SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – In their final match of the 2017 fall season, the Lake Superior State women's tennis team took on the Michigan Tech Huskies in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play. The Huskies (7-5, 5-5 GLIAC) defeated the Lakers (3-9, 2-8 GLIAC) 6-3 on the tennis courts of the Arbuckle Student Activities Center.
Lake Superior started off on the right note in doubles play, as the tandem of Tara Harvey and Macarena Bielsa defeated Ivona Gorgioski and Vicky Quinde 8-5 at number one doubles. The Huskies struck back by the same score in number two doubles, as Sandra Cvetanovic and Natalia Parra Alvarez downed the Laker pairing of Allison Grandfield and AlexiAnn Drouin. Finishing up the doubles portion, Michigan Tech's Anabella Neri and Allenca Rolim upended Jenay Andrews and Laura Valderrama by an 8-4 score.
In singles, the Lakers again got off to a good start, as Drouin took down Gorgioski 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, and Harvey bested Paola Quintana 2-6, 6-3, 6-1. Tech pulled even with the Lakers when Cvetanovic earned a win over Bielsa by retirement.
Michigan Tech swept the remainder of the singles pairings, as Valerrama was beaten by Quinde 6-3 and 6-1, Grandfield fell to Neri 7-5 and 6-0, and Andrews was downed 6-4 and 6-2 by Rolim.
With the win, the Huskies defeated the Lakers for the second time this season, as the two squads met in a non-conference match on September 8th in Dearborn, Michigan. Michigan Tech downed Lake State 7-2 in that match.
Competing in their final GLIAC tennis matches were Valderrama and Bielsa, both of whom hail from Madrid, Spain. Bielsa is a business administration and marketing major who has been a staple at the number three singles spot for the past two seasons. This year, she competed in number one doubles with Harvey.
Valderrama , a mechanical engineering major, has spent most of her four years at Lake State in the number four singles spot and at number two doubles. Last season, she and Bielsa were paired together in doubles through the GLIAC portion of the schedule.
With a tenth place finish, the Lakers did not qualify for the GLIAC tournament. The top eight teams will advance to the 2017 GLIAC women's tennis tournament, held at the Greater Midland Tennis Center on October 27-29th.
