Entering play in Urbana-Champaign against No. 19 Illinois, the No. 18 Michigan State men’s tennis team knew it had the opportunity for a statement conference win on the road against a team it hadn’t beaten since March 24, 1997, a streak of 30 consecutive matches against the Illini. Over the last 30 years, Illinois has been at the top of the Big Ten men’s tennis standings, finishing first or second most of the time.

The Spartans were looking to get to 17-3 on the season, remain undefeated in Big Ten play at 3-0, and lock in not only an NCAA Tournament berth for only the second time in program history, but perhaps the right to host an NCAA regional in May in East Lansing for the first time ever.

Other than Ohio State – who is the No. 1 team in the country – Michigan State and Illinois are the only other Big Ten teams in the Top 40. After Saturday’s match, the Spartans and the Illini will be favored to win the rest of their matches – so this clash was for pole position to get the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and avoid playing the Buckeyes until the finals.

Indeed, there was a lot at stake for the green and white as Harry Judan’s guys looked to show they belong in the conversation both in the Big Ten, and nationally. A win at Illinois would validate the hype surrounding Michigan State and put the Spartans on an inside-track to finish Top 16 in the country and host an NCAA regional.

It didn’t, however, start out well for the Spartans, in their quest for a top-20 road victory.

In fact, it started out disastrously.

With the doubles point at stake, Illinois came out strong in front of its fans with Hunter Heck and William Mroz defeating Ronald Hohmann and Sebastien Collard, 6-4. Shortly afterwards, Kenta Miyoshi and Mathis Debru finished off Aristotelis Thanos and Graydon Lair, 6-4, rendering the Lucas Horve/Karlis Ozolins vs. Ozan Baris/Max Sheldon moot (the Spartans trailed 5-4 when Illinois clinched the doubles point).

Losing the doubles point introduced another level of difficulty for the Spartans to win the match, as they would have to win four of the six singles matches (each one is worth a point) in order to win the race to four points.

The home crowd was pumped as the Illini raced out to a 3-0 lead in the match as Illinois’ Hunter Heck defeated Ronald Hohmann by a score of 6-4, 7-5, and Kenta Miyoshi turned back MSU’s Sebastien Collard, 6-3, 0-6, 6-0.

Staring at a 3-0 deficit in a match in which the winner needed four points, the Spartans’ time tied atop the Big Ten standings seemed fleeting. There was no room to spare. Michigan State would need to sweep the final four singles matches to get it done.

SPOILER: they got it done.

Junior Max Sheldon got the Spartans on the board first, winning 6-4, 7-6 [7-4], improving his season record to 11-2 (a team best), winning 10 of the 11 in straight sets.

Sophomore David Saye won in straight sets (6-4, 6-4), as did redshirt-freshman Aristotelis Thanos (7-6 [7-4], 6-2).

The scoreboard showed three points for the Spartans and three points for the Illini.

As has been happening lately in Spartan Athletics (link, link), it came down to the wire, with all eyes now on the main court matchup between MSU sophomore Baris and Illinois' Karlis Ozolins. Baris had found himself behind early, dropping the first set, 2-6, but had bounced back and won the second set, 6-4.

In the third and deciding set, Baris was down 1-3 and the Illini crowd was letting their voices be heard. In the end, Baris ended up breaking Ozolins twice and held serve to clinch the set, 6-4, the match, and the victory for MSU.

The Spartans played an incredibly high-quality tennis match on the road in a rough environment. Illinois punched Michigan State in the mouth early and the Spartans were reeling, needing four victories in six singles matches. The battle-tested Illini had been here before, had many players who had participated in high pressure situations, and they had already taken the doubles point from the Spartans. Illinois was controlling the tempo and the environment.

It would not have been surprising if Michigan State had folded, acknowledging that a comeback was unlikely. Perhaps they would just concede the path to victory was too stacked against them and just move on to the next match the next day against Northwestern, nodding along to the narrative that the Spartans were still up-and-coming and this was an understandable defeat.

But that’s not what happened.

The Spartans battled back. Scratched and clawed. Never gave up.

And there they were.

On the main court, with match point now in the Spartans’ control.

Baris bounced the ball and threw it up over his head with his left hand. As his right hand delivered a stinging serve across the net, his teammates were gathered to his left, watching this historic match reach its conclusion, ready to celebrate.

Almost as fast as the Baris serve went over the net, it came back across, falling harmlessly in the dark blue part of the Illini’s home court, the part of the court reserved for the shots that were too long or too wide.

This one was too long.

Baris knew it was out, took three steps toward the net before turning and waving goodbye to the crowd, put both hands in the air, and pumped his fist as he approached the net to shake hands with the opponent he had just masterfully dispatched.

As his teammates and coaches met Baris near the side of the net to celebrate, the announcer made it clear to the Big Ten – and to all of collegiate men’s tennis – that the Spartans are a team to be reckoned with:

“That concludes today’s match with the final score, Illinois 3, Michigan State 4.”

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