Ferris State Tennis Beats Northwood To Reach NCAA D2 Midwest Regional Final

Highlights/Interview 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis squad advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional final for the fourth consecutive year as the Bulldogs beat archrival Northwood 5-1 in the first round of the national tournament on Monday (April 30) in Springfield, Mo.

With the win, the Bulldogs will move on to face host Drury (Mo.) on Tuesday (May 1) in the regional championship match starting at 4 p.m. (ET) at DU's Cooper Tennis Complex with a berth in the D2 Sweet Sixteen on the line.

In Tuesday's triumph over the nationally 40th-ranked Timberwolves, the Bulldogs jumped out to a 2-1 lead following the doubles round with convincing wins at the top two flights in the lineup. FSU's number one doubles squad of Steward Sell and Nur Adim Ramdani Iswan captured an 8-2 victory at the first spot with the number two pairing of Mathis Guerre and Pablo Munoz Baroja pulling out an 8-5 win.

In singles play, the Bulldogs sealed the victory and put the match away with straight-set wins at the top three flights from Sell, Iswan and Austin DeBruyne from one to three, respectively. The other three matches went unfinished.

The win was FSU's 18th-straight to date this season and lifted the nationally 19th-ranked Bulldogs to 21-2 overall. It was also the Bulldogs' second victory over NU this campaign.

The Bulldog men's team is making its 22nd all-time NCAA Tourney appearance and is guided by first-year head coach Daniel Hangstefer. FSU earned the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (GLIAC) automatic qualifying spot.

The winner of Tuesday's NCAA Midwest Regional #2 bracket will advance to the NCAA-II National Championships May 9-12 in Surprise, Ariz.

The opening round national tournament win came in a showdown of the two GLIAC powers. This season, Ferris State won the GLIAC's outright regular-season title for the fourth-straight year and captured a third-straight league tournament championship. Prior to the last four years, Northwood had won the previous 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 Championship in the regular season every year since 1982.

A win on Tuesday in the regional final would lift FSU to the Sweet Sixteen for the third consecutive season. Two years ago, Ferris State made its deepest NCAA Tournament run ever by reaching the Division II Final Four in Denver, Colo. The Bulldogs then made another strong run a year ago by reaching the D2 Elite Eight.

The complete match results can be found at this link:
Boxscore - Ferris State 5, Northwood 1

#19 Ferris State 5, #40 Northwood 1
Apr 30, 2018 at Springfield, MO (Cooper Tennis Complex)