Huskies Defeat Saginaw Valley State in GLIAC Quarterfinals
MIDLAND, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team opened the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament with an impressive 4-0 win over Saginaw Valley State University in Midland, Michigan at the Greater Midland Tennis Center Friday night. The Huskies are the No. 3 seed in this year's tournament after having finished the conference schedule with a 7-2 record.
"We played an excellent match tonight and executed the way we needed to in order to get the win," Michigan Tech Head Coach Kevin Kalinec said. "Saginaw Valley State is a well-coached team and I thought we played better tonight against them than what we had in our first matchup with them earlier in the season. It was good to get the win tonight and have some solid momentum going into the semifinals. We'll rest up tonight and get ready to face a very good Grand Valley State team tomorrow afternoon."
Michigan Tech (8-2) took a quick lead Friday night with a pair of wins in doubles to start off the contest. Junior Ivona Gorgioski and sophomore Jessica Brown went back and forth with Maddie Miller and Taylor McLaughlin of Saginaw Valley State (3-7) in the No. 1 spot. Gorgioski and Brown closed out the match strong and hit some key shots to take a 7-5 victory.
Over in No. 3 doubles, sophomore's Mirna Golac and Samantha Johnson had a solid match against Nicole Johnson and Adiya Young to claim the point for the Huskies. Golac and Johnson pulled away for a 6-2 victory and helped the Huskies take a 1-0 lead in the overall match. Once the doubles point was secured, the No. 2 doubles match that featured freshmen Dominika Bobik and Lauren Opalewski was not completed.
The Huskies went on to secure the overall match win Friday night with successful decisions in the No. 1 singles, No. 3 singles, and No. 5 singles spots in the lineup. Gorgioski was lined up against Miller in No. 1 singles and turned in two outstanding sets to get the win. Gorgioski posted identical scores of 6-2, 6-2 to notch her seventh overall singles win of the year.
Brown competed in No. 3 singles and was equally impressive in her match against McLaughlin, winning 6-2, 6-1 for another Tech point. Brown boosted her singles win total to seven this season with the victory. Freshman Neva Manas served up the third singles win for Tech Friday evening, topping Sara Neves 6-1, 6-1 in the No. 5 spot. With the Huskies reaching four points, the other three singles matches were not completed.
With the win, the Huskies move on to the semifinals Saturday against second seeded Grand Valley State University. The Lakers swept Ashland University in their quarterfinal match 4-0. The first serve on Saturday is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. eastern time.