GVSU men’s DIII hockey eliminated in postseason opener against Adrian College

In a season where the Grand Valley State men’s Division III hockey players organized community event after event to raise funding for various foundations, it was hard to root against this year’s team.

Heading into postseason contention, the Lakers were gunning to become true National Championship contenders. But sadly, this team’s stretch of success was cut short in the first round of the ACHA North Regionals against Adrian College on Friday, Feb. 23.

Although ranked No. 5 in the tournament—compared to Adrian’s No. 8 ranking—the Lakers just couldn’t get things moving offensively, falling to the Bulldogs 3-2 to eliminate them from further postseason contention.  

Nevertheless, it was still quite the successful season for this year’s Division III team as the Lakers finished with a 28-9-0 overall record. For six seniors—including Jack Lindsay, Mark Janiga, Ethan Doyle, Derek Simon, Corey Smith and captain Alex Bjork—this marks the end of their four-year career with the Division III program. 

From raising money for veterans to more than $7,000 for breast cancer research, the Lakers had a commendable season.

GVSU men’s tennis picks up fourth straight win

The Grand Valley State men’s tennis team won its fourth consecutive match and improved to 4-1 with a 6-3 victory over Southern Indiana at home on Friday, Feb. 23. The Lakers entered the match ranked fourth in the region, while the Screaming Eagles were tabbed as the seventh ranked team in the region. 

In doubles, Southern Indiana was able to take two of three doubles matches to start off. GVSU claimed an impressive 9-7 victory from Alex van de Steenoven and Sebastien Lescoulie at the No. 1 pairing, while DJ Colantone and Jack Geissler fought hard but fell 6-8 from No. 2 doubles. The Screaming Eagles claimed another point against the Lakers, as Drew Coleman and Nicholas Urban dropped a tough 6-8 decision from the No. 3 doubles spot.

In singles, GVSU won five out of six matches. Lescoulie had an impressive three-set match from the No. 1 singles position, as he won the first set 6-3, dropped the second set 3-6 and came back in the third set to win 6-0. Geissler claimed another point for the Lakers, as he won 7-6(4), 7-5, from No. 2 singles. Van de Steenoven fought hard from the No. 3 slot but fell in three sets by scores of 5-7 in the first, 7-6(5) in the second and 7-10 in the third. Urban won back-to-back sets 6-1, 6-1, from the No. 4 spot, while Colantone won at the No. 4 singles position in three sets. Colantone took the first set 6-4 and fell in the second by a score of 3-6 before making a comeback in the third set to win 6-1. Coleman claimed the final point for GVSU after he won 6-4 in the first, dropped the second set 4-6 and came back to win the third set 6-1.

The Lakers will be on the road for the next month as they travel to Hillsdale College for a Friday, March 2, match before they head down to Florida for their Spring Break Tournament. GVSU’s next home match will be Wednesday, March 21, as they host Aquinas College.