Women's Tennis 4/18/2024 11:30:00 AM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Tennis Set to Play Purdue Northwest and Davenport with Regular-Season Title at Stake

WSU can clinch the GLIAC Regular-Season Championship with two victories.

DETROIT -- The No. 20-ranked Wayne State University women's tennis squad will travel to Purdue Northwest and Davenport this weekend with a GLIAC Regular-Season Championship on the line. WSU and PNW will first battle at 2 p.m. Eastern on Friday, April 19, before the Warriors conclude the regular season by playing DU at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 20.

The Match Point Tennis Facility in Griffith, Ind. will be the site for the matchup between the Warriors and the Pride, while the MVP SportsPlex in Grand Rapids, Mich., will host the Green and Gold against the Panthers.

WSU can clinch the league championship with two wins, no matter what anyone else does. That is because of the team's pair of crucial victories at home over Grand Valley State (7-0) and Ferris State (6-1) to put themselves in control of their own destiny this weekend. A key part to the triumphs last weekend was Malak Arafat (Alexandria, Egypt), who went 2-0 in both singles and doubles to be named GLIAC Women's Tennis Player of the Week for the first time in her collegiate career.

CLINCHING SCENARIOS
As stated above, the Green and Gold can put a bow on the GLIAC Regular-Season Championship with two victories. It would be the second time in three seasons (2022) that WSU would be champions of the conference during the regular season. WSU can also clinch with just one victory, so long as Ferris State (vs. Michigan Tech and Lake Superior State) does not win both of its remaining matches. If so, there would be a tie at the top of the league and both squads would be co-champions.

FSU at 4-1 (to the Warriors' 5-0) is the closest competitor to Wayne State. Earning the top spot in the conference is critical for seeding purposes as well, with the No. 1 seed for the GLIAC Tournament also at stake. Six teams (out of the eight programs) will qualify for the conference tournament, which will be held inside the Greater Midland Tennis Center beginning on April 26. Below are the league standings heading into this weekend's action.

1. Wayne State (5-0)
2. Ferris State (4-1)
3. Lake Superior State (3-2)
4. Grand Valley State (2-2)
5. Saginaw Valley State (3-4)
6. Michigan Tech (2-3)
7. Purdue Northwest (1-4)
8. Davenport (1-5)

NCAA REGIONAL RANKINGS
The NCAA released its first edition of its Regional Rankings yesterday afternoon on Wednesday, April 17. A total of nine programs were included for the Midwest Region on the women's side, which includes the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), and the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).

For this cycle, the teams were not ranked in order, but merely included in alphabetical order. Wayne State was one of the nine squads included on the list for the Midwest, joining Drury (GLVC), Ferris State (GLIAC), Findlay (G-MAC), Grand Valley State (GLIAC), Lewis (GLVC), Northwood (G-MAC), Tiffin (G-MAC), and Indianapolis (GLVC). The list is spread out evenly, with three schools from each conference included in the rankings.

Seven of the nine programs mentioned above were also included in the top 10 for the men's side. Only Lewis and Northwood did not appear on the men's list.

ITA RANKINGS UPDATE
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) released another round of Division II rankings yesterday on Wednesday, April 17. Included were the 10th round of National Rankings and the seventh rounds of National Singles and Doubles Rankings for the current campaign. The Warriors were placed 20th in Division II this week by the computerized rankings, which was a jump of three spots from last week's list on April 10. WSU was the lone GLIAC school to appear in the top 50 for another cycle.

Individually, Anais Ruyssen (Nantes, France) in 34th is the lone Warrior to show up for singles, while Ruyssen and Marta Komar (Inowroclaw, Poland) appeared in 11th for doubles (down from eighth a week ago).

The next round of computerized rankings will be revealed by the ITA on Wednesday, April 24. Those will be the final round of rankings prior to postseason action. The new rankings provided by the ITA can be found HERE, or in the links at the top of the page.

AT PURDUE NORTHWEST (4/19)
Purdue Northwest is 7-15 overall ahead of its final regular-season contest of the season against Wayne State on Friday. The Pride, despite being 1-10 on the road, are above .500 (6-5) within the comforts of home.

WSU is a perfect 7-0 since PNW joined the GLIAC ahead of the 2017-18 campaign. That includes six consecutive wins for the Green and Gold via shutout. Wayne State has allowed just one match point to the Pride in those seven contests.

PNW is coached by Selenay Heper in her first season. Heper was hired to lead the program just over two months ago on February 14. She is assisted by Richard Kitchell.

AT DAVENPORT (4/20)
Wayne State will conclude its regular-season slate on Saturday against the 12-10 Panthers. Davenport has lost its last three matches and six of its past seven. Despite that, DU is 6-5 at home and claimed a 5-2 victory there in its last home affair against PNW on March 30.

Similar to its performances against Purdue Northwest, Wayne State is 6-0 against the Panthers since Davenport joined the conference in 2017-18. The Warriors have allowed just one match point in those six matchups and none (23-0) in three road contests in Grand Rapids.

Patrick Grashorn is in his 14th season as head coach of the Panthers. He is assisted by Lewie DeGeneault and Jonathan Bulmer.

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Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Marta Komar: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Marta Komar
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior