FERRIS TENNIS TEAMS GARNER NCAA TOURNAMENT BERTHS

Bulldog Men’s Team Selected To Serve As Great Lakes Regional Tournament Host

The Ferris State University men’s and women’s tennis teams have both been selected to participate in the 2003 NCAA Division II Championships. The 64 selected teams along with the 16 first and second-round regional sites were announced Thursday (April 24) by the NCAA-II Men’s and Women’s Tennis Committee.

The Bulldog men’s tennis team, currently ranked 26th overall in the latest (April 11) Omni Hotels/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II national poll, will serve as one of two NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Tournament sites May 2-3. FSU will host West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Shepherd (W.Va.) Friday, May 2, at 12 p.m. (EDT) in FSU’s Racquet and Fitness Center at Big Rapids, Mich. The other first-round match pits Wayne State against Missouri-St. Louis in a 9 a.m. (EDT) encounter with the winners slated to meet Saturday, May 3, at 10 a.m. (EDT).

The 22nd-ranked FSU women’s squad will take part in a NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Tournament at the Midland (Mich.) Community Tennis Center. FSU will square off against Great Lakes Valley Conference champion Indianapolis Thursday, May 1, with tournament host Northwood slated to face Lewis (Ill.) in the other first-round match. The women’s opening-round matches are tentatively slated to be held outside at 9 a.m. (EDT) with an 11:30 a.m. (EDT) indoor start time reserved in the event of rain. The women’s regional final is Friday, May 2, at 10 a.m. (EDT).

Each of the following eight regions will conduct two first and second-round regional tournaments: East, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, South, Great Lakes, Central, North Central and West. In addition to the Northwood women’s team, both the Northwood men’s and Northern Michigan women’s teams also were selected to host Great Lakes Regional play with both tournaments taking place at the Midland Community Tennis Center May 1-2. Sixteen men’s and women’s regional tournaments will be held with the winner of each advancing into the 16-team single-elimination national championship field slated for May 8-11 at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

The national championships will be co-hosted by the Central Florida Sports Commission and the Sunshine State Conference. The selections of teams for the championship was based on prescribed criteria listed in the NCAA-II Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships Handbook and approved by the NCAA-II Championships Committee.

The Ferris State men’s team, presently 16-7 overall, will be making its sixth consecutive and ninth overall NCAA-II Regional Tournament appearance. Last season (2002), FSU defeated Wayne State 5-3 in the NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional final (May 4) held at FSU’s Racquet and Fitness Center. The victory marked Ferris’ third consecutive regional title and sixth overall berth in the national finals round where FSU lost a 5-0 opening-round match to North Florida (May 9).

Ferris State placed second overall at the 2003 GLIAC Men’s Tennis Tournament under first-year head coach Kevin Brandalik as a result of dropping a 5-1 decision to Northwood in last Saturday’s (April 19) league tourney final at the Midland Community Tennis Center. FSU advanced to the conference championship match for the fifth consecutive campaign.

The 15-9 Bulldog women’s team will be making its eighth consecutive regional tournament appearance. Ferris State fell to Northern Michigan 5-4 in the 2002 NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional title match (May 4) in Big Rapids. FSU has earned three regional tournament championships in the last four years to date and is making its 13th overall tournament bid. The Bulldogs have advanced to the NCAA-II Championship round four times with their last appearance coming during the 2000-01 campaign.

Ferris, which is coached by third-year head coach Dave Ramos, claimed a share of its 18th league title in the last 19 years at the 2002 GLIAC Women’s Tennis Tournament with a 5-2 championship match win over Northern Michigan (10/26) at the Midland Community Tennis Center. The two teams shared the overall championship as NMU won the conference’s regular-season crown. The Bulldog women have currently 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.

Click Here For The Women's NCAA Announcement/Bracket

Click Here For The Men's NCAA Announcement/Bracket