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Wayne State University Athletics

3
Wayne State WSUM (14-10)
4
Winner Ferris State FSU-M (17-4)
Wayne State WSUM
(14-10)
3
Final
4
Ferris State FSU-M
(17-4)
Winner
Denali Kitayama vs. Ferris State at GLIAC Tournament (04/28/2024)
Hyelim Shin
Denali Kitayama nearly pulled off the comeback in his third singles set on Sunday vs. FSU.

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

Men's Tennis Falls One Point Short in GLIAC Tournament Championship Against #25-Ferris State

WSU lost 4-3 to FSU for a second time this season.

MIDLAND, Mich. -- The No. 18-ranked Wayne State University men's tennis team (14-10 overall) nearly pulled off a comeback victory against #25-Ferris State (17-4 overall) in the GLIAC Tournament Championship on Sunday afternoon, but fell one point short in a 4-3 loss inside the Greater Midland Tennis Center.

WSU came into the tournament as the two seed after finishing second behind FSU in the regular season.  The final score of Sunday's title match was the same as the regular season meeting between the two squads on April 14 in Detroit.

Wayne State was looking for a third straight GLIAC Tournament Championship after defeating #37-Grand Valley State 4-2 in the semifinals on Saturday.  The squad previously won the title in 2022 and 2023.

DOUBLES
FSU narrowly grabbed the doubles point by winning two of three tight matches in the category.

The Green and Gold's win came via its top duo of Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany) and Daniel Grey (Wiesbaden, Germany) at the No. 1 position.  The second-ranked pairing in all of Division II downed the eighth-ranked Jan Koupil and Benjamin Lortie by a 6-4 score in the heavyweight contest between two tandems in the top 10 nationally.

WSU's No. 25-ranked team of Luke Laws (Sunderland, England) and Dom Spicer (London, England) lost 6-4 to Alessandro Santangelo and Esunge Ndumbe at the second flight, while Joe Steele (Beverly Hills, Mich. / U. of Detroit Jesuit) and Emil Mikkelsen (Soenderborg, Denmark) fell 7-5 against Yannic-Alexander Mader and Kevin Kovacs at the No. 3 spot.

The triumph for Drenth and Grey was their fourth victory this season against a doubles team ranked nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA).

SINGLES
The Warriors and Bulldogs split singles evenly at three wins apiece, but the Bulldogs won the first two completed contests to move in front 3-0 for the overall contest.

Grey, ranked fifth in the country for the category, dropped decisions of 6-4 and 6-2 to the No. 30-ranked Ndumbe at the first flight.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Hill (Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany) fell by matching 6-1 set scores against Santangelo at the No. 5 position -- which put FSU one match away from the title.

With the score 3-0, Wayne State made an impressive rally to knot the scoreboard at 3-3.  Drenth, the No. 14-ranked player in the country, defeated Mader with totals of 6-4 and 7-5 at the second flight, while Spicer needed three sets (6-4, 1-6, 6-1) to down the No. 48-ranked Lortie after taking a loss in the second set.

Mikkelsen also needed three sets to handle the GLIAC Freshman of the Year winner Kovacs.  The Warrior's victories were 7-5 in the opening set and 6-1 in the final set.

That left the action at the No. 4 position to decide the tournament champion for 2024.  Squaring off were Koupil and Denali Kitayama (West Bloomfield Township, Mich. / Walled Lake Central (United States Air Force Academy)) in his first action of the day.  The FSU player won the first set 6-4, before the Warrior battled back for a second set victory of 6-2.

Kitayama put forth a valiant effort, including fending off match points twice in the final set, but could not overcome his deficit and lost 7-5 -- which gave the Ferris State Bulldogs the GLIAC Tournament Championship.

UP NEXT
Wayne State will next look ahead to the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, May 6, at 8 p.m. to find out its place within the NCAA Midwest Regional and the NCAA Tournament for this season.  The regional is scheduled for Monday, May 13, and Tuesday, May 14, at the sites to be determined.

 
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