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Wayne State University Athletics

1
Grand Valley State GV-M (15-8)
4
Winner Wayne State WSUM (16-10)
Grand Valley State GV-M
(15-8)
1
Final
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Wayne State WSUM
(16-10)
Winner
Men's Tennis After Clinching NCAA Midwest Regional vs. GVSU (05/14/2024)
Ferris State Athletics
WSU will take a 16-10 record to Altamonte Springs, Fla., next week.

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Men's Tennis Punches Florida Ticket After Win Over #44-GVSU in NCAA Midwest Regional

The Warriors will appear next week in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16.

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- The No. 20-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (16-10 overall) officially clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 following a 4-1 victory over #44-Grand Valley State (15-8 overall) in the NCAA Midwest Regional final round on Tuesday afternoon at the tennis courts of Big Rapids High School.

The contest pitted the No. 3 seed Warriors against the No. 7 seed Lakers.  WSU narrowly defeated #37-Tiffin 4-3 on Monday through rain delays and a late start, while GVSU shut out the host (and No. 2 seed) Ferris State by a 4-0 margin in the day's first match.  It was the third meeting of the campaign between Wayne State and Grand Valley State, with the Green and Gold also recording triumphs over its Allendale rivals on April 12 (4-3) and April 27 (4-2) during the GLIAC Tournament.

The Warriors will next be advancing to Altamonte Springs, Fla., and Sanlando Park for the NCAA Round of 16, which will be the third straight year they have done so.  The program played in the NCAA Quarterfinals a season ago and in the NCAA Championship Match against Barry University in 2022.

DOUBLES
Similar to the other two times in which the squads played one another, Wayne State grabbed the doubles point to commandeer a 1-0 advantage early in the affair.

WSU's nationally ranked tandems did the work, as both pairings claimed victories.  Division II's top-ranked duo of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) tallied a 6-3 win against Freddy Cossio and Sean Miller, while the No. 27-ranked Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) and Dom Spicer (London, England) managed a 6-1 triumph over Lucas Gonzalez and Victor Lopes.  The contests were at the first and second flights, respectively, while the Drenth and Grey victory officially earned the point for the Green and Gold.

Over at the No. 3 position, Joe Steele (Beverly Hills, Mich. / U. of Detroit Jesuit) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark) were leading 5-4 vs. Chimo Minguez and Jorge Ruiz, but the affair was abandoned and went unfinished.

SINGLES
The Green and Gold went on to register three wins in four completed singles matches to finish the job at the NCAA Midwest Regional.

First to finish was Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich. / Walled Lake Central (United States Air Force Academy)), who avenged his 6-0, 6-2 loss on Monday against Tiffin by winning at the fourth flight on Tuesday by those same two set scores against Lopes.  The decision snapped a three-match losing skid for the senior Warrior.

GVSU's lone point on the scoreboard came next, as Ruiz defeated Laws by 6-2 and 6-3 scores to cut the Lakers' deficit to 2-1 with four points left available.

However, the Green and Gold sealed the contest by winning the matches at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, which is where Drenth and Spicer were competing once again.  Drenth, the No. 14-ranked player in the country, defeated the No. 72-ranked Sean Miller via back-to-back 6-3 sets, while Spicer downed Gonzalez 6-4, 6-2 at the third flight.  Both matches finished right after the other and quickly gave the Warriors the two points they needed to advance to Florida.

A total of two affairs did not finish on Tuesday.  Grey, the fifth-ranked singles player in Division II, squared off with the No. 62-ranked Zamaraiev at the No. 1 flight.  The senior Warrior managed a 6-3 win in the opening set but was trailing his GVSU opponent 4-1 in the second set when action ended.

Mikkelsen fell 7-5 to Cossio at the No. 6 spot in the first set.  He was ahead by a slim 1-0 margin early in the next set before play stopped.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will compete in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla., against an opponent to be determined following other regional action on Tuesday.  The Warriors will see the court next on Tuesday, May 21, at either 8 a.m. or 12 p.m. for the opening round of the Florida portion of the NCAA Championships.

 
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