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Huskies To Face Northwood at NCAA Tennis Championships

BLOOMSBURG—The Bloomsburg University men's and women's tennis teams will continue their quest for an NCAA Division II title on Wednesday when they take on the teams from Northwood University (MI) in Altamonte Springs, FL in third round action.

The Bloomsburg men's team, 17-8 on the year, opened the NCAA tournament with victories over Concordia, 5-1, and Dowling, 5-1. The Huskies are led by junior Mike McGrath who is 20-9 on the year at number one singles. Senior Aleks Kalezic adds to the strength of the Huskies in the top half of the lineup and is 14-13 for the year. Junior Brian Bogus rounds out the top half of the Bloomsburg lineup at number three with a mark of 16-10.

In the lower half of the Bloomsburg draw, junior Mark Vellek is 16-9 at number four, while Kurt Caster leads the Huskies in win from his number five spot with a mark of 22-7. At number six, Brendan Miller is also 16-9 for the year.

Northwood comes into third round action after beating West Liberty, 5-0, and Northern Kentucky, 5-0, this past weekend. The Timberwolves are now 17-5 for the year and have won 11 straight matches.

Leading the way for Northwood is Gerrit Lotz at number one singles who is 20-4 for the season, while Florian Bachnick is 15-3 playing at number two. At number three, Marcus Blumberg is 14-5 for the year with Christian Theimann 11-4 at number four. Rounding out the Northwood lineup is Bastien Labarta at number five with a record of 8-7 and Marcel Galik with a 15-4 mark at number six.

Northwood is 1-0 lifetime against Bloomsburg. The winner of the match will face the winner of the North Florida/Barry match in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

On the women's side, Bloomsburg is 16-5 on the year after beating Queens (NY), 5-0, and IUP, 5-0, this past weekend in the first two rounds of action.

Leading the Huskies is freshman Iida Hokkanen who is 14-11 at number one singles. Julianne Bramante will play at number two for the Huskies, while Lindsey Wyckoff plays third singles and is 11-12 for the season. At number four, freshman Emily Murphy leads the Huskies with a record of 23-7 with Brande Hansteen 14-11 at number five. Lauren Colfer rounds out the Huskies lineup at number six singles and is 14-8 for the season.

Northwood, 20-1 on the year, beat Lewis in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, 5-1, before taking down Northern Kentucky, 5-2, in second round action. The Timberwolves opened the season with 18 straight wins before losing to Ferris State, 6-3, in the regular season finale.

Leading Northwood is number one singles player Sue Rossano who si 20-3 on the year, while Kristina Bogdanovic is 16-4 at number two singles. For Northwood at number three is Aurelie Deridzard who is 20-1 on the year with Berenice Ferrer 12-1 at number four. Rounding out the Northwood lineup is Jenny Johnannson at number five who is 13-2, while Fatima Arshad is 13-3 at number six.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the two teams with the winner facing the Lynn (FL)/Columbus State (GA) winner on Thursday in the quarterfinals.