Bulldog tennis wrapped up the fall portion of their season with the women dominating a win over Bucknell on Saturday, Oct. 14 and the men competing at the ITA cup on the same day.
Both the men and women played in the Davenport tournament and the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regionals during the fall. The women played their regionals at the University of Indianapolis while the men played theirs at Grand Valley State University.
Women’s tennis
The women took on Division I Bucknell as they took care of business at home. The Bulldogs dominated in the doubles matchups to start the matchup winning all three of the matches.
Head coach Mark Doren highlighted what is important for the team.
“That’s crucial to the success of our team,” Doren said. “The women’s team really prides themselves it gets us started out one zero, and then you can add the momentum of doubles going into the singles. I think that’s really important for the Ferris women’s tennis team and yesterday, we were dominant in doubles.”
Sophomore Ana Sofia Hernandez Ferrer and senior Morgan Waller won their match 6-2, senior Sophie Daavettila and freshman Aimee Reynoso Cupido were victorious in their match, winning 7-5, and sophomore Maria Fernanda Hernandez Ferrer and junior Kennedy Dumas came out on top 6-2.
The team carried that momentum into the singles competition as they won 4 out of the 6 matches.
Daavettila defeated Whitney King in three sets, after losing the first set 5-7, Daavettila went on to win the next 2 sets 6-4, and 10-5. Waller won in 2 sets, winning 6-1 and 6-3. Cupido defeated her opponent in 2 sets 7-6 and 6-3. Kennedy Dumas won in 2 sets, 6-1 and 6-3.
Daavettila was feeling the moment as she clinched the win for the Bulldogs.
“It was a super awesome moment to win my match and clinch it for the team,” Daavettila said. “It was a super hard fight and happy I was able to come back with my team cheering for me.”
The team finished its final fall match with a win and now they will continue to practice and learn for the spring season.
Men’s Tennis
The duo of senior Jan Koupil and senior Ben Lortie was invited to compete at the ITA Cup on the road
Koupil and Lortie won their first match against their opponent before advancing to the match that resulted in their only loss on the weekend. Following the loss, the duo ended their ITA Cup with a victory.
Koupil is looking forward to competing more with his partner Lortie and learning from each other.
“Ben and I, we’ve played together for just over a year now,” Koupil said. “We’ve really gotten to know how each other plays by just playing together, communicating, learning from each other and learning from the team as well. It will really help us grow together more.”
According to a Ferris State press release, the duo of Koupil and Lortie were among the “at large” selections that received invitations to the ITA Cup from their ITA regional performances in September.
In the same release, Doren expressed that the duo did Ferris proud and felt the team will be strong come spring.
“The guys finished the ITA Cup with a great win and really represented Ferris State, the Midwest Region and themselves very well,” Doren said.
Both tennis squads will return to action in February. Their first matchup will be at Findlay on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m.