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Wayne State University Athletics

4
Winner Wayne State WSUM (20-9)
0
Ferris State FSU (15-4)
Winner
Wayne State WSUM
(20-9)
4
Final
0
Ferris State FSU
(15-4)
Men's Tennis 2023 GLIAC Championship Photo
GLIAC Media Relations
The 2023 GLIAC Championship winning men's tennis team after their win vs. FSU on Sunday.

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

Men's Tennis Shuts Out Ferris State to Win 2023 GLIAC Championship

The Warriors have won back-to-back conference titles.

MIDLAND, Mich. -- The No. 10-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (20-9 overall) won its third GLIAC Championship in the last four seasons after a 4-0 defeat of No. 19-ranked Ferris State University (15-4 overall) on Sunday morning inside the Greater Midland Tennis Center.

The team previously won titles in 2022 and 2019, with the 2020 event not being held due to COVID-19.  WSU was the two seed, while FSU was the top seed in this year's tournament.

DOUBLES
After falling to the Bulldogs in the regular season, including dropping the doubles point in that first meeting, the Warriors began the match by posting the first tally on the scoreboard.

The team of Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) and Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) grabbed a 6-1 win at the second position over Alessandro Santangelo and Esunge Ndumbe. 

Winning together for the fifth consecutive time (with one unfinished match in between) were the No. 3 doubles duo of Dom Spicer (London, England) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark).  They posted a a 6-3 victory over Yannic Mader and Erik Kovacs to help the Green and Gold reach an early 1-0 edge.

The all-ranked affair at the top flight between third-ranked Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany)/Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) and the No. 23-ranked Jan Koupil/Benjamin Lortie went unfinished.  The two Warriors were ahead by a 5-4 score at the time the match was called.

SINGLES
WSU put the finishing touches on a conference championship by winning the first three completed singles matches and making quick work of FSU.

The three members of the Green and Gold who did not receive an opportunity to finish their matches on Saturday were able to on Sunday, with all three picking up wins and contributing to the final score.

Drenth, the No. 17-ranked player in the nation and coming off his GLIAC Player of the Year award, posted a 6-3, 6-1 triumph in straight sets over Koupil at the No. 1 spot.  HIs winning streak extended to 10 matches (the same as the overall team winning streak), including two wins vs. Ferris State in that span.

Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich.) dropped Santangelo by scores of 6-3 and 7-5 to earn another point for WSU at the fifth position.

Also victorious was Laws at the No. 6 spot.  He drew Ndumbe as his opponent, and handled the Ferris State player by back-to-back 6-3 scores.

Grey (at the No. 2 spot), Karcz (No. 3 spot) and Spicer (No. 4 spot) had their contests go unfinished on Sunday.  They recorded the three wins for the team in the semifinal match on Saturday.

UP NEXT
By virtue of its GLIAC title, Wayne State earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.  Where they will play, however, is still to be determined.  The selection show is set for Monday, April 24, at 8 p.m. and will be streaming live on NCAA.com.

 
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