The Basics
Ferris State 5, Saginaw Valley 4
Records: FSU (10-4) | SVSU (6-8)
Location: Greater Midland Tennis Center - Midland, Mich.
MIDLAND - The SVSU women's tennis team finished the 2015 regular season with a sixth place finish in the 2015 GLIAC Women's Tennis Tournament after dropping a narrow 5-4 decision to the Ferris State University Bulldogs in the fifth place match of the tourney.
The Bulldogs claimed all three doubles matchups to take a 3-0 edge heading into singles play, marking just the second time all year the Cards have been down by that deficit heading into singles competition.
Ferris claimed the first singles match at the #5 position when Abigail Shonk dropped a 7-5, 6-3 decision, putting the Bulldogs up 4-0 and just one victory away from the team win.
The Cardinals cut into the lead right after when senior Erin Doud put away her opponent at #4 singles, 6-1, 7-5 in her final GLIAC match for her career. Danielle Slonac then cut the Bulldog advantage to 4-2 when she posted a three-set win at #6 singles 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Ana Pico made the score 4-3 with a win at #2 singles, winning with scores of 6-4, 7-5.
That left just two matches out on the court, as SV's Izabella Ismailova and Shea Donahue were competing at #1 and #3 singles, respectively.
Ismailova took the lead in the first set, as did Donahue to give SVSU the advantage with those two matches. Izabella would seal the fourth point for SVSU with a 6-3, 6-2 win overall, making Donahue's match the deciding one.
Ferris's Matilda Ackered rebounded from the first set defeat and claimed the victory at #3 singles over Donahue for the Bulldog victory.
From Head Coach Jenn Boehm
"Both times we played Ferris this year we put ourselves in a position to win. Today's match we gave ourselves a seemingly impossible task of recovering from a 4-0 deficit. After doubles, we weren't happy with our overall performance but we knew we had the fight and toughness to get back into the match. These girls never, ever quit and they almost pulled off an unbelievable comeback. They truly laid it all on the line and showed not only their opponents, but themselves and the entire GLIAC that they are the real deal. Proud doesn't really begin to describe how I feel about this group. They were good sports and played their hearts out. The energy and team support was amazing. Overall, this was a great weekend for our team. We had a great win over Hillsdale to avenge a previous loss and we beat our seed by finishing 6th. We know that we are a major contender in this incredibly competitive conference and can't wait for our spring season to start up in February."
Up Next for SVSU...
This concludes the 2015 fall season for the Cardinals, as the sixth place finish is the best for the team since a fourth place showing in the 2000 season. The team will continue official spring competition in February.