Men's Tennis Drops Battle Of Ranked Teams

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis squad suffered a 7-2 setback to Northwest Missouri State in a battle of nationally-ranked NCAA Division II teams on Wednesday (March 10) afternoon in Marysville, Mo.

The Bulldogs, who are ranked 44th in the current Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division II poll, fell to the 26th-ranked Bearcats at the Frank Grube and High Rise Courts.  FSU fell to 3-2 overall with its second consecutive loss on its annual spring break trip.

Northwest Missouri State swept the three doubles matches and earned four straight-set victories in singles play as they improved to 3-0 overall this campaign with the home-opening triumph.

Northwest’s Vijit Sehgal and Ryan Westerhof rallied from a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Bulldog tandem of Jack Swan and Justin Hermes 9-7 at number two doubles. Malcolm Harrison and Raphael Oliveira won 8-3 at number one doubles over FSU's Kyle Revall and Steven Roberts while the Bearcats' Felipe Gennari and Daniel Quesada teamed to pick up an 8-4 win at number three against Ferris' pairing of Ahmet Demir and Arin Enge.

Northwest’s Harrison and Calvin Peterson defeated FSU's Revall and Hermes and the first and fourth singles flights, respectively. Gennari and Sehgal also won singles matches versus Demir and Swan at two and three individually.

Ferris State managed to pick up victories at number five and number six singles with Roberts and Tyler Marengo both registering wins.

The Bulldogs, who are fourth in the ITA Midwest Regional Rankings, next visit Southwest Baptist (Mo.) on Thursday (March 11) for a 1 p.m. (EST) non-league match.  Ferris then wraps up its five-match road trip by taking on Washburn (Kan.) this Friday (March 12) starting at 10 a.m. (EST) in Topeka, Kan.