In a year filled with too many ups and downs to count, the Grand Valley State University men’s tennis team dropped its second conference match in a row, severely hampering their chances of making the NCAA tournament.

The Lakers dropped an 8-1 decision to 15th-ranked Northwood University on Tuesday, dropping the team’s GLIAC record to 3-3. The Timberwolves entered the game undefeated in conference play and continued their hot streak against GVSU, sweeping the three doubles matches and taking five out of six in the singles.

Although the Lakers were defeated by Northwood, sophomore Josh Kazdan said the final score was not indicative of how tight the matches were.

“We had a lot of matches that could have gone either way, and it was unfortunate that we didn’t pull them out,” he said. “We had a bunch of close second sets that could have gone either way, and it just didn’t happen. We’ll learn from the experience and try to get wins in the rest of our close matches this season.”

The Timberwolves entered the game as the only team in the GLIAC ranked in the top-30 teams in Division II and represented the best competition the Lakers faced since their trip to Orlando, Fla., during spring break.

GVSU’s No. 2 and No. 3 doubles pairings had chances to beat their opponents, but came up short.

“It was tough because our second doubles went from being right there with them to all of a sudden the match being done,” said GVSU head coach John Black. “Third doubles had opportunities, they were a point or two from winning it, and we just couldn’t pull them out. That’s why Northwood is 15th in the country.”

Freshman Jeff Globerson said the team battled throughout the afternoon but was simply overpowered by Northwood.

“I actually thought we played pretty well,” he said. “I felt like I should have played a little better in singles but lost my patience. In the doubles we all played pretty well, and we all played to our level, but Northwood is just a really good team. We didn’t really have a chance because their players are just so good.”

The struggles of the doubles pairs continue to haunt the Lakers. In each of their conference losses they have dropped the majority of their doubles matches, putting the team in a hole when singles matches begin.

“Getting swept in doubles against a team like Northwood is basically a guaranteed loss,” Globerson said. “It was a huge loss for us on that end. If we take one or two of those, it’s a different match.”

GVSU also took on Aquinas College on Wednesday, a game which the Lakers won 8-1.

The team will next see action when it travels to Indianapolis this weekend to take on Drury University on Saturday and Rockhurst University on Sunday. Both matches will begin at 2:30 p.m.

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