For first-year coach Gary Bissell and the Grand Valley State golf team, a fourth-place finish at Saginaw Valley State’s Spring Invitational wasn’t good enough. 

GVSU carded a 31-over 607 in the event, shooting a 17-over 305 on Saturday and a 14-over 302 on Sunday at Boone Links Golf Course in Florence, Ky.

The Lakers finished 11 shots behind first-place Lewis in the 12-team, 77-player field after slipping from third to fourth place on Sunday. Ferris State (29-over 605) surged past GVSU on day two, taking third behind Lake Superior State (26-over 602).

“I just think we need to get back to work,” Bissell said. “We’re coming out of winter and you can’t expect a ton, but at the same time we got beat by Lake State which still has two feet of snow on the ground. I thought we made some pretty dumb mistakes…But I believe in this team and these players and we’ll continue to improve. It’s about what you do in May.”

Redshirt senior Jack Rider paced the pack with his third top-10 finish of the season. Rider fired a 2-over 74 on both days, finishing in sixth place. He wasn’t thrilled with the performance.

“Overall it was just kind of a poor effort, but over time it will correct itself and not be something we’ll look too deep into,” he said.

Meanwhile, junior Tyler Polulak moved up seven spots on day two, finishing with a 2-over 74 and an 11th-place showing. It was his second-best performance of the 2014-15 season. Freshman teammate Dominic Mancinelli also finished 11th. GVSU’s other two scorers were juniors Chris Beltzer and Alex Nannetti. Beltzer notched a 13-over 157 while Nannetti returned home with a 14-over 158.

To both Rider and Bissell, the short game led to problems all weekend.

“Our main focus this week is going to be the short game,” Bissell said. “That’s just about all we’re going to do. We hit it fine but overall, 75 yards in, that’s what killed us.”

GVSU is back in action at the Wisconsin-Parkside Spring Invitational at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Ind.