2018 GLIAC Men's Tennis Tournament Central
GLIAC -- The field for the 2018 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Men's Tennis Tournament is finalized with action set to take place beginning this Friday, April 20 with the champion being crowned Sunday, April 22nd inside the Greater Midland Tennis Center in Midland, Michigan.
The Ferris State Bulldogs captured their fourth consecutive GLIAC regular season championship following a perfect 8-0 league record, including 18-2 overall on the season. FSU is ranked No. 21 in the country and will head to the GLIAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed where they will receive a first-round bye. Steward Sell, Pablo Munoz Baroja, Nur Admin Ramdani Iswan and Daniil Tarantinov lead the Bulldogs into the postseason after those four FSU standouts earned conference player of the week recognition throughout the season. FSU won all but 13 points out of 72 possible in eight league matches and are ranked No. 3 in the latest Midwest Region rankings.
Wayne State, guided by No. 37 nationally-ranked Mats Westkamp, earned the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye after going 6-2 in league play while Northwood also posted a 6-2 mark and the No. 3 seed as the Warriors downed the Timberwolves earlier in the season by a narrow 5-4 decision. WSU is 13-10 overall on the year and currently placed No. 6 in the D2 Midwest Regional rankings. Northwood is currrently ranked No. 31st in the country and fourth in the region and are led by Mikhail Fomenkov at No. 1 singles. Northwood will battle No. 6 seed Tiffin who was the last team in the tournament following a 3-5 league record and led by Luis Ludena at first singles.
The No. 4 seed goes to Grand Valley State who recorded a 5-3 conference record along with new crosstown rivals Davenport who lands in the No. 5 position after GVSU captured a tight 5-4 victory over DU back on April 4th. The Lakers (No. 7 Midwest Region) and Panthers will meet up once again on Friday in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals scheduled for 6:45 PM in Midland. Sebastien Lescoulie leads GVSU as the 68th ranked player in the country along with Jack Geissler who is 12-4 at No. 2 singles this season. Davenport is led by Marc Lerch at No. 1 singles and J.L. Van Antwerpen in the second position.
