Ferris State Claims Runner-Up Honors In 2015 GLIAC Men's Tennis Tourney

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis team finished as the runner-up in the 2015 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament on Sunday (April 26) as the Bulldogs fell to rival Northwood by a 5-3 score in the title match in Midland.

Top-seeded Ferris State, which captured the GLIAC regular-season crown this season, opened the tournament following a first-round bye with a semifinal win over Wayne State on Saturday. However, the third-seeded Timberwolves pulled off a second-straight upset in the tournament by rallying back against the Bulldogs.

FSU took a 2-1 lead following doubles play with wins at the top two positions in tandem play. NU's lone victory in doubles competition came at the third flight in the lineup.

In singles action, though, the Timberwolves bounced back to to capture four of the five completed flights to record the triumph. FSU picked up a victory from Vasil Surduk at the number two spot in straight-sets.

This year's regular-season title marked FSU's first outright crown since 1994. Prior to this year, Northwood had won the last 20 regular-season crowns in a row dating back to 1995, including a share of the title with FSU in 1999. Either Northwood or Ferris State have won the GLIAC Regular-Season Championship every year since 1982. The two schools shared the crown in 1982 before FSU had a 12-year run as the outright champion prior to the NU stretch.

The Bulldogs, who are currently ranked third in the most recent Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Rankings, are now 17-6 overall following Sunday's setback and were a perfect 9-0 in regular-season action.

Three years ago, in 2012, 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. NU most recently topped the Bulldogs 5-2 in the 2013 GLIAC Tourney title match before FSU took fourth place in 2014 and runner-up laurels this season.

The GLIAC Tournament represented the Bulldogs' final competition until an expected berth into the NCAA Division II Tournament. The NCAA Division II men's tennis selection show is Tuesday, April 29, at 8:30 p.m. (ET) with a live stream of the selection show available at NCAA.com. FSU will also hold a live selection show watch gathering at the Wheeler Pavilion on the FSU campus starting prior to the women's selection show at 8 p.m. (ET).

Below are the complete match results:

Northwood 5 | Ferris State 3

 #1 Galarneau/Dial (FS) def. Equez/Woody (NU) 8-2
#2 Surduk/Bridges (FS) def. Batistella/Zhukov (NU) 9-8 (7-3)
#Kader/Gilmutdinov (NU) def. Hernandez Grabovic (FS) 8-5

#1 Equez (NU) def. Galarneau (FS) 6-3, 6-4
#2 Surduk (FS) def. Gilmutdinov (NU) 6-3, 6-4
#4 Zhukov (NU) def. Bridges (FS) 6-3, 6-4
#5 Bastistella (NU) def. Grabovic (FS) 6-3, 6-4
#6 Kader (NU) def. Dial (FS) 5-7, 6-2, 6-3