Strong Weekend For Bulldog Women's Tennis As Doubles Duo Advances To ITA Regional Final

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's tennis squad had a strong weekend of action at the 2021 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships held in Indianapolis.

The Bulldogs' doubles tandem of Morgan Waller and Sam Stephenson advanced to the finals of the main draw, upsetting the nation's #2-ranked tandem of Sofia Sharanova and Maria Solnyshkina from UIndy in the quarterfinals before topping a Southwest Baptist (Mo.) duo of Diana Cabrera and Paula Ballesteros in the semifinals. 

The Bulldog pairing of Waller and Stephenson will now take part in Monday's ITA Midwest Regional finals starting at 9 a.m. (ET) and would advance to the ITA Cup National Championships in Rome, Ga., with a victory.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs overcame the injury bug and produced outstanding results in other matches as well. Three Bulldog players earned first-round wins in the main singles draw while Sophie Daavettila recorded a second-round victory to reach the round of 16 before falling in a tightly-contested 7-6, 6-4, (10-7) match against the number six seed.

"I am so impressed with the fight and determination these ladies have shown over the course of the weekend," said head coach Mark Doren. "We have had some great results and outstanding play and are looking to cap it off in the doubles finals on Monday morning. It has been so long since we've even had a team reach the doubles final so this is a big accomplishment for them."

Complete results from the ITA Regional Championships can be found at this link:
https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/competitions/UnivOfIndianapolisW/Tournaments/draws/512F0B87-0C08-4030-A3A0-82FA105D9E04