FERRIS STATE ANNOUNCES TEAM AWARDS AT ANNUAL BANQUET
Senior Suzanne Batten Named Team Most Valuable Player, Scholarship Recipient
 | Senior captain Suzanne Batten claimed the program's MVP award and Rautiola Scholarship for her performance |
Senior captain Suzanne Batten (Medina, Ohio) of the 2002-03 Ferris State University women’s tennis team was named the squad’s Most Valuable Player and awarded the program's prestigious Rautiola Scholarship at the school’s annual awards ceremony held recently (April 5) in conjunction with FSU's Professional Tennis Management (PTM) Spring Banquet at the Holiday Inn Hotel and Conference Center in Big Rapids, Mich.
Batten, who garnered first-team 2002 All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) honors during the fall campaign, received a $1,000 scholarship through the Rautiola Scholarship Fund which was established in 1984 to promote excellence in FSU varsity tennis by Reed City, Mich., native Norman Rautiola. Ferris later developed the nation’s first PTM program in 1986 for students pursuing tennis careers and the Rautiola Scholarship Fund was expanded to also reward PTM students for displaying outstanding potential and ability as tennis professionals.
A two-time (2001-02) first-team all-league selection, Batten has presently compiled a 16-7 overall singles record this campaign including a 14-7 mark in number two singles action. She has registered a 16-9 record to date at the number one doubles flight along with junior Barbora Jilkova (Prague, Czech Republic).
The 5-1 Batten currently maintains a 147-69 (.681) combined singles and doubles career mark, which ranks fifth among the school’s all-time leaders. Batten, who attained All-GLIAC Honorable Mention accolades in 2000, presently ranks fourth in career singles victories at FSU with a 71-26 (.732) overall record. She is 76-43 (.639) to date in career doubles play and is two wins shy of tying Rachel Clanton (78-28; 1995-99) for fifth place on the school’s all-time chart.
Batten posted the school’s sixth-best individual single-season singles performance (21-4) during both the 2000-01 and 2001-02 campaigns. The three-time GLIAC All-Academic Team honoree was 15-9 overall in doubles play as a junior (2001-02) after posting a 23-9 mark the prior campaign.
Third-year FSU head coach Dave Ramos also presented the team’s Most Improved Player Award to junior Rachel Prescott (Ludington). The 5-7 Prescott has recorded a 5-3 singles mark at the number six singles flight and a 1-0 record at the number five flight this season after posting a 3-1 overall ledger during the 2001-02 campaign. She holds a 9-4 (.692) career singles mark to date.
Ferris, which is ranked 18th in the latest (March 31) Omni Hotels/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II National Poll, currently is 15-7 overall this season. FSU claimed a share of its 18th league title in the last 19 years at the 2002 GLIAC Tournament with a 5-2 title match win over Northern Michigan (10/26) at the Midland Tennis Center in Midland, Mich. The two teams shared the overall championship as NMU won the conference’s regular-season crown.
The Bulldogs have won 175 of their last 178 league regular-season matches. FSU previously won 162 consecutive league outings from Sept. 4, 1984, to Oct. 12, 2001, when Northwood ended Ferris’ streak with a 6-3 triumph in Midland. FSU, which has advanced to the NCAA-II Regional Tournament seven consecutive years (1996-02), has claimed the regional title and earned a bid to the NCAA-II Championships three of the past four seasons to date.
Ferris is slated to host Northern Michigan this Saturday (April 12) in a 10 a.m. (EDT) non-league encounter at the FSU Racquet and Fitness Center in Big Rapids, Mich.
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