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Wayne State University Athletics

2
Wayne State WSUW (8-4)
5
Winner Flagler FLG (5-2)
Wayne State WSUW
(8-4)
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Final
5
Flagler FLG
(5-2)
Winner
Martyna Szpakowska and Malak Arafat
Hyelim Shin
Martyna Szpakowska (left) and Malak Arafat (right) were 6-1 winners in their doubles match vs. Flagler on Tuesday.

Match Recap: Women's Tennis | | Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Tennis Downed 5-2 by #21-Flagler

WSU was playing in its final match of its Spring Break trip across Florida.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The third-ranked Wayne State University women's tennis squad (8-4 overall) fell 5-2 to #21-Flagler (5-2 overall) on Tuesday afternoon in a neutral site contest on the campus of Nova Southeastern University.  The match was held at the NSU Tennis Complex in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The Warriors will head back to Detroit with a 2-1 record on their three-match Spring Break trip throughout the state of Florida.  WSU had defeated both Florida National and Palm Beach Atlantic 7-0 in the two previous match-ups.

DOUBLES
Flagler commandeered a 1-0 advantage by virtue of the doubles point.

The first completed match went the way of the Green and Gold, with Malak Arafat (Alexandria, Egypt) and Martyna Szpakowska (Gdansk, Poland) defeating Charlotta Buss and Leonie Floeth 6-1 at the No. 2 spot.  Arafat and Szpakowska are the No. 35-ranked doubles team in all of Division II.

In what was a top 10-ranked affair at the first flight, the fourth-ranked Anais Ruyssen (Nantes, France) and Marta Komar (Inowroclaw, Poland) drew FC's seventh-ranked Nadja Meier and Dana Heimen.  The Saints' duo emerged with a 6-3 decision.

Doubles came down to the action at the No. 3 spot.  However, Justine Beaulieu (Montreal, Que.) and Shanice Weekes (London, England) lost 6-4 to Laura Jipescu and Eryka Kruk.

SINGLES
WSU could not overcome its early deficit, as Flagler obtained four of the six singles matches to come away with the win.

The Warriors' two winners were Szpakowska and Dea Gorgidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), who was playing in singles after not appearing in doubles.  Szpakowska continued her strong singles play with a 7-5, 6-4 triumph over Floeth at the No. 4 spot to improve her spring record to a spotless 11-0.

Gorgidze notched an impressive 6-2, 6-1 victory against Jipescu at the No. 6 position.  That made it back-to-back wins for the redshirt sophomore in singles after not playing in the category for the first 12 matches of the season.

Falling by set scores of 6-0 and 6-3 was Ruyssen at the first flight, who faced the second-best singles player in the country in Meier.

Weekes dropped her match at the No. 5 spot by scores of 6-1 and 6-2 vs. Kruk, while Komar (ranked No. 61) lost 6-3, 6-4 to Buss at the third spot.  That victory served as the match-winning point for the Saints on Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.

Action at the second flight was the only one to require three sets, as the No. 72-ranked Arafat squared off with Heimen.  After a 6-3 win in the first set, the Warrior sophomore was dropped 7-5 in the second.  The two participants played a 10-point super tiebreaker that the Saints' player won by a margin of 10-2.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will not see the court again until Wednesday, March 20, when the squad takes on Midwest Regional foe Tiffin University at 12 p.m. from the Duchene Athletic Facility.  It will be the first of back-to-back home matches for the Warriors prior to conference play beginning on March 29.

 
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