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Posted: Apr 26, 2022

PREVIEW: Huskies face Grand Valley State in GLIAC Quarterfinals

PREVIEW: Huskies face Grand Valley State in GLIAC Quarterfinals

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Michigan Tech women's tennis will make its sixth straight GLIAC Tournament appearance on Friday, April 29 when the No. 6 seed Huskies take on No. 3 seed Grand Valley State in the quarterfinals. Based on the weather conditions, the match will start at 4 p.m. outdoors in Midland, Michigan.

  • Free video streaming links will be posted to the GLIAC Tennis Tournament web page on www.gliac.org and Tennis Radio will be broadcasting the event for the first time.
  • No. 1 seed Northwood and No. 2 seed Wayne State received a bye in the first round. No. 4 seed Ferris State will play against No. 5 seed Lake Superior State in the other quarterfinal.
  • The Huskies (3-9, 3-5 GLIAC) won two of their final three matches to close the regular season with home wins over Purdue Northwest (4-3) and Davenport (4-0). Tech dropped its final match of the year Saturday at Lake Superior State 5-2.
  • MTU finished the tournament fifth last season and is seeking to place in the top-3 for the first time since Kristin Yep was hired as head coach in spring of 2020. They will first need to defeat the Lakers, who finished 13-5 overall this season with a 6-1 decision over MTU in their only meeting on March 27 in Allendale. 
  • With a 7-1 record in conference matches, GVSU tied for first place with Northwood and Wayne State. Both were placed ahead of the Lakers after tiebreaking procedures.
  • The semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, April 30 with the championship on Sunday, May 1 at 2 p.m. The tournament champion will receive an automatic qualifying bid into the 2022 NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament.
  • Ferris State is defending conference champion and Northwood has won four of the last ten finals.

SCOUTING THE [6] HUSKIES

  • Plagued by injuries at times, Michigan Tech still tallied enough wins to grab the final seed in the postseason tournament. The Huskies feature a pair of seniors, including Nicole Ballach (Waldbroel, Germany) and Ivona Gorgioski (Royal Oak, Michigan).
  • Ballach transferred to Michigan Tech from Hawai'i Pacific and is currently working toward a master's degree. Previously ranked inside the ITA Top-50, she notched a 6-2 record in singles for the Sharks and went 7-5 in doubles in spring 2021. Upon arrival in Houghton, she made an immediate positive impression by making the round of 16 at the annual ITA tournament in singles. Ballach then went 2-3 at No. 1 singles and 4-2 at No. 1 doubles with partner Lauren Opalewski this spring.
  •  Gorgioski serves as team captain and entered her final year with 25 career wins for MTU at No. 1 singles (fifth in school history), along with 30 career wins in doubles. She is currently 2-5 in singles playing between No. 1 and No. 3 and 3-5 in doubles with Marina Fernandez.
  •  With Gorgioski out of the lineup Saturday, junior Dominika Bobik (Wroclaw, Poland) played Lake Superior State in the top singles spot and defeated Nadege Loua 6-2, 6-4. Bobik played primarily No. 2 last season and improved her singles record to 4-4 this spring.
  •  The Huskies hold a 21-43 singles record (.328) and 14-20 record (.412) in doubles. The duo of Ballach and Opalewski have found the most success (4-2), while the pairing of sophomore Chiara Heinz (Schwendi, Germany) and junior Neva Manas (Carmel, Indiana) are 3-5 together, including 3-4 at No. 2.
  • MTU played a heavy road schedule this season, which included trips to Illinois and California for non-conference matches. The team is 0-9 away from Houghton, 3-0 at Gates Tennis Center, and 0-3 against Nationally ranked opponents.

SCOUTING THE [3] LAKERS

  • Grand Valley State was ranked No. 35 in the latest NCAA Division II National rankings poll. The Lakers last won the GLIAC Tournament in 2017. GVSU's only conference loss came on April 15 at Wayne State (5-2). Since then, the Lakers collected three more wins and closed out the regular season with a 7-0 shutout over Saginaw Valley State at home. 
  • Three different players have seen time at No. 1 singles, including senior Vera Griva (Athens, Greece). Griva is 5-6 at No. 1 and defeated Bobik 6-1, 6-0 in Grand Rapids on March 27. In the first meeting between MTU and GVSU, Opalewski was the only winner for the Huskies after she downed senior Marily Canellopoulos (Athens, Greece) in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 at No. 5.
  •  Seven of nine players on the Lakers' roster have winning records in singles, including freshman Estefania Hernandez, who is 14-3 playing between No. 4 and No. 6 in second-year head coach Samantha Schall's lineup book.