April 4, 2008

Grandville, Mich. - In a battle of nationally ranked in-state rivals, the #43 Wayne State men's tennis team's lost its first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) match of the season with a hard fought 6-3 setback to #42 Grand Valley State Friday afternoon. Sophomore Antoine Marenaud (Bordeaux, France/Camille Jullian) extended his singles winning streak to a team-high nine matches at the No. 2 spot.

Wanye State (6-5, 4-1 GLIAC) fell behind early, 2-1, losing 2-of-3 close doubles matches to Grand Valley 15-3 (3-1 GLIAC). The Warriors were led by the No. 2 squad of Marenaud and senior Alejandro Gomez (Comitan Chiapas, Mexico/Instituto Moderno Comitan) who held off Patrick Troy and Renato Tamashiro, 8-6. The No. 1 tandem of freshman Johan Maubacq (Bussy St. Georges, France) and senior Donavon Mitchell (Detroit, Mich./Mumford) dropped a 9-8 (7-1) tie-breaker to Tony Dang and Patryk Polus while freshman Eric Szydlowski (Canton, Mich./Canton) and sophomore Kevin Turnbull Shelby Twp., Mich./Warren DeLaSalle were edged 8-6 by Alex Switzer and Matt Globerson at No. 3.

WSU looked good early at the start of singles play taking the first set in all six singles matches. However, the leads would only hold in two of the six contests. Marenaud went on to roll past Tamashiro in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, at No. 2 while Mitchell outlasted Troy in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, at No. 3 but that would be the only two wins the Warriors could muster. GVSU rallied and took four of the remaining six matches in three sets to seal the 6-3 win. At the No. 1 position, Maubacq could not hold off Dang losing, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-2, Gomez fell 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, to Claus at No. 4, Turnbull was upended by Switzer 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 5 while Szydlowski fell to Brock Plangger, 6-7 (2-7), 6-0, 6-4, at the No. 6 spot.

WSU continues conference play with a dual match at Ferris State on Saturday, April 5 at 1:00 p.m.