After a six-match winning streak, the Grand Valley State University men’s tennis team suffered a close, heartbreaking
loss to Wayne State University midday Friday at Ramblewood Tennis Club.

Head coach John Black said his team was more upset to lose by a single point, 5-4, than to have their winning streak come to an end.

“We played very well and unfortunately, we just could not grasp that fifth point to see us to a win,” Black said.

The top three singles flights in order for the Lakers — Andrew Darrell, Benny Delgado-Rochas and Marc Roesslein — picked up points in their singles’ victories. Darrell and Roesslein paired up in doubles and took GVSU’s fourth point of the match.

Roesslein said he was satisfied with how a change in pairings from a few weeks earlier has impacted him and Darrell in the doubles-side of the match.

“We have a very good harmony and that’s been clear in our recent wins,” Roesslein said.

Darrell agrees and said that the duo has been a very strong, consistent point of pride in the past few matches.

“We have been much better in recent matches and we play off each other extremely well,” Darrell said.

Roesslein said the team couldn’t grasp points from the lower-flighted matches in both singles and doubles to see the Lakers on to victory.

“The other matches were very close and could have really gone either way,” Roesslein said. “We need to brush off the loss quickly with our last two matches upcoming.”

The Lakers hit the court against Lewis University, the No. 5 team in the Midwest region, on Monday at Jenison High School. Then on Thursday, Ferris State University comes to Allendale for the Lakers’ final regular season match of the season.

“We’ll have a local tournament after that to get scrimmage matches in before the conference tournament,” Black said. “It will be very likely that we’ll face Wayne State again and we’ll be looking forward to having another shot at them after Friday.”

Roesslein said his team is ready for the upcoming GLIAC Tournament at the end of the season, but will really look to gain a higher seed to avoid undefeated Northwood University in the first round.

“We are hot at the moment and playing well so hopefully we’ll get that number two spot,” Roesslein said. “However, it won’t matter in the end who we end up playing first in the tournament. We all know we have to really step up when the time comes and if we do that, it won’t matter who we play.”

Darrell said the team still has a shot at a national tournament bid, especially if the team does well in the GLIAC Tournament.

“Hopefully we’ll reach the finals and I think if we do that, we should get an invitation to Nationals,” Darrell said.

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