The Ferris State tennis teams were in action on Friday, March 15 against the Tiffin Dragons and Saturday, March 16 against the Walsh Cavaliers.
Head coach Mark Doren was encouraged by both teams’ play coming off their spring break trip.
“We got that much-needed match play outdoors last week,” Doren said. “Now that we’re back indoors, it was good to have these matches. Both Tiffin and Walsh brought their best and that’s what we need to prepare for our conference schedule. Both of these teams were ranked in the top 50, so getting a couple of dominant wins feels great.”
Men’s tennis
Coming off a victory in their final Florida match, the men’s team (8-4) added to their win column with a strong 4-3 win over the Dragons.
Despite losing all three doubles flights early on, the team came back to dominate in singles play, winning four of the six matches to take the overall victory. Seniors Benjamin Lortie, Yannic Alexander Mader and Jan Koupil all won in straight sets, along with sophomore Erik Kovacs.
The Bulldogs extended their winning streak to three matches after a clean 7-0 sweep of the Cavaliers.
The first doubles tandem of Lortie and Koupil, along with the second doubles team of sophomore Esunge Ndumbe and junior Alessandro Santangelo secured straight-set victories to propel the Bulldogs to the doubles point.
The men swept the singles field with six victories, only one reaching a third set.
After his weekend of wins, Lortie gave his thoughts on what brought the team to victory.
“Everyone brought a lot of energy,” Lortie said. “Everyone played great tennis, and it’s always great to get two convincing regional wins. This will definitely help build our confidence going into GLIAC matches next week.”
Women’s tennis
After a 5-2 loss to the Dragons on Friday, the women’s team (5-7) won a convincing match against the Cavaliers 6-1 on Saturday.
The Bulldogs took all the doubles matchups behind wins from the one doubles of senior Morgan Waller and sophomore Ana Sofia Hernandez Ferrer, the two doubles team of senior Sophie Daavettila and senior Amelia Laverdiere and the three doubles tandem of sophomore Maria Fernanda Hernandez Ferrer and freshman Katherine Earnest.
Singles play saw Ferris take all but one flight, including a win from freshman Aimee Reynoso Cupido.
Saturday’s contest was also the first match back for Daavettila this semester after an injury from earlier this year.
Doren spoke on getting Daavettila back in the lineup for the matchup against Walsh.
“It was nice to have [Sophie] back,” Doren said. “The whole team has worked so hard, but it’s always good to get back one of our winningest players back in the lineup.”
Friday’s matchup with the Dragons saw the Bulldogs drop the doubles point first and four of the six singles flights. Reynoso Cupido and Maria Hernandez Ferrer secured the two Bulldog points of the match to make the final score 5-2.
Ana Hernandez Ferrer highlighted the team’s weekend path after the win over the Cavaliers.
“It’s important for us as a team to remember that one loss doesn’t define us,” Ferrer said. “Everyone felt more motivated after yesterday to prove how good we are and that we have the level of skill to win the conference this year. The energy our team brings inside and outside of the court is always a big part of our performance, so we always try to be as loud as possible no matter what.”
Both tennis squads will be back in action for GLIAC conference play this weekend. The Bulldogs will travel to take on the Davenport Panthers on Friday, March 22, and the Purdue Northwest Pride on Saturday, March 23. Match play will begin for both teams at 11:30 a.m. on Friday and 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
