoPSUsports.com for more updates on the Nittany Lion's season. Follow the team on Instagram @pennstatemtennis and on X @pennstateMTEN for more continued updates.
RESULTS
Doubles
- Radjenovic/Rakhmatullayev (MSU) def. Bossem/Byers (PSU) 6-4
- Baris/Forbes (MSU) def. Lindsay/Schoeman (PSU) 6-2
- Hattori/Ranger (PSU) vs. Sheldon/Thanos 4-5, unfinished
Singles
- #91 Byers (PSU) def. #5 Baris (MSU) 7-5, 6-3
- Radjenovic (MSU) def. Schoeman (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
- Sheldon (MSU) def. Bossem (PSU) 7-5, 6-3
- Hattori (PSU) def. Saye (MSU) 6(5)-7, 6-2, 10-6
- Rakhmatullayev (MSU) def. Lindsay (PSU) 6-3, 6-2
- Ranger (PSU) def. Portnoy (MSU) 6-4, 6-3