Women's Tennis Beats Longtime Rival Northwood To Move Atop GLIAC Standings

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's tennis squad took over sole possession of first place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) standings with a hard-fought 4-3 win over longtime tennis rival Northwood on Tuesday (April 13) at the Greater Midland Tennis Center in Midland.

The Bulldogs won the battle of the league's last two remaining unbeaten conference schools by sweeping the doubles round for the initial point in the match and then earning a split in the six singles flights.

With the win, nationally 21st-ranked Ferris State moved to 10-1 overall and a perfect 5-0 in the GLIAC while NU fell to 8-6 overall and 5-1 in conference play.

The Bulldogs' three doubles wins included a pair of triumphs by identical 7-5 scores at the number one and two spots in the lineup. The third doubles tandem posted a decisive 6-0 win.

Three of the six singles spots went to third sets with FSU's Agata Klak garnering a big win at four singles. The Bulldogs also got straight-set wins from Brittany Lavenant and Patricia Martin Gomez at the fifth and sixth flights, respectively, as FSU swept the bottom three positions in the lineup for the win.

Ferris State's win was its second in a row in regular-season play over the Timberwolves following a 4-3 win at home in 2019 (9/15), which had snapped a 22-match series' winning streak for Northwood dating back to 2004.

The victory was the 10th in a row for the Bulldogs this year and FSU improved to 4-1 in matches played outside of their home court. The match was Ferris State's third in the last four days with three more yet to come this week.

The Bulldogs will be right back on the court again Wednesday (April 14) with another conference showdown at West Michigan rival Grand Valley State. The match is slated for a 2 p.m. (ET) start. The Lakers also currently own a 5-1 conference record this year.

FSU then heads to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for matches at Lake Superior State on Friday (April 16) and Michigan Tech on Saturday (April 17) before concluding league regular-season play at Saginaw Valley State next Tuesday (April 20).

The complete boxscore can be found at this link:

https://ferrisstate.prestosports.com/sports/wten/2020-21/files/NU-FS.xtg