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Wayne State University Athletics

Cedric Drenth vs. Ferris State 2025
Taylor Carrow
Senior Cedric Drenth
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Winner Ferris State FSUM
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Wayne State WSUM
Winner
Ferris State FSUM
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Final
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Wayne State WSUM

Match Recap: Men's Tennis | | Henry Coyle, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Men's Tennis Falls 4-3 to Bulldogs in NCAA Midwest Regional

GREENWOOD, Ind. -- The No. 3-seeded Wayne State University men's tennis squad (15-8) was bested 4-3 by the No. 6-seeded Ferris State University (13-8) in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional on Friday at Center Grove High School.

HOW IT HAPPENED
DOUBLES
The Warriors opened the contest as strong as one could hope, winning two doubles matches to secure the first lead of the competition.

In the first flight, Cedric Drenth (Sulzbach, Germany / Altkönigschule Kronberg) and Tom Wasner (Altenholz, Germany / Friedrichsort Community School) found themselves in a 2-1 deficit after three games before quickly shifting the momentum and nabbing the ensuing three games to take a 4-3 advantage.  The WSU duo continued its success, prevailing 6-4 over Adrian Catahan and Jose Andres Perez Alarcon.

The pairing of George Day (Southampton, United Kingdom / Peter Symonds College) and Sam Knowles (North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England / King's Priory School) represented the Green and Gold in the No. 2 position.  The Wayne State student-athletes jumped out to a 4-1 advantage over Felipe Iser and Alessandro Santangelo and ultimately claimed a 6-2 triumph.

Benjamin Hill (Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany / Burgau-Gymnasium) and Luis Klaus (Brühl, Germany / Archbishop's St. Ursula gymnasium [TH Köln]) battled in the No. 3 spot for WSU.  The pair was trailing 5-4 to Milo Leuenberger and Kacper Pasielak before the match was suspended due to the Green and Gold securing wins in the No. 1 and No. 2 slots.

SINGLES
Day was surgical in the No. 2 singles position as the Warrior downed FSU's Santangelo 6-1, 6-2 to push Wayne State's advantage to 2-0.

Klaus, competing in the No. 6 slot, was the next WSU student-athlete to finish.  The graduate student topped Catahan 6-3, 6-3 to put the Green and Gold ahead 3-0

The Bulldogs continued to fight however, as Iser topped Knowles 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 4 spot, while Erik Kovacs defeated Wasner 7-5, 6-3 in the third flight.

After splitting the first two sets 6-2, 4-6 with Kevin Kovacs, Drenth found himself trailing 4-1 in the third-set tiebreaker before roaring back and tying the set at four games apiece.  Kovacs regained the advantage at 5-4, but Drenth quickly evened the set 5-5.  The Ferris State student-athlete prevailed 7-5 in the final set and tied the overall match 3-3.

Hill, in the No. 5 position, fell in his first set against Perez Alarcon 6-3, but was able to force a third set after topping the FSU student-athlete 6-4 in the second.  The sophomore surrendered the first game of the final set but rallied to take a 4-2 advantage.  Alarcon claimed the final four games and triumphed over Hill 6-4.

WSU NOTES
Despite the loss, this season marks the 15th time in the last 25 years that the Green and Gold has appeared in the NCAA Tournament and ninth time under the tutelage of head coach Bryan Morrow.  

Wayne State will return all but one member of the 2024-25 squad as Cedric Drenth was the team's lone senior.  Drenth closes his illustrious career at WSU as the program's all-time leader in both career singles wins (106) and career doubles victories (122) while being the only Wayne State tennis player (male or female) to eclipse triple-digit wins in both.  Along with his career records, Drenth was voted GLIAC Player of the Year twice (2023 and 2025), First Team All-GLIAC three times (2023, 2024, and 2025) and Second Team All-GLIAC once (2022).  In addition to the conference marks, Drenth received Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Doubles All-America honors three times (2022, 2023, and 2024) and became the first WSU tennis player to be named an ITA Singles All-American (2023 and 2024).


 
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