Four matches in three days this past weekend kept the tennis teams of Grand Valley State University busy and on their toes during their first road trip of the spring season in Indiana.

Friday both the Laker men’s and women’s teams went up against the University of Indianapolis before facing Drury University on Saturday and Depaul University on Sunday afternoon. The men’s team began Sunday morning with a match against Carnegie Mellon University while the women’s team hit the court against Butler University.

The men’s team, ranked No. 9 regionally, suffered a 5-4 defeat to Indianapolis on Friday and a 9-0 shutout Saturday to a talented Drury team, ranked No. 1 regionally and No. 19 in the nation.

The women’s team started the weekend with a 5-4 victory over Indianapolis before losing “a heartbreaker” to Drury Saturday morning.

“It really could’ve gone either way, with every match coming down to the wire,” GVSU head coach John Black said of the women.

A forfeit helped GVSU stay behind Drury 2-1 going into singles matches. Another default at the no. 6 singles match tied things up at 2-2. GVSU’s Tara Hayes and Anne Marie Morin picked up wins, with Hayes winning 6-4, 6-2 in No. 2 singles and Morin winning 6-2, 6-1 in the No. 5 spot.

A very close decision in the No. 4 singles could’ve gave the Lakers victory, but ended in loss by a single point. Laker sophomore Lexi Rice came up short to Drury’s Jelena Schaeftimeier, 6-4, 4-6 and 7-6.

“We had an extremely long match today, but we played pretty solid against one of the top teams nationally in the Men’s match and we had a very good match in the women’s that we should’ve closed out,” Black said Saturday. “We played well. Drury played well. Unfortunately we didn’t get enough of the matches to go our way. “

The Lakers will most likely see Drury again later in the season and if that happens, Black said his team will be hopeful, especially within a postseason atmosphere.

“Most likely we will get another shot at them at nationals where we’d rather beat them anyways,” Black said. “We would’ve obviously wanted to beat them in both matches, but if you can only beat them once, we’d rather do that in the postseason.”

Sophomore Niki Shipman had a comfortable 6-4, 6-2 win Friday against Indianapolis’s Alena Perez-Majul in singles play but came up short Saturday morning against Drury’s No. 1-flighted Beatriz Juan.

“We played well on both Friday and Saturday,” Shipman said. “I struggled a little bit Saturday morning, but overall we came very close to winning. It was disappointing to lose to Drury when we were so close, but I think we showed resiliency to bounce back against Butler.”

Shipman and freshman teammate Leah Dancz fell to Butler’s Stephanie McLoughlin and Gabrielle Rubenstien in the No. 1 and No. 2 flight matches, respectively.

It was then up to the No. 3 through No 6.-flighted Lakers to carry the singles teams to victory.

“It was great to see our teammates on their game after we struggled a little bit,” Shipman said. “It’s great to be a part of team knowing you can count on the right people to step up when you need them.”

GVSU’s Lexi Rice, Anne Marie Morin, Allison Fecko and Morgan Patterson all recorded to set victories to give a 4-2 advantage to the Lakers.

Danzc and Fecko then won their doubles match together 8-3, while the team conceded the other two doubles matches.

The men’s and women’s teams will head to Florida for spring break, playing a host of colleges in Orlando during the first week of March.

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