Davenport Connection
Ferris football hired interim Davenport head coach Steve Casula as an offensive coordinator and assistant coach for the reigning Midwest region champs. Casula will fill roles held by Kyle Nystrom and Sparky McEwen after both assistant coaches earned head coaching jobs at Northwestern and Davenport respectively.
Casula became the interim head coach for the Davenport Panthers after former Ferris defensive coordinator Lou Esposito resigned as head coach. Esposito and Casula helped Davenport to become a National Athletic Intercollegiate Association (NAIA) program after guiding it through a “practice” season in 2015. Esposito resigned in January and McEwen filled the position in February after Davenport went 6-5 in its first official season in 2016.
Davenport will become a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Conference (GLIAC) team in the 2017 season. Casula and McEwin will be reunited with Ferris head coach Tony Annese and the rest of the coaching staff when the Dawgs play the Panthers Saturday, Nov. 4, 2017.
Three-peat and some more please
Three-time reigning GLIAC champion Ferris volleyball will face some tough tune-up games in their spring exhibition schedule loaded with Div. 1 competition. The Dawgs began this schedule Friday, March 17, at home when they played the Central Michigan Chippewas.
Western Michigan will host an all-day event Saturday, April 1, against Ferris. Afterwards, the Dawgs will have their skills tested against a variety of schools of the region Saturday, April 8, at the Dunes in Indiana. The last contest scheduled is against new GLIAC foe Davenport Thursday, April 13, in Grand Rapids.
Due to NCAA regulations, no official scores or results are published for Spring exhibition. However, the Bulldogs went 30-6 last year and will look to build on that success next year.
Rackin’ up the wins
Ferris Men’s tennis cruised through the competition this weekend on March 17-19 as the Dawgs went 3-0 at the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover in Plainfield, Illinois. Ferris defeated Southern Indiana Friday, March 17, by score of 6-3.
The Dawgs finished their undefeated weekend with a 7-2 victory over Lewis improving to a 9-2 record this season. This sweep came a week after Ferris lost both games in a southwest road trip. National No. 15 Midwestern State defeated the No. 20 Bulldogs 7-2 with stellar doubles play Tuesday, March 7. Ferris lost a close match 5-4 to Southeastern Oklahoma the following Thursday, March 9.
Prior to those losses, the Bulldogs were 6-0 with three shutouts. The win-streak was snapped, but the play of the Dawgs was not as they came back with another unbeaten weekend after taking the only two losses of the season.
The Bulldogs will focus next on Grand Valley when the Dawgs take on the Lakers in Grand Rapids Tuesday, March 28.