Ferris State Men's Tennis Opens GLIAC Tournament As Third Seed This Friday

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis team will take part in the 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament this Friday to Sunday, April 25-27, in Midland, Mich.

FSU will be the third seed for this weekend's event and will face number six seed Grand Valley State in the first round on Friday (April 25) with match time set for 6:45 p.m. (ET) at the Midland Community Tennis Center.

The second-round matches will take place on Saturday starting at 3:45 p.m. (ET).  The third and final round will take place on Sunday beginning at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

With a win over GVSU, the Bulldogs would next take on the winner of the quarterfinal match between second-seeded Ohio Dominican and seventh-seeded Findlay in Saturday's semifinals.

The other first round pairings on the opposite side of the bracket include top-seeded Northwood facing number eight seed Michigan Tech along with number four seed Wayne State meeting fifth-seeded Tiffin.

All eight teams involved in the GLIAC Tournament will play three matches each over the course of the three-day event.

The Bulldogs previously beat GVSU by an exciting 5-4 score in Grandville this year (April 15) before wrapping up league regular-season play with a identical 5-4 setback against Northwood two days later (April 17).  FSU enters the tournament having won seven of its last eight league outings.

Ferris State presently owns a 9-13 overall record this season, but completed conference regular-season action with a second-place tying 8-3 league record. FSU, Ohio Dominican, Tiffin and Wayne State all shared the second spot with identical league records in the regular-season with the seedings determined by a tiebreaker.

Two years ago, Ferris State claimed its first GLIAC Tournament Championship since 1999 with a stunning 5-4 triumph over Northwood in the title match.  FSU previously finished as the runner-up to Northwood seven consecutive seasons from 2000-06 and then placed fifth in 2006-07, fourth in 2007-08 and were third overall in 2008-09 before also finishing third in 2010-11. Last season, NU topped the Bulldogs 5-2 in the 2013 GLIAC Tourney title match.

This week, the Bulldogs are currently ranked eighth in the ITA Midwest Regional Rankings under second-year head coach Chad Berryhill.

The GLIAC Tournament represents the Bulldogs' final competition until a possible berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament. The NCAA Division II men's tennis selection show is Tuesday, April 29, at 8 p.m. (ET) with a live stream of the selection show available at NCAA.com.