Huskies Shutout Lake Superior State in GLIAC Quarterfinals
MIDLAND, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team outran Lake Superior State 4-0 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Quarterfinals Friday night at the Greater Midland Tennis Center. The No. 3 seeded Huskies and sixth seeded Lakes faced each other for the second time in less than a week after the two teams battled last Saturday in the Gates Tennis Center. Tech prevailed 7-0 in the final GLIAC regular season match of 2018.
"It's always difficult to defeat a team twice in one season and I knew we needed to come out and play very well in order to win against a much improved Lake Superior State team," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "We've had some slow starts at times this year, but our players fired out of the gate strong with a quick start in doubles. The players really responded well and were locked in, turning in some dominating performances. I'm really proud of what our team has accomplished this season and excited to compete tomorrow in the semifinals. We face a very good Northwood team and it should be an outstanding match."
Michigan Tech (9-2) got the upper hand in the match with that quick start in doubles. The Huskies collected two wins for the point as sophomore Ivona Gorgioski and freshman Jessica Brown teamed up in the No. 1 spot to get one of the victories. Gorgioski and Brown pulled away for a 6-2 decision against Tara Harvey and Nadege Koua of Lake Superior State (4-6).
Senior Allenca Rolim and freshman Mirna Golac were paired up in No. 3 doubles and cruised to a 6-1 win over Allison Grandfield and Jenay Andrews to wrap up doubles. In tournament competition, once the needed points are reached other matches are stopped and not concluded so with two wins in the books for Tech, the contest shifted to singles.
Gorgioski battled AlexiAnn Drouin in No. 1 singles and powered her way to the win in two sets. The final scores were 6-2, 6-3 as Gorgioski grabbed her 11th win of the season in singles. After a pretty close first set score of 6-4, Brown ran away with the second 6-0 for win in No. 2 singles over Koua. Brown added her 12th singles victory of 2018 and the Huskies were one win away from clinching the match. Golac produced a 6-2, 6-4 win in No. 5 singles against Malpass for the point to propel Tech into the semifinals.
The Huskies will be on the court against the No. 2 seed Northwood University beginning at 3:45 p.m. It will be the second meeting of the season with the Timberwolves who prevailed in the first match back on September 30th.