Bulldog Duo Earns Runner-Up Doubles Honors At ITA Midwest Regional Championships

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's tennis doubles tandem of Morgan Waller and Sam Stephenson came up just short in their bid to claim the 2021 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championship as action wrapped up on Monday (Sept. 20) in Indianapolis.

Waller and Stephenson suffered a 6-4, 6-1 setback in the regional doubles title match to the University of Indianapolis' Anna Novikova and Bella Dunlap, who with the win advanced to the ITA Cup National Championships next month in Rome, Ga. Novikova was part of the nation's top-ranked doubles pairing a year ago and the two UIndy competitors also reached the finals and faced each other in the A singles draw at the regional championships.

Despite the setback, Waller and Stephenson are strong candidates to potentially receive an at-large berth into the ITA Cup National Championships based on their strong performance this weekend. The at-large selections for the 16-team doubles field at the national championships will be announced in the near future.

This weekend, en route to reaching the finals of the main draw, Waller and Stephenson upset the nation's #2-ranked tandem of Sofia Sharanova and Maria Solnyshkina from UIndy in the quarterfinals before topping a Southwest Baptist (Mo.) duo of Diana Cabrera and Paula Ballesteros in the semifinals. 

Overall, they compiled a 4-1 record on the weekend.

Complete results from the ITA Regional Championships can be found at this link:
https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/competitions/UnivOfIndianapolisW/Tournaments/draws/512F0B87-0C08-4030-A3A0-82FA105D9E04