April 27, 2006

SAULT STE. MARIE - The Lake Superior State men's and women's tennis teams have both earned bids to the NCAA Division II national tournament, which begins with regional action on May 4 at Northwood.

Sending both teams to the NCAA Tournament is a first for LSSU, whose program is headed by first-year coach Charlie Drury. The Laker men are making their second national tournament appearance in school history. The 2004 team, which included current LSSU players Ludovic Marmet-Demers and Geoff Markuson, also qualified.

This year's Laker men's squad, which is 8-9 overall and the No. 7 seed in the Great Lakes Region, takes on 10th-ranked Northwood (15-1) at 3 p.m. in Midland. Northwood is the region's No. 2 seed.

The Laker women, who began their season last September, will be competing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The 14-11 Lakers are the No. 5 seed face No. 4 seed Indianapolis (15-9) at 11 a.m.

"That was really our goal from the start of the season, to get both teams to where they're at now," said Drury, who inherited a veteran women's squad and incomplete men's roster when he arrived at LSSU last August. "There was a lot of anticipation, but they all felt very confident that they would get a chance to go. For the women to make their first trip ever to the regional is fantastic."

The LSSU women's lineup will include sophomore Celina Grondin (14-9) at No.1 singles, junior Sophie Bedard at No. 2, sophomore Megan LaMothe (15-8) at No. 3, junior Megan Smith at No. 4, junior Alex Chiakmakis at No. 5 and freshman Carolyn Pumford (15-7) at No. 6.

"There has been times when I would say it's been a long, tiring and stressful season for the women," said Drury, whose women's team played the majority of its matches in the fall. "They've had good rest at certain times, and that's been helpful. It's been good to let them get away from the game, even if it's just for three or four days. They've done a great job. Both groups are great to work with."

Indianapolis, which is making its third trip to the NCAA Tournament in five years, will be trying to avenge a 5-4 loss to the LSSU women that occurred on April 1.

"They were missing one of their top players that day, but I think we match up pretty well with them," Drury said. "It will be a real tough match."

In addition to coaching the women's team during the fall, Drury scrambled to put together a men's team, which had only two returning players. Thanks to the Lakers' on-going "Quebec Connection," they were more competitive than most opponents expected.

"We were able to bring three guys in, and that gave us depth all the way through the lineup," Drury said. "No one in the GLIAC was really expecting us to be where we are now."

LSSU's lineup will include Marmet-Demers at No. 1 singles, senior Tomoyuki Fukushima at No. 2, sophomore Simon-Pierre Caron at No. 3, sophomore Jonathon Legare-Goulet at No. 4, sophomore Simon Laliberte` at No. 5 and Markuson at No. 6. Freshman Craig Baas is an alternate.

"Both teams will have their work cut out for them," Drury said. "Northwood is ranked 10th in the nation and is an outstanding team. They have beaten some of the top-10 schools. We battled Northwood pretty well. They beat us 9-0, but we had some good matches with them."

The winner of the women's first-round match will play the Northwood-Charleston winner, while the men's winner plays the Ferris State-Grand Valley State winner on Friday.