Wayne State University Athletics

The annual tournament brings together 30 teams from the GLIAC, GMAC, and GLVC.

Women's Tennis 9/15/2023 11:30:00 AM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Tennis Awaits Play at ITA Midwest Regional Tournament

The three-day event brings the best of the Midwest Region to Greenwood, Ind.

DETROIT -- A week after competing in its first fall tournament of the 2023-24 season, the Wayne State University women's tennis team is back in action this weekend with the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Tournament from Saturday, September 16, through Monday, September 18.

The 2023 edition of the event will be hosted by the University of Indianapolis and be primarily played at the tennis courts of Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind. The tournament is one of the ITA's 63 Small College Regional Championships and brings together athletes from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), and Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).

According to the ITA, the Small College Regional Championships serve as a direct qualifier for the ITA Cup, a national championship held annually for the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College levels. Both singles and doubles championships will be contested over the course of the three days, The Warriors will have seven of their student-athletes participating in at least one of the two tournaments.

DOUBLES
Doubles action for the ITA Midwest Regional begins on Saturday and will feature 75 pairs of two (150 total) split into three different flights. All three of WSU's pairings will be in Flight A, which starts with a Round of 32 consisting of 16 matches.

Kicking off doubles play at 8 a.m. are Wayne State's top team of Anais Ruyssen (Nantes, France) and Marta Komar (Inowroclaw, Poland), the No. 6-ranked tandem at the end of last season by the ITA. The two redshirt juniors draw the Drury team of Maria Fernanda De La Torre and Antanina Novik in their first match.

Playing together for a second consecutive week are Martyna Szpakowska (Gdansk, Poland) and Justine Beaulieu (Montreal, Que.). The two played a pair of doubles matches with each other at the Hillsdale College Summer Invitational and went 1-1. They'll face a GLIAC team in Grand Valley State's Estefania Hernandez and Rachel Sam, also at 8 a.m. to begin the weekend.

Finally, Malak Arafat (Alexandria, Egypt) and Dea Gorgidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) are slated to face the Rockhurst University tandem of Sofia Valdespino and Marina Magai at 8:45 a.m. Arafat and Gorgidze are also no strangers to playing with each other, after doing so 17 times for a 7-10 mark last campaign.

All Flight A matches will be held at Center Grove High School. Following the Round of 32 on Saturday, the Round of 16 and quarterfinals will be held on Sunday. Should any WSU team advance to the semifinals or finals, those will be held on Monday, September 16, beginning at 8 a.m. (finals at 9 a.m.).

SINGLES
Singles play also begins on Saturday with the Round of 64, immediately following the doubles matches scheduled for the morning. A grand total of 163 players will be battling in three different flights, including seven from Wayne State. The Green and Gold have five competing in Flight A and two more in Flight B for the tournament.

In Flight A, Ruyssen, the No. 33-ranked singles player in the nation after the spring slate, will play Findlay's Anamarija Kovacevic at 10 a.m. Ruyssen went 22-4 at the top flight for the Warriors during their 24-4 campaign.

Also starting their matches at 10 a.m. are Komar and Shanice Weekes (London, England). Komar will battle GVSU's Rachel Sam, while Weekes is slated to face Elsa Pascual from Southwest Baptist in her first match of the tournament. Weekes, the now-sophomore, went 27-3 overall in singles play last season as a freshman. Komar posted an 18-10 ledger in 2022-23, primarily as the No. 2 player in the lineup for head coach Sheila Snyder.

Warriors with matches at 11:30 a.m. in the first round include Arafat and Szpakowska. Arafat faces Emily Hadler from Findlay, while Szpakowska duals Indianapolis' Diane Flament. The two WSU athletes recorded strong freshmen seasons at Wayne State, registering overall ledgers of 28-8 and 27-3, respectively, across the fall and spring events.

Flight B action will be held 15-minutes to the east at Clark Pleasant Middle School, which is where Gorgidze and Beaulieu will be playing. Gorgidze will contest Andrea Dabbah of Rockhurst at 11:30 a.m, with Beaulieu following in her match with Celine Ferron of Tiffin at 1:15 p.m.

Each flight will have Round of 64 and Round of 32 matches completed on Saturday, with the next two rounds (Round of 16 and quarterfinals) on Sunday. The final two rounds will once again be on Monday. Monday matches, regardless of flight, will be at Center Grove High School.

The full brackets for both doubles and singles this weekend can be found HERE.

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Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Justine Beaulieu: 5' 4"; Freshman

Dea Gorgidze: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

Marta Komar: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Martyna Szpakowska: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Shanice Weekes: 5' 4"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Justine Beaulieu
: 5' 4"; Freshman

Dea Gorgidze
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

Marta Komar
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Martyna Szpakowska
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Shanice Weekes
: 5' 4"; Sophomore