GVSU football leads nation in attendance for 2016 season

For the fifth consecutive season, the Grand Valley State football team led the nation in home-game attendance in all of Division II. The Lakers drew 100,388 fans throughout the season for an average of 12,549 fans per game.

GVSU broke its own single-season total, average and single-game total (16,889) in its eight home games at Lubbers Stadium. The Lakers demolished the rest of the competition in the nation with second-place Texas Permian Basin recording 42,098 fewer fans that GVSU.

Saginaw Valley State was second in the GLIAC with a total attendance of 32,462. GVSU would have ranked 17th in all of Division I FCS schools.

In the past 12 years, GVSU has finished first or second in Division II attendance 11 times. The last time the Lakers finished outside of the top two was in 2009. GVSU has drawn 1,082,838 fans in 100 home games since 2001, the best mark in all of Division II.

Men’s tennis sweeps final regular season series

The Grand Valley State men’s tennis team finished its regular season with two wins over GLIAC opponents. The Lakers defeated Tiffin 6-3 Friday, April 14, and Walsh 7-2 Saturday, April 15.

Against Tiffin, the Lakers (18-6) swept the Dragons in doubles play. Zach Phillips and Alex van de Steenoven won the No. 1 match 9-7. Jock Heiniger and Sebastien Lescoulie won the No. 2 match 8-3 while Jack Geissler and Nicholas Urban completed the sweep 8-5 in the No. 3 match.

Both the Lakers and the Dragons won three matches in singles play. Lescoulie won the No. 1 match 6-4, 6-4 while Geissler added another win 6-2, 7-5. Heiniger earned the final win by a score of 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

In the final match of the regular season, the Lakers earned another sweep in doubles play over Walsh. Phillips and Van de Steenoven won the No. 1 match 9-7 while Heiniger and Lescoulie throttled their opponent in the No. 2 match 8-2. Urban and Geissler concluded doubles play with an 8-5 win in the No. 2 match.

Lescoulie kept the hot hand in singles play with a 6-0, 6-4 win in the No. 1 match. The Lakers dropped the No. 2 and 3 matches but won the final three. Van de Steenoven won the No. 4 match 6-4, 6-3. Heiniger won his match 6-1, 6-3 while Urban edged out his opponent with a 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 victory.

GVSU basketball adds transfer forward

In preparation for the 2017-18 season, the Grand Valley State basketball team added transfer forward Kindred Williams from Saint Joseph’s (Ind.). Williams will be eligible to play next season in his last season of eligibility since Saint Joseph’s is closing down at the end of the academic year.

Last season, Williams started in 26 of 29 games, averaging 29.1 minutes per game. In that time, he averaged 12.1 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the field. He also led the Great Lakes Valley Conference with 49 blocks while snatching 34 steals and dishing out 46 assists.

He scored double digits in 22 games with a season-high 22 points against Drury. He recorded five double-doubles throughout the season. He also was named to the GLVC All-Defensive Team last season.