Wayne State University Athletics

Men's Tennis 10/1/2019 9:00:00 AM Lauren Bryne, Sports Information Graduate Intern

Men's Tennis Concludes Play at 2019 ITA Regional Tournament

Three WSU singles players and two doubles pairs were seeded.

Junior Niklas Karcz competed in the A Singles semifinals.

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University men's tennis team had seven players compete in the 2019 Midwest Regional Tournament over the weekend, hosted by Grand Valley State.

A SINGLES RESULTS

Junior Niklas Karcz (Bottrop, Germany) was seeded fifth in the competition. Karcz notched a victory over Bellarmine's Evan Bottorff in the first round (6-3, 6-0), before tallying a win against UIndy's Maximillian Witthaus in the second round (6-2, 6-0). In the round of 16, Karcz topped GLIAC opponent Martin Matov from Grand Valley State (6-4, 6-4). He advanced to upend fourth-seeded Augustin Diot from Drury in a super tiebreak win (4-6, 6-2, 10-7). Karcz lost to seventh-seeded Dario Huber in the semifinals (6-4, 6-2). Huber advanced to win the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament title.

In the first round, freshman Dom Spicer (London, United Kingdom) won his match in a super tiebreaker vs. conference opponent Borja Miralles from Purdue Northwest (6-7(2), 6-3, 10-8). He advanced to take down 16th-seeded Pablo Baroja from Ferris State in another super tiebreak win (4-6, 6-3, 14-12), but fell to Southwest Baptist's first-seeded Adham Gaber in the round of 16 (6-2, 6-1).

Sophomore Max Rink (Wetzlar, Germany) notched a victory in the round of 64 over league opponent Remy Johansen from Davenport (6-2, 6-4). Rink upended 15th-seeded Jack Geissler from Grand Valley State (6-2, 7-6), but lost to UIndy's second-seeded Renato Lima in the round of 16 (6-2, 6-3).

11th-seeded senior Pierre Renaudie (Sathonay-Camp, France) edged GLIAC opponent Kobus Sauderman from Northwood in the first round (6-2, 6-4). Renaudie was upended by Grand Valley State's Jack Dausman in the second round (6-2, 6-2).

A DOUBLES RESULTS

Karcz and Renaudie were seeded seventh for the competition. The WSU pair notched a 9-7 victory over Ferris State's Pablo Munoz Baroja and Mathis Guerre in the round of 32. Karcz and Renaudie advanced to earn an 8-2 win against Jakob Riglewski and Alex Medina from Walsh. The Warriors were edged 8-2 by UIndy's second-seeded Renato Lima and Dario Huber in the round of eight.

Spicer and freshman Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) topped Bellarmine's Evan Bottorff and Paul Reynolds 8-6 in the first round. The Wayne State duo upended Findlay's third-seeded Tomas Kmetko and Jorge Barnuevo, 8-5. Spicer and Laws fell 8-5 in the round of eight to sixth-seeded Augustin Diot and Paul Porcher.

B SINGLES RESULTS

Sophomore Donovan Nguyen (Troy, Mich. / Utica) tallied a win against Walsh's Pedro Campos in the first round (6-1, 6-2). Nguyen notched a victory over Erik Aarthun from Maryville in the second round (6-0, 6-2), but dropped his match versus Hillsdale's Tyler Conrad in the round of 16 (7-6(2), 5-4).

In a tight first-round match, No. 1-seed Laws fell to Bellarmine's Michael Staff in a super tiebreaker (6-4, 5-7, 10-8). Laws topped Lake Superior State's Diego Penz in the first round of consolation matches (6-1, 6-1), however, the remaining consolation matches have been abandoned due to weather.

Freshman Ryan Okonski (Stevensville, Mich. / St. Joseph) lost his first match to Nathan Pinto from Missouri-St. Louis (6-1, 6-4). Okonski won his consolation match in a super tiebreaker vs. Michigan Tech's Artem Sharkota (6-3, 4-6, 10-6), however, the remaining consolation matches were abandoned due to weather.

B DOUBLES RESULTS

Nguyen and Rink were seeded third in the bracket. The WSU duo edged GLIAC opponents Alec Olivier and Jack Seymour from Ferris State, 8-3. In the second round, Nguyen and Rink fell 9-7 to Grand Valley State's Eric Zwemer and Ryan Rhoades.

A QUOTE FROM COACH MORROW

"This experience was very invaluable for the guys, seeing how strong our Midwest Region is. The region is at the strongest point that I have ever seen it and the caliber of tennis was ridiculously good.

"Niklas had a great tournament. He lost to the winner of the ITA Regional, but played a nice match against him. That particular player from Indianapolis was outstanding. For Dom and Max to make it into the round of 16, they had really nice tournaments. They both had to play the one- and two-seeds in that round and learned a lot; we learned a lot as a team about what we need to work on.

"In doubles, we had two teams make it into the quarterfinals, which was great. Again, we learned some things to work on to improve our doubles. But I am happy with where the guys got.

"It was a great weekend as a whole. The team had a chance to learn some important things and we had a nice showing. I am looking forward to building on that, improving and getting ready for this upcoming weekend's event in Ohio."

UP NEXT

The Warriors will compete at the Northwestern Ohio Racer Invitational in Lima, Ohio, beginning on Oct. 5.

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Players Mentioned

Niklas Karcz: 5' 9"; Junior

Luke Laws: 5' 10"; Freshman

Donovan Nguyen: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Ryan Okonski: 5' 10"; Freshman

Pierre Renaudie: 5' 10"; Senior

Max Rink: 6' 3"; Sophomore

Dom Spicer: 5' 11"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

Niklas Karcz
: 5' 9"; Junior

Luke Laws
: 5' 10"; Freshman

Donovan Nguyen
: 5' 7"; Sophomore

Ryan Okonski
: 5' 10"; Freshman

Pierre Renaudie
: 5' 10"; Senior

Max Rink
: 6' 3"; Sophomore

Dom Spicer
: 5' 11"; Freshman