The Grand Valley State University dodgeball team saw their regular season end with a loss on Sunday when they faced off against rival Central Michigan University on Sunday.

GVSU dropped the matchup against Central Michigan, 3-1, ending a successful season with a record of 11-2 overall. Sunday’s game was a rematch of last year’s national championship game, but it failed to play out the way the Lakers wanted.

“Central Michigan has always been that tough team every year,” said senior treasurer Brian Savalle. “They were national champions last year, so it’s always a tough game. They were just the better team today. It wasn’t lopsided in anyway but they just came away with it.”

The “high intensity” match didn’t come easy for Central Michigan, while the Lakers fought for every point. In the first half, Central Michigan ran away for the first point, quickly forcing the Lakers to play catch-up for the rest of the half. Coming out with vengeance after the break, the Lakers took a three-person lead over their opponent until they lost control of the match.

“We jumped out really well in the second half, and then something changed where a key player got hit and the momentum just changed from then on out,” said junior team captain Mark Trippiedi. “We went from being up three players to being down two, which really hurt us.”

Losing the game wasn’t the only thing that hurt the Lakers. Realizing this was the final home game for their seniors making the outcome slightly more bitter.

“All of us are a little down just because of the loss, but knowing that, come next year, I won’t be able to play another game in this arena like I have been for four years definitely cause a lot of mixed emotions,” said Savalle.

While the seniors want to remember their last home game as a win they would rather end their season with a national championship.

Three weeks from now, the Lakers will be headed to the National College Dodgeball Association National Championships and all the Lakers can think about is revenge.

“We wanted to get the win for the seniors but I don’t think that was our main focus,” said Trippiedi. “At this point we saw what we needed to work on and we just want to get them back at Nationals since they were the ones that got us last year. They are a major road block for us when we head to nationals.”

Fixing their minor flaws, like making small mistakes and creating more team play, will give the team the confidence they need to bring home another title.

The Lakers will begin to fine-tune their attack before they head to Saginaw State University for the NCDA Nationals on the weekend of April 14.

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