In the first week of competition, the Grand Valley State University’s women’s tennis team had to deal with something it did not encounter all of last season — a regular season loss.

The Lakers opened the season with two consecutive wins over GLIAC foes the University of Findlay and Tiffin University before dropping a hard fought match against Wayne State University Sunday.

With the Wayne State loss aside, there were some bright moments in this weekend’s play, including two dominating wins over the Oilers and Dragons and a come-from-behind three-set win from sophomore Lexi Rice.

“We went 2-1 on the weekend and had two good wins,” said GVSU head coach John Black. “I don’t think we’ve reached our full potential yet. We just need to keep working hard. It’s a gradual process, and hopefully we will get another shot at Wayne during the conference tournament.”

The Lakers came out rolling on Friday behind strong play from sophomores Niki Shipman and Rice at No. 3 doubles and ended the day with a 9-0 sweep.

On Saturday, the team once again came out strong, defeating Tiffin by a score of 8-1 and sweeping in doubles competition. Singles was equally as strong, led by a 6-0, 6-0 victory from junior Allison Fecko.

Sunday’s back and forth match against Wayne State spanned almost four hours with the Lakers coming up short, suffering a 5-4 defeat. GVSU started the match by dropping two of its doubles matches, giving Wayne State momentum heading into singles competition.

Alyssa Lucas, Anne Marie Warren and Rice were victorious singles matches, but it wasn’t enough to give GVSU the win.

“I was frustrated by all the little mistakes I was making,” said Rice, who won her singles match in a tie-break. “She was tough, but I told myself I wasn’t going to lose. “

Looking forward, GVSU knows they have to continue to play hard and can’t get caught up in the loss.

“All the matches were close. It’s just a matter of eliminating a few mistakes. We’ll get them during conference,” said Rice.

The team will be back in action Tuesday at Saginaw Valley State University at 2 p.m. [email protected]