PREVIEW: Tech Tennis takes on Tiffin Wednesday

HOUGHTON, Mich. – Both Michigan Tech tennis teams will serve their first ball Wednesday at the Gates Tennis Center in Houghton. The women will host Tiffin at 10 am and the men at 2 pm Admission to the matches is free.

The Huskies played in two September events, including the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament hosted by Grand Valley State and the Ashland University Doubles Invitational. Wednesday represents their season-opening duel.

MICHIGAN TECH WOMEN

Kristin D’Agostini-Yep was named head coach in February 2020 and guided the Huskies to a fifth-place finish in her first season. Last season, Tech fell 4-1 to No. 35 Grand Valley State in the GLIAC quarterfinals after posting a 3-10 overall record (3-5 GLIAC).

Senior Dominika Bobik (Wroclaw, Poland) will likely start at No. 1 singles. Bobik has a career singles record of 20-17 and a doubles record of 26-18 since joining the team in 2019-20. He has been named All-GLIAC First Team (2019-20), All-GLIAC Second Team (2020-21) and All-GLIAC Honorable Mention (2021-22) the past three seasons.

Bobik made it to the top 32 in the ITA tournament in September.

Other returnees include Marina Fernandez (Reus, Spain), Chiara Heinz (Schwendi, Germany), Neva Manas (Carmel, Indiana) and Lauren Opalewski (Oxford, Michigan). Grace Eland (Penrith, England) transferred to Tech and plays as a graduate student.

MTU also added a pair of freshmen, Emily Cojocaru (Richmond Hill, Ontario) and Ewa Podulka (Trzebnica, Poland). The last time the Huskies played Tiffin was on the 10th. March 2020 at Lakewood Tennis Club. The Dragons shut out the Huskies 7-0.

MICHIGAN TECH MEN

The Huskies snapped a multi-year conference losing streak when they upset No. 30 Davenport 4-3 last spring at the Gates Tennis Center.

This year’s roster features seven returners and one newcomer, including a sophomore Adam Fenjiro (Rabat, Morocco), who played No. 1 singles as a true freshman. Vitor Jordao (Recife, Brazil) returns as a senior, and other upperclassmen include Ricardo Núñez (City of Carmen, Mexico), So Pinnoo (St. Clair, Michigan), Nikolai Prosyanykov (Santiago, Chile), Ambarish Rao (Irvine, CA) and Artem Sharkota.

The Huskies also added depth with the transfer of Juniors and Lefties Leon Myy (Neuenberg, Germany) this fall. Tech finished the 2021-22 season 1-10 overall, 1-6 in GLIAC games. The team played in Houghton only twice last season.