What a season it was for Michigan State men’s tennis. The Spartans won their first Big Ten Tournament title in nearly 60 years, beating Ohio State and punching their ticket to a third consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Harry Jadun had the program cooking before losing in a regional matchup to No. 13 South Carolina. The Gamecocks had home-court advantage and the Spartans were bounced earlier than they would have liked.
Still, it was a historic season for the men’s tennis program.
Not only did the program notch its first Big Ten Tournament title in 59 years, but it also finished with its highest ITA ranking ever, coming in at No. 18 in the final poll. No men’s tennis team in program history had ever finished a season ranked that high. As if that wasn’t enough, Ozan Barris and Matt Forbes were both named ITA All-Americans. And as if that, too, wasn’t enough, three doubles partners and three singles also both made final rankings, led by Forbes at No. 19 in singles.
The historic season will be remembered by each of these guys, but the wheels have kind of fallen off since with the transfer of Forbes and the departure of Jadun who decided to pursue a career outside of college tennis coaching. Forbes has since committed to Ohio State.
The program is in a better place now than it was before Jadun, but Mike Flowers needs to build on that momentum. The fact that he was on Jadun’s staff is a positive, but he has some huge shoes to fill.
Harry Jadun put Michigan State men’s tennis on the map
When you think of Michigan State, the first two sports that come to mind are football and basketball. The baseball program has been struggling, hockey is becoming part of the “Big 3” of Spartan sports, and the women’s basketball program is trending up under Robyn Fralick.
No one would have thought that men’s tennis would be knocking on the door to join the likes of the football, basketball, and hockey programs.
Jadun was a big reason for that.
The now-former Michigan State head coach led the Spartans to three NCAA Tournament appearances in a row which has never happened in program history and he secured a Big Ten Tournament title for the first time in six decades. He was incredible for the tennis program.
Jadun will be missed and now it’s up to Flowers to carry the torch.
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