Michigan State Men's Tennis Star wins Big Ten Player of the Year

Michigan State sophomore Ozan Baris won the Big Ten Player of the Year for men's tennis.

Michigan State men's tennis star sophomore Ozan Baris was announced the Big Ten Player of the Year on Thursday.

Baris won the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award last season and is on track for an outstanding career after proving to be one of the conference's best on the court the past two years. Michigan State also produced the Big Ten Freshman of the Year this year, Aristotelis Thanos.

The Spartans are building a solid tennis program. They landed two other awards: second-team All-Big Ten honors awarded to Ronald Hohmann lll and the Big Ten sportsmanship award to Reed Crocker.

Michigan State boasts a commendable tennis program that has been flying under the radar due to the focus on some of the more popular sports. But the team's success in recent years and the number of awards it has received have introduced spirit, eyes and ears.

Moreover, Baris, from Okemos Michigan, is ranked ninth and as high as fourth by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Baris is an incredible player and has proven to be elite, having a 27-6 record in singles, 14-3 in dual matches and 6-0 in Big-Ten matches. Baris and his doubles partner, Max Sheldon, are ranked 16th and as high as first in the nation.

Sheldon and Baris won the ITA Fall Doubles National Championship late in 2023.

"This team, we set out to do historic things at the beginning of the year, we said we were going to do this and that and it's really cool to see a guy like Ozan, who's really taking the leadership role as a sophomore to get his historic achievement," said Michigan State men's tennis coach Harry Jadun. "It's great to see his hard work, dedication, long hours on the court and gym pay off but this isn't the end goal for him."

These are good signs for a school with a few struggling programs. Hopefully, Ozan and the other Spartan Tennis players can bring life to men's tennis, get more and more fans to start watching them play and continue to succeed in the coming years.

The No. 19th-ranked Spartans will take on Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. First serve is set for 5 p.m.

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