Visiting Northwood Pulls Out Close Win To Hold Off Bulldogs In GLIAC Race
Big Rapids, Mich. - Perennial Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) men's tennis champion Northwood used an early doubles advantage to get by host Ferris State in a tightly-contested league title showdown on Thursday (April 17) at the FSU Racquet and Fitness Center.
The Timberwolves claimed at least a share of their 20th consecutive league regular-season crown and denied FSU its first GLIAC regular-season championship since 1994 with the win. NU can win the league's outright title by beating Wayne State next week.
Ferris State entered the match having won eight league encounters in a row and was coming off a thrilling 5-4 road win over rival Grand Valley State in a late-night match on Tuesday in Grandville.
In the doubles round, two of the three flights were determined by 9-8 scores with NU taking the top position and FSU's pairing of Laurent Mailloux and Otto Keresztes winning the second. The Timberwolves also picked up a 8-5 at third doubles to grab the lead heading into singles play.
Three of the six singles spots went to three sets with the Bulldogs' Keresztes and Jose Calero claiming two of them at four and five singles, respectively. FSU's Laurent Galarneau was also a straight-set winner at the number one flight.
However, NU managed to pick up key wins at the second and third singles positions along with the sixth flight to split the six singles contests and hold on for the win. The Timberwolves improved to 13-3 overall and 9-1 in league play with the win.
Ferris State had ended a long Northwood reign by winning the GLIAC Tournament title two years ago (2012), but has not captured an outright league regular-season championship since 1994. The two schools shared the GLIAC's overall title in 1999 under the previous scoring format with NU taking the regular-season title and FSU winning the conference tourney.
Thursday's showdown was the Bulldogs' last league regular-season match and FSU's final home contest of the season. FSU will take part in the 2014 GLIAC Tournament set for April 25-27 at the Midland Community Tennis Center.
Below are the complete match results:
Northwood 5, Ferris State 4
Apr 17, 2014 at Big Rapids, Mich. (FSU Racquet & Fitness Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Laurent Galarneau (FS) def. Jean Menard (NU) 6-3, 6-3 |
| 2. Lorenzo Montegiorgi (NU) def. Aaron Dial (FS) 6-2, 6-1 |
| 3. Salikh Gilmutdinov (NU) def. Laurent Mailloux (FS) 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 |
| 4. Otto Keresztes (FS) def. Konstantin Zhukov (NU) 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 |
| 5. Jose Calero (FS) def. Austin Woody (NU) 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 |
| 6. Felipe C.Bastistella (NU) def. A Giacomazzi Serafim (FS) 7-6, 6-4 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Jean Menard/Lorenzo Montegiorgi (NU) def. Laurent Galarneau/Aaron Dial (FS) 9-8 |
| 2. Laurent Mailloux/Otto Keresztes (FS) def. Konstantin Zhukov/Samual Walendowsky (NU) 9-8 |
| 3. Austin Woody/Salikh Gilmutdinov (NU) def. Jose Calero/Will Huntington (FS) 8-5 |