Michigan State Women’s Tennis Closes Out Successful Spartan Invite Sunday

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State women's tennis closed out their final home tournament of the season on Sunday, wrapping up the Spartan Invitational, presented by Auto Owner's Insurance, at the MSU Indoor Tennis Center.

The Spartan Invite tournament hosted players from Indiana, Minnesota and Xavier to compete in the action, playing both singles and doubles against each other all weekend in a "hidden dual" format.

"Our goal coming into this was from the first day to the last day, we wanted to see improvements," MSU head coach Kim Bruno said. "I can say for every single girl that had the opportunity to play, they did. We ended this weekend a lot stronger than we began, so that's the most important part. It was a good finish to a good fall."

The final day of the Spartan Invite concluded with five Spartans competing in singles contention against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Sophomore Ellie Blackford solidified an undefeated weekend when she defeated Jeselle Ante in a 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) victory against the Gopher player.

Blackford went 6-0 in her matches in the Spartan Invite, the only Spartan to go undefeated the whole weekend.

Following Blackford's victory was senior Matilde Morais, who dominated Anlin Xie in a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Redshirt-junior Oriana Parkins-Godwin put up a valiant effort against Minnesota's Mia Liepert, but ultimately fell, 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

Similarly, senior Sarah Fazlagic faced off against Sofia Pinto and while she put up a strong performance, dropped her match in two sets, 6-4, 6-0.

Closing out the tournament for the Green & White was senior Issey Purser, who secured the first set of her match versus Anali Kocevar. Despite keeping the competition tight, Purser was ultimately defeated in the third set 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

The Spartans are set to compete in the NCAA Individual Sectional Championships from Thursday, Nov. 6 through Sunday, Nov. 9 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Fans can keep up to date with the Spartan women's tennis team on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by following @MSU_WTennis.

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