Wayne State University Athletics

Women's Tennis 3/21/2024 1:30:00 PM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Tennis to Host Oakland on Sunday

The Warriors will play the second match of their two-contest home stand against the Golden Grizzlies.

DETROIT -- The No. 11-ranked Wayne State University women's tennis squad will finish its short two-match home stand on Sunday, March 24, with a match-up against Division I Oakland University at 11 a.m. inside the Duchene Athletic Facility.

Sunday's contest will be the final non-conference affair of the season for the Warriors.

WSU will look to win for the first time in three tries after dropping its last two matches. The Green and Gold suffered a 4-3 setback to #29-Tiffin University in Detroit on Wednesday, which was the team's first loss at home in 2024. Wayne State had singles victories from Marta Komar (Inowroclaw, Poland), Dea Gorgidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), and Shanice Weekes (London, England), but lost the doubles point - which ultimately served as the match-winning point for the Dragons after the two teams split six singles contests.

The Warriors are 4-2 in the Midwest Region following the defeat vs. Tiffin and 8-5 overall.

ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released another round of rankings on Wednesday, March 20. Included were the sixth round of National Rankings and third rounds of National Singles and Doubles Rankings for the current campaign. Wayne State was placed 11th by the computerized rankings, down from third in the previous list revealed on March 13. The Warriors had been in the third slot for the past two weeks prior to Wednesday. The Green and Gold is also the only school from the GLIAC to be ranked in the top 50 nationally.

WSU had four student-athletes in both the national rankings for singles and doubles. Starting in singles, the Warriors were represented by Anais Ruyssen (Nantes, France) in 16th, Komar in 64th, Martyna Szpakowska (Gdansk, Poland) in 67th, and Malak Arafat (Alexandria, Egypt) in 74th.

Ruyssen and Komar went from third to fourth in the doubles list, while Arafat and Szpakowska jumped a position to 35th this week from 36th. This marks the third consecutive week that Wayne State's top two doubles teams are nationally-ranked within Division II.

The next round of computerized rankings will be revealed by the ITA on Wednesday, March 27. There will be five more rounds of rankings prior to postseason play, which is scheduled to begin on April 26 for WSU at the GLIAC Tournament in Midland, Mich.

New rankings provided by the ITA can be found HERE, or in the links at the top of the page.

VS. OAKLAND (2/24)
Oakland University, a Division I program out of the Horizon League, is 4-7 through 11 matches this season. The Golden Grizzlies have tallied victories over Niagara (5-2), Lake Superior State (6-1), University of Mary (7-0), and Davenport (5-2). OU fell 5-2 in its most recent match at Bowling Green on March 17.

Wayne State and Oakland met for an exhibition affair on January 27 prior to WSU's season officially beginning. Despite being close in proximity to one another, the two programs have not met for a match that counted in the standings since March 27, 2012. The Warriors won 8-1 on that day in Detroit. WSU is 7-2 against its neighbors from Rochester Hills, Mich., since 2002, which includes a 6-2 mark at home. The Golden Grizzlies' most recent triumph over Wayne State was a 5-4 decision on April 2, 2009.

OU is coached by David Brown in his first season at the helm of the women's tennis program. Brown previously served as a coach at the Peachtree Tennis Club in Clinton Township, Mich., and played tennis at Oakland when the school was a member of the GLIAC.

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Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat: 5' 11"; Sophomore

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

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