Ozan Baris and Max Sheldon Earn Big Ten Men’s Tennis Postseason Awards – Michigan State University Athletics

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Michigan State men’s tennis’ Ozan Baris and Max Sheldon have earned All-Big Ten Men’s Tennis accolades, as announced by the conference Thursday. 

Baris was named Freshman of the Year, as voted on by the league’s coaches, while both Baris and Sheldon were named First-Team All-Big Ten.  

The awards mark the first time the Spartans have earned multiple All-Big Ten selections in the same season since Drew Lied (First Team) and John Patrick Mullane (Second Team) in 2014 and is the first time in program history that MSU has collected multiple First-Team selections since the conference instituted an All-Big Ten Second Team in 2011. 

MSU has now boasted at least one All-Big Ten honoree in back-to-back years for the first time since 2013-14, following Jack Winkler’s First-Team selection in 2022.  

Baris, a native of Okemos, Michigan, is the second Spartan in program history to be named Freshman of the Year, receiving the award 30 years after Spartan All-American Mashiska Washington in 1993. The rookie played at No. 1 singles and doubles in every match he played in this spring, compiling a record of 9-10 and 5-4 in the league in singles and an 11-6, 5-4 record in doubles. Entering his collegiate career as a TennisRecruiting.net blue-chip recruit, Baris earned a 12-5 record during the fall season, with seven of his wins coming against ranked opponents. He also advanced to consolation semifinals at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) All-American Championships in October and won the US Open Juniors doubles title alongside current Stanford freshman Nishesh Basavareddy on Sept. 10.  

Baris, currently ranked No. 49 nationally, has earned a spot in the ITA Collegiate Singles Tennis rankings every week this spring, reaching a season high at No. 26 for three weeks in January. 

Sheldon, a sophomore from Arlington Heights, Illinois, collects the first Big Ten postseason award of his career after a breakout season in 2023. Sheldon, primarly playing at the No. 2 position during the spring, earned the most singles victories on the team with a 12-8 overall record and 4-4 mark in conference play. He also collected a team-high 13 wins in doubles, posting a 13-5 overall and 6-2 conference record. Sheldon earned his first-career ranked singles win on Jan. 15 this season with a three-set victory over Auburn’s 110th-ranked Will Nolan. 

Baris and Sheldon teamed up for a historic regular season in doubles, earning a 6-1 record at the No. 1 position, including a 5-0 mark against ranked doubles teams. The pair currently ranks ninth in the ITA Collegiate Doubles rankings and earned the highest ranking in program history on April 4 this season at No. 6.  

Spartan senior Kazuki Matusno was recognized as MSU’s recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, which honors a student-athlete from each institution who has distinguished themself through sportsmanship and ethical behavior while also excelling in their academics and displaying good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.  

The Spartans defeated 10th-seeded Purdue Thursday afternoon, 4-1, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, advancing to play No. 2 seed Michigan on Friday, April 28 in the quarterfinals. First serve for the seventh-seeded Spartans is set for 1:30 p.m. at Indiana’s IU Tennis Center. 

2023 Big Ten Men’s Tennis All-Conference and Individual Award-Winners 

ATHLETE OF THE YEAR 
Ondrej Styler, SR, MICH 

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR 
Ozan Baris, MSU 

COACH OF THE YEAR 
Ty Tucker, OSU   

ALL-BIG TEN, FIRST TEAM 
Hunter Heck, JR, ILL 
Karlis Ozolins, SO, ILL 
Andrew Fenty, 5th, MICH 
Patrick Maloney, 5th, MICH 
Ondrej Styler, SR, MICH 
Ozan Baris, FR, MSU 
Max Sheldon, SO, MSU 
Steven Forman, GD, NU 
Alexander Bernard, FR, OSU 
Justin Boulais, SR, OSU 
Cannon Kingsley, SR, OSU 
JJ Tracy, JR, OSU 
James Trotter, SR, OSU  

ALL-BIG TEN, SECOND TEAM 
Alex Petrov, JR, ILL 
Gavin Young, JR, MICH 
Ivan Yatsuk, GD, NU 
Robert Cash, SR, OSU 
Miko Eala, JR, PSU 
Jared Pratt, GD, WIS   

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD 
Nic Meister, GD, ILL 
Sam Landau, FR, IND 
Nino Ehrenschneider, JR, MICH 
Kazuki Matsuno, SR, MSU 
Shunya Maruyama, SR, NEB 
Gleb Blekher, JR, NU 
James Trotter, SR, OSU 
Charl Morgan, SR, PSU 
Julen Morgan, SO, PUR 
Sebastian Vile, SR, WIS