Courtesy of Ferris State Athletic Communications
BIG RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Ferris State University men's tennis team officially claimed its third-straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Regular-Season Championship as FSU completed league play unbeaten with an impressive 7-2 win over Tiffin on Saturday (April 15) at the Gillmor Courts in Tiffin, Ohio.
The Bulldogs, who are ranked 15th nationally, swept the Dragons in doubles play and then managed to win four of the six singles flights in the regular-season finale while improving to 16-2 overall and a perfect 9-0 in league action.
The win was FSU's 10th in a row this year and capped an unbeaten stretch for FSU in the final weekend of league regular-season play.
Two years ago, in 2015, Ferris State had won its first league regular-season championship since 1999 and first outright crown since 1994. With this year's championship, the men's tennis squad joined the FSU women's volleyball team and men's basketball squad in capturing a third-straight league regular-season and/or tournament title.
Prior to the current three-year stretch, Northwood had won the previous 20 regular-season crowns in a row dating back to 1995, including a share of the title with FSU in 1999. Either Northwood or Ferris State have won the GLIAC Championship every year since 1982. The two schools shared the crown in 1982 before FSU had a 12-year run as the outright champion before the NU stretch.
In Saturday's final day of league action against Tiffin, the Bulldogs dominated the doubles round with wins of 8-5, 8-1 and 8-4 from top to bottom at the first, second and third flights, respectively.
Meanwhile, in singles play, the Bulldogs got straight-set wins from standouts Till Von Winning and Vasil Surduk at the top two positions with both Nur Adim Ramdani Iswan and freshman Pable Munoz Baroja posting three-set triumphs and their respective fourth and sixth flights in the lineup.
Overall, eight different FSU players contributed to the team win with Von Winning, Surduk and Iswan all posting double wins on the day.
Tiffin had entered the weekend tied for second place overall in the GLIAC behind the Bulldogs with only a single league setback on the year.
The Bulldogs will be the top seed for the GLIAC Tournament, which takes place Friday thru Sunday (April 21-23) at the Midland Community Tennis Center in Midland. Action gets underway with first round play on Friday night at 6:45 p.m. (ET) followed by second-round play Saturday at 3:45 p.m. and Sunday's final day of action starting at 8:30 a.m.
Official tournament matchups will be announced by the GLIAC office soon.
