Huskies Shutout Davenport to Close GLIAC Schedule
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team wrapped up the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference portion of the 2019-20 schedule Sunday with an impressive 7-0 victory over Davenport University at the Gates Tennis Center. The Huskies closed the weekend having taken every possible point, thanks to a 7-0 sweep of Purdue Northwest on Saturday. Tech also honored senior Anabella Neri prior to the match for her outstanding career at Tech.
"It felt good to get another solid win today and close out conference play strong going into the GLIAC Tournament next weekend," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "The players responded well with doing some different things in doubles and we played better in that facet of the match. Overall, we took care of business this weekend with a couple of good wins.
"Anabella has been a great player for us since day one when she joined the program. She helped turn the program around and has become a very good leader on our team. It was great to see her play well today and get a good win for us in singles. Overall, I like where we are at as a team going into the conference tournament next weekend; as far as the way we are playing and our confidence. We are playing with a lot of focus and that is great to see."
Michigan Tech (7-2, 7-2 GLIAC) began Sunday's match with the doubles sweep to get things going in the right direction. Junior Ivona Gorgioski and sophomore Jessica Brown outlasted Adeline Nelson and Willemien Coetzee in a close contest at the No. 1 spot 6-4. Freshmen Dominika Bobik and Lauren Opalewski pulled away for a 6-3 decision in their favor in No. 2 doubles against Vladislava Shumilova and Danica Malan while sophomore's Mirna Golac and Samantha Johnson cruised to a 6-1 win over Sophie Gossett and Emma Phillippus of Davenport (2-8, 1-8 GLIAC) at the No. 3 spot in the lineup.
The Huskies changed up the lineup a bit for singles competition once again on Sunday. Bobik jumped into the No. 1 spot and topped Coetzee 6-4, 6-2 followed by Brown engineering a 6-4, 6-0 victory in No. 2 singles for Tech. Freshman Neva Manas competed in the No. 3 spot and logged a 6-3, 6-2 win against Malan followed by Golac in No. 4 singles who held on for a three-set victory over Shumilova 1-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Johnson had another impressive win for Tech in No. 5 singles Sunday, defeating Gossett 6-2, 6-0. Senior Anabella Neri competed in the No. 6 spot during the final home match of her career and flew past Lillian Mouw in two sets 6-1, 6-0 to help give the Huskies the sweep on Sunday.
Michigan Tech will be the No. 3 seed in the GLIAC Tournament which begins Friday and runs through Sunday at the Greater Midland Tennis Center in Midland, Michigan. The match times and opponent are still to be determined.
