MIDLAND, Mich. – The Wayne State University men's tennis team (11-10 overall, 4-2 GLIAC) earned a pivotal conference win on Thursday, defeating host Northwood (12-3 overall, 4-2 GLIAC) 5-4.

Junior Taylor Vane (Southampton, England) clinched the match, which was tied 4-4, with his 6-7 (4-7), 6-1, 6-2 win over David Reinauer at No. 3 singles.  Vane went 2-0 on the day; he teamed with junior Griffin Mertz (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington) for a 9-8 (7-1) win over Reinauer and Francois Sauerman in the second doubles slot.

DOUBLES RESULTS
The Warriors claimed two of the three doubles matches, with sophomore Mats Westkamp (Bonn, Germany) and freshman Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, Germany) earning an 8-5 win over Mikhail Fomenkov and Kobus Sauerman.

In the third flight, senior Harvey Reed (Winchester, England) and sophomore Derek Sammons (Coldwater, Mich.) fell to Ben Brandherm and Pablo Salamanca (8-6).

SINGLES RESULTS
Mertz gave the Warriors a 3-1 lead with his fourth flight win over Francois Sauerman (6-4, 6-2), but Northwood claimed the next two points.  Reed fell to Brandherm at No. 5 (6-4, 6-2) and Westkamp was bested by Fomenkov (6-4, 6-4) in the second flight.

With the score tied 3-3, Karcz won 6-4, 6-3 over Kobus Sauerman in the second flight.  The Timberwolves countered with a 6-0, 2-6, 6-0 sixth flight win for Salamanca over Sammons.

That led to Vane, who was able to win the final contest to clinch the Green & Gold win.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will close out the regular season with a pair of visits from U.P. teams this weekend.  Michigan Tech will start the weekend matchups at 2 p.m. Saturday, with WSU taking on Lake Superior State 10 a.m. on Sunday.