To say that the Grand Valley State University men’s tennis team had a rough weekend would be an understatement.

The Lakers learned this weekend that it’s hard to win when you’re dealing with injuries and with the possibility of their doubles being out of synch.

“It was tough competiton this weekend that’s for sure,” said junior Andrew Darrell. “We haven’t seen teams of that caliber since our spring break trip, and all of the injuries didn’t help.”

The GVSU doubles went winless in the two matches between Northwood University and Wayne State University, which ultimately resulted in blowout losses in both matches.

“We aren’t going to beat any solid teams when our doubles get swept,” said head coach John Black. “I thought we played well overall but it’s hard to win when your dealing with as many injuries as we were.”

Plagued by several injuries and makeshift lineup changes, the Lakers dropped their first matchup of the weekend on Friday against Northwood, 8-1.

“Northwood is a really strong team, as they have been for what seems like the past 20 years now,” said junior Bryan Hodges. “It was a difficult loss for us, especially that being it was our first loss in GLIAC play.”

It didn’t get much better for GVSU on Sunday as they were beat by Wayne State by a final score of 7-2.

“We just didn’t fare well against the tough competition that we saw this weekend,” Darrell said. “We really have to reduce the amount of volleys missed and also be smarter with our serves.”

These are the first two losses of GLIAC play for the Lakers, as their hopes for a perfect conference record are now over. Luckily for them, these losses do not affect the rest of the goals that are on their list.

“One of our goals was to win the GLIAC and that really can’t be accomplished anymore, so that’s a huge disappointment to us,” Hodges said. “Our biggest goal, which is to make nationals is still in tact, so that’s where we really have to adjust our focus to.”

Bright spots for the Lakers included Darrell who picked up wins in both match ups this weekend and freshman Andrew Bole, who followed suit and picked up singles victories in both games as well.

“It was a little bittersweet for me to do well and pick up those wins while the rest of my team struggled,” Darrell said. “But we have all been there, so I know we will pick things back up and refocus for our next match.”

The Lakers will have to tend to their wounds and make some adjustments before they step back onto the court, which will be this upcoming Friday, when they travel to Big Rapids to take on rival Ferris State University.
“This past weekend hopefully won’t carry on to next weeks game,” Hodges said. “We should be fine. We just have to get back into it, heal up, and put all our focus on Ferris right now.”
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