Both GV Tennis teams defeat Davenport 6-1 

Celebrating senior night on April 2, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams extended their win streaks to four on the men’s side and five on the women’s side against Davenport University.

At the Premier Athletic and Tennis Club in Grand Rapids, the men improved to a 12-3 overall record and 4-1 in the GLIAC, while the women went 10-4 overall and 5-0 in the GLIAC.

On the men’s side, seniors Josep Canyadell and Tomas Oliveira claimed their fourth straight doubles win making them undefeated in GLIAC play so far, scoring 6-2. The other doubles pair, junior Sean Miller and senior Martin Matov, claimed a 7-5 win, making their GLIAC record 4-1 together. For singles, Canyadell earned two wins for the Lakers with 6-0 and 7-5 wins. Miller added his 6-4 and 7-6, followed by Oliveira’s two 6-3 wins. Sophomore Freddy Cossio won both of his singles as well, going 6-0 and 6-3, and senior Jack Dausman concluded the singles wins with both of his 6-0 shutouts.

For the women’s team, both doubles teams maintained their 5-0 undefeated GLIAC streaks, starting with sisters Vera Griva (senior) and Vasileia Griva (sophomore) winning 6-0 alongside junior Taylor Barrett and freshman Estephania Hernandez who also won their sets 6-0. For the singles, senior Marija Leko won both her matches 6-2 and 6-0, Barrett added two wins 7-5 and 6-4 and sophomore Sophia Hanover claimed two 6-2 wins. Continuing their individual 5-0 win streaks, Vasileia and Hernandez won their matches 6-1 and 6-2.

GV Basketball welcomes Cornell Mann as new head coach

At the end of the men’s basketball season, the announcement of 18-season head coach Ric Wesley’s departure from the program prompted the hiring of Cornell Mann for next year as the sixth head coach in program history.

Starting at Central Michigan University as a member of the coaching staff from 2001-03, Mann was a part of the Chippewas advance to the tournament in 2003, then moved to Western Michigan University from 2003-08 following the Broncos to a Big Dance appearance in 2004. Among the many incredible student-athletes that Mann worked with, Western’s all-time leading scorer in Mid-American Conference history David Kool was one of them.

Moving to the University of Dayton from 2008-11, Mann was a part of the coaching staff that made it to three-straight postseasons, contributing to Dayton’s second-most wins in school history at 27 and a second round NCAA Tournament appearance. From 2011-15, Mann joined Iowa State to coach four consecutive teams to NCAA berths, recruiting another all-star player, Monte Morris, who holds the best assist-to-turnover ratio in NCAA history at 4.65-1, remaining the all-time assist leader.

After a short stint at Oakland University from 2016-17, Mann moved to the University of Missouri where he coached with Cuonzo Martin from 2017-21 where he helped bring the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament in five years where they recorded a 20-win season. Mann recruited First Team All-SEC Kassius Robertson as just another one of the six All-American athletes and eight NBA draftees during his lengthy and impressive coaching career over the last two decades.