Ferris State Takes Sole Possession Of First Place In GLIAC With Monumental Win Over Northwood
Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's tennis team pulled off a monumental win over archrival Northwood on Thursday (April 9) as the Bulldogs took over sole possession of first place in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) standings with a 6-3 triumph over the Timberwolves before a standing room-only crowd at the FSU Racquet and Fitness Center in Big Rapids.
Northwood, which has won the last 20 GLIAC regular-season crowns to date since 1995, had also won 171 of its last 172 GLIAC regular-season matches prior to the road setback to the Bulldogs.
With the win, Ferris State improved to 13-5 overall and 6-0 in the GLIAC this year and can stop Northwood's regular-season conference championship streak by winning its final three regular-season outings.
The nationally 47th-ranked Bulldogs jumped out in front of the 22nd-ranked Timberwolves early by sweeping the doubles round. The senior tandem of Laurent Galarneau and Aaron Dial pulled out a key 9-8 victory over the region's seventh-ranked tandem of NU's Sebastian Eguez and Austin Woody to help key the doubles sweep.
In singles action, Ferris State then captured the top three flights to complete the victory. Galarneau, ranked sixth individually in the region, beat NU's seventh-ranked Eguez at the number one flight in a three-setter by a 6-0, 6-7, 10-8 score while FSU's Vasil Surduk and Roger Hernandez-Pena were both straight-set winners at the second and third positions in the lineup, respectively.
Northwood entered the match as the number two team in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Rankings announced in late March while FSU was the region's fifth-ranked squad.
Either Northwood or Ferris State have won the GLIAC Championship every year since 1982. The two schools shared the crown in 1982 before FSU had a 12-year run as the outright champion. Since then, though, Northwood has claimed 20-straight regular season crowns, including a share of the championship with the Bulldogs in 1999.
The win over Northwood was FSU's first overall since 2012 when the Bulldogs stopped NU's streak of 12-straight GLIAC Tournament titles with a milestone 5-4 victory in Midland for the postseason championship. Each of the two previous regular-season matchups between the two schools at the FSU Racquet and Fitness Center had been decided by 5-4 scores in the Timberwolves' favor before the Bulldogs finally pulled out the victory this time around.
Ferris State has won won six-straight matches overall this season with FSU's last loss coming back on March 18 to NCAA Division I Western Michigan.
The Bulldogs will next play their final regular-season home tilt against Wayne State on Sunday (April 12) starting at 11 a.m. (ET) at the FSU Racquet & Fitness Center.
Below are the complete match results:
#47 Ferris State 6, #22 Northwood 3
Apr 09, 2015 at Big Rapids, Mich. (FSU Racquet & Fitness Center)
| Singles competition |
| 1. Laurent Galarneau (FS) def. Sebastian Eguez (NU) 6-0, 6-7, 10-8 |
| 2. Vasil Surduk (FS) def. Salikh Gilmutdinov (NU) 6-2, 6-3 |
| 3. Roger Hernandez-Pena (FS) def. Austin Woody (NU) 6-1, 6-0 |
| 4. Konstantin Zhukov (NU) def. Tyler Bridges (FS) 7-6, 6-1 |
| 5. Felipe C.Bastistella (NU) def. Zachary Grabovic (FS) 6-7, 7-6, 12-10 |
| 6. Tanini Kader (NU) def. Conner Hunt (FS) 1-6, 6-1, 10-6 |
| Doubles competition |
| 1. Laurent Galarneau/Aaron Dial (FS) def. Sebastian Eguez/Austin Woody (NU) 9-8 |
| 2. Vasil Surduk/Tyler Bridges (FS) def. Konstantin Zhukov/Henrik Hellbe (NU) 8-4 |
| 3. Roger Hernandez-Pena/Zachary Grabovic (FS) def. Salikh Gilmutdinov/Tanini Kader (NU) 8-4 |
