Loss leaves Spartans winless in Big Ten play for first time since 1991

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In his final regular season match, MSU men’s tennis senior John Allare refused to go down without a fight.

After getting “run off the court” in the first set Sunday against Illinois star Roy Kalmanovich, Allare knew he would need to reach deep to mount a comeback in the second set.

“I really wanted to win,” said Allare, MSU’s No. 1 singles player. “I just said, ‘I can’t go out like this, I need to find ways to win points, I need to find ways to win games.’”

Playing with a new strategy that counteracted what Allare said was Kalmanovich’s “pro-level forehand,” Allare took a commanding 4-1 lead in the second set.

Pumping his first and hollering after every triumphant point, Allare looked like he had seized control of the match.

Then, symbolic of his team’s devastating finish to the regular season, Allare began to unravel, losing his next five games to fall in consecutive sets, 6-1, 6-4.

“I’m happy with the effort I gave,” Allare said. “I don’t have anything left; I left it all on the court so that’s all you can ask.”

All season long, Allare and his teammates have played with that mentality. But rarely has that attitude been enough to win matches.

MSU lost 6-1 to No. 11 Illinois on Sunday, capping one of the most disappointing seasons in school history. The Spartans concluded the regular season on a 12-game losing streak, going winless in conference play for the first time since 1991.

The Spartans will now turn their attention to the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, where they expect to play the No. 6 seed Thursday. MSU will enter the tournament as the No. 11 seed.

At No. 2 singles, senior Alex Forger was the only Spartan standing between MSU and its third shutout loss of the season. Forger defeated Marc Spicijaric 6-4, 7-5.

“It feels great,” Forger said. “Obviously, I wouldn’t want to go out any other way. I was able to beat a great player today. It definitely helps take away some of the pain of the losses we’ve recently been taking.”

With the exception of Forger, every single’s player was defeated in straight sets.

Freshmen Ronnie Hulewicz and Austin Brooks both lost their matches 6-4, 6-1, while senior Scott Rasmussen lost his match 6-3, 6-1.

Illinois swept MSU 3-0 to win the double’s point.

Despite the convincing loss, MSU head coach Gene Orlando said he was proud of his team’s character.

“We were excited about playing the 11th-ranked team on senior weekend,” Orlando said. “I thought the guys came out and believed and we gave it our best effort. The guys have always come out and competed every single time we’ve played, and today was no different.”

Despite going winless in the regular season, the Spartans are optimistic about their chances in the Big Ten Championships.

Extracting optimism from the fact they were competitive in most of their conference matches, they believe they can give their opening round opponent a good fight.

“We’ve had close matches against every team in the Big Ten with the exception of Ohio State and we’re not going to be playing them in the first round,” Allare said. “We just have to take a Spartan attitude in there and just play hard until something goes our way.”

Orlando, who took over as head coach the year after MSU’s last winless season, shared that sentiment with Allare.

He added that no matter what happens this week, he’s enjoyed the season despite all the frustrations it’s produced.

“It’s weird to say, but I still had a lot of fun,” Orlando said. “You still hate to lose and you still feel that when you go home at night, but when we come to practice, it’s kind of all gone. We almost feel better when we’re with each other and working.

“The guys gave it all they had, it just wasn’t good enough. It’s a tough conference and hopefully we can do something next weekend.”

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