Hawks gear up for GLVC tourney appearance, two QU tennis players earn all-league honors

QUINCY — Opportunity awaits the Quincy University women’s tennis team.

For the second time in three seasons, the Hawks have qualified for the Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament, finishing fourth in the league’s West Division after winning two of their final three conference duals.

The only drawback, if there is even one, is the draw the Hawks face.

Quincy will square off against Indianapolis, the No. 1 seed from the East Division, at 8 a.m. Friday at the UIndy Tennis Center in Indianapolis. The Greyhounds went 5-0 in conference duals, are 14-5 overall and are ranked ninth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division II Top 50 coaches poll.

The Hawks lost 4-0 to the Greyhounds in the first round of the GLVC Tournament in 2021.

Quincy is led by graduate student Varvara Griva, who was one of 17 women’s players named to the All-GLVC first team. An Athens, Greece, product, Griva went 10-5 in singles play, with prominent wins against Rockhurt’s Sofia Valdespino, Lewis University’s Casey Smith, and Southwest Baptist’s Paula Ballesteros, who were all also named to the All-GLVC team. She teamed with Blanca Salas Cruz to go 9-4 in doubles.

The QU men’s team did not qualify for the eight-team league tournament, but during Thursday’s pre-tournament banquet, the Hawks’ Samuele Contestabile was named to the 16-player All-GLVC first team. A graduate student from Celano, Italy, Contestabile won his final two conference singles matches and finished the season .500 in doubles matches.

Receiving the James Spalding Sportsmanship Award from the GLVC were junior Zach Willing, a Quincy High School graduate, for the QU men and freshman Mahi Panchal for the QU women.