With his brother’s help, Hersey graduate Max Sheldon sets Michigan State record
Last month, the Michigan State men’s tennis team lost to Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
With that, the record-setting college career of Max Sheldon, a senior out of Hersey High School, came to a close.
“Every season comes to an end at some point,” said an upbeat Sheldon, whose younger brother and partner at No. 3 doubles, freshman Mitchell Sheldon, will carry on with the Spartans.
In the NCAA second-round contest, the brothers won their final doubles match, 7-6 (7-4).
That gave Max Sheldon a program-record 170 victories at Michigan State. He first set the Spartans record with singles and doubles wins in first-round NCAA play against North Alabama. The previous record of 167 victories stood since 2008.
“I didn’t think that was reachable my freshman year when got I here. It was a cool experience. Coach (Harry Jadun) let me get some dessert at the team dinner after. If we’re on the road they don’t really like to see us eating junk food,” said Sheldon, 18-5 at singles this season, 8-1 in the Big Ten Conference.
“They have pictures of the all-time leaders at our facility, so knowing I’ll be at the top of that is pretty cool. We walk by that every day,” he said.
As a doubles pair the Sheldons went 10-5, with Max 13-8 overall. Mitchell was 8-7 in singles and 11-7 in doubles.
The product of two college tennis players, father Walt (Western Illinois) and mother Chris (Wisconsin), Max Sheldon twice was an Illinois High School Association Class 2A runner-up in singles.
Mitchell Sheldon won two Class 2A titles — “of course,” Max said with a laugh — the 2022 doubles title and the 2024 singles championship.
Despite these and other accomplishments, Max Sheldon said neither of them got much attention from colleges until they heard from Michigan State.
“And that’s when I broke through,” he said.
As a junior, Max Sheldon and then-sophomore doubles partner Ozan Baris won Michigan State’s first Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) title.
When Sheldon arrived in East Lansing, the Spartans weren’t among the nation’s top 125 programs, he said. Over 2023-24 they finished 23rd in ITA rankings, and as of this May 1 they were No. 22, third among Big Ten teams.
Last season Michigan State won its first NCAA tournament match. It added a second this season.
“Putting the program back on the map, it was really special to be a part of that. I’m really satisfied with my career,” Sheldon said.
He’s looking to continue on the professional level, operating out of his parents’ home in Holland, Mich. He’ll start on the International Tennis Federation’s lower rungs and hope to earn enough points and cash to join Association of Tennis Professionals ranks.
It’s nice to have a finance degree from a Big Ten university in his pocket — and the memories of playing college tennis with Mitchell.
“It was pretty cool that we got partnered up in doubles together, it’s really a stress-free environment. We make each other laugh the whole time, nobody’s getting upset with each other,” Max Sheldon said.
“Having your best friend on the team with you is a really cool experience to have.”
Good field, good hit
Illinois State sophomore outfielder Julia Larson (St. Charles North) earned her first Missouri Valley Conference honor with a nod on the MVC all-defensive team. Larson turned 87 of 96 chances into outs with 7 additional assists from her right field spot. In conference play she hit .327 with a league-leading 4 triples.
Drought ends
Western Michigan junior pitcher Joey Wizceb (Vernon Hills) was named Mid-American Conference pitcher of the week on May 5. The 6-foot-2 left-hander threw the Broncos’ first 9-inning complete-game shutout since 2016 in a 3-hit, 6-0 win over Central Michigan. Wizceb didn’t allow multiple base runners in the same inning until a pair of seventh-inning singles. He got out of the inning and retired the next six batters for the win.