Back-to-back conference champs!

Men's tennis becomes fourth Ferris team to win back-to-back conference championships

The Ferris State men’s tennis team continued their domination of the GLIAC with a 5-2 victory over Grand Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament finals in Midland.

Ferris State also won the GLIAC regular season for the second straight year, making them the fourth Ferris State team to win the GLIAC in back-to-back seasons, joining the football, volleyball and men’s basketball teams.

The No. 1 seed Bulldogs received a first-round bye before beating No. 5 seed Northwood 5-2 in the second round on Saturday, April 30.

Ferris took a bit of a scare when they finished the doubles matches trailing Grand Valley 2-1. Ferris State’s No.1 doubles flight of sophomore Vasil Surduk and freshman Nur Adim Iswan took down Grand Valley’s No. 1 doubles team of Alex van de Steenoven and Zach Phillips by a score of 9-7.

The Bulldogs dropped the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches, but came back strong in singles. Surduk took home the No.1 singles match 6-1, 6-3 and Nur Adim Iswan won his No. 3 singles match 6-3, 6-0 to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.

Ferris sophomore Simon Levy then won in straight sets at No. 6 singles to extend the lead to 4-2 before Daniil Tarantinov toppled Grand Valley State No. 5 singles player Nick Urban 6-3, 6-3.

After that, there was no reason for the No. 2 singles and No. 4 singles players to finish their matches, as the Bulldogs were GLIAC Champions. The win marked the first time since the GLIAC Tournament began in 2010 that the Bulldogs have won both the regular season and the postseason tourney.

Ferris State’s accolades didn’t stop with the GLIAC trophy. Surduk won 2016 GLIAC Athlete of the Year, No. 2 singles player Till Von Winning took home GLIAC Freshman of the Year and head coach Chad Berryhill was named the GLIAC Coach of the Year.

Both Surduk and Von Winning were awarded first-team All-GLIAC honors while Nur Adim Iswan and freshman No. 4 singles player Steward Sell were named to the All-GLIAC second team. Tarantinov was named to the honorable mention team for the Bulldogs as well.

The Bulldogs are currently 21-4 and undefeated in the GLIAC. Their next step is the NCAA Tournament when the Midwest Regionals begin on Friday, May 6.