Huskies Stopped by Grand Valley State in GLIAC Semifinals
MIDLAND, Mich. – The Michigan Tech women's tennis team fell to Grand Valley State University 4-1 on Saturday in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, held at the Greater Midland Tennis Center in Midland, Michigan. The Huskies will play in the third-place match Sunday morning against Northwood University at 9 a.m. eastern time.
Michigan Tech (8-3) fell behind in the match when Grand Valley State (10-1) narrowly edged the Huskies in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. Junior Ivona Gorgioski and sophomore Jessica Brown matched up against Vera Griva and Marily Canellopoulos of Grand Valley State in the No. 1 spot. Unfortunately, the Lakers were able to get the win by the final set score of 6-4.
Freshmen Dominika Bobik and Lauren Opalewski were penciled into the No.2 spot in the doubles lineup against Marija Leko and Taylor Barrett. Bobik and Opalewski went back and forth with the Lakers duo, but Leko and Barrett ended up hanging on for a 6-4 win. The No. 3 doubles match, which featured sophomore's Mirna Golac and Samantha Johnson, ended up being a win for the Huskies 7-5 but by virtue of the wins by Grand Valley State in the No. 1 and No. 2 spots they received the point in the match.
Golac led the Huskies in singles competition by picking up an impressive win in the No. 6 spot against Agata Szewczuk and in the process earned Tech's point in the match. Golac put together a dominating first set to win 6-2 and then kept rolling in the second set for a 6-3 decision on the way to the win.
Unfortunately, the Lakers ended up getting three singles points to win the overall match and advance to Sunday's title contest. Gorgioski battled the GLIAC Player of the year Griva and came up just short in the No. 1 spot 6-4 in the first set. Griva went on to secure the win with a 6-2 decision in set two. Brown played Barrett in No. 3 singles and it also proved to be close with Barrett coming out ahead 7-6 in the first set followed by a 6-2 win in the second. Opalewski played Canellopoulos in No. 4 singles and ended up falling by the final scores of 6-3, 6-2.
The Huskies, who are the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will take on the No. 5 seed Northwood in the third-place match on Sunday. The Timberwolves lost to top seeded Wayne State 4-0 in the other semifinal Saturday. Wayne State will take on Grand Valley State Sunday in the tournament championship match.
Sunday's first serve is scheduled for 9 a.m. eastern time.