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 The WSU Tennis closed out the 2007-08 season with a first round loss to Grand Valley in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional |
May 9, 2008
Springfield, Mo - For the second time this season, the #43 Wayne State men's tennis team fell to conference and in-state rival, #42 Grand Valley State University, 5-2, Friday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Division II Championships held on the campus of Drury University.
The Warriors concluded the 2007-08 season with a 9-10 overall record and 4-3 mark in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play.
Sophomore Antoine Marenaud (Bordeaux, France/Camille Jullian) closed out the season with an impressive 17-match winning streak at the No. 2 singles spot with a straight set win over GVSU's Renato Tamashiro, 7-5, 6-2.
In doubles competition, WSU fell behind early, 2-1, losing 2-of-3 matches as the No. 2 squad of Marenaud and senior Alejandro Gomez (Comitan Chiapas, Mexico/Instituto Moderno Comitan) nipped Patrick Troy and Tamashiro in a tiebreaker, 9-8 (5-0). The No. 1 tandem of freshman Johan Maubacq (Bussy St. Georges, France) and senior Donavon Mitchell (Detroit, Mich./Mumford) fell, 8-6, to Tony Dang and Patryk Polus while freshman Felipe Fonseca (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Hope) and sophomore Kevin Turnbull (Shelby Twp., Mich./Warren DeLaSalle) were upended, 8-3, by Alex Switzer and Matt Globerson at the No. 3 position.
The Warriors hung tough as Marenaud's win over Tamashiro got WSU on the board during singles play while Gomez took the first set and was tied 3-3 in the second in his No. 3 match against Philipp Claus. However, WSU could not close the gap as Mitchell fell in straight sets to Troy, 6-4, 6-0, at No. 3, freshman Marlon Leone (Holly, Mich./Holly) was downed by Brock Plangger, 6-1, 6-0, at the No. 6 spot and freshman Eric Szydlowski (Canton, Mich./Canton) retied in the second set to Alex Switzer, 7-5, 3-5, at No. 5 giving GVSU the remaining three wins to seal the 5-2 victory.