Results MILFORD, Mich. - With a chance to sweep the conference regular season and tournament titles at stake, as well as an automatic berth in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, Grand Valley State falls 5-2 to Northwood in the 2015 GLIAC Tournament Championship at the Greater Milford Tennis Center on Sunday.
The top-seeded Lakers drop to 13-2 overall with the championship loss, their second consecutive appearance in the final match of the GLIAC Tournament, while the Timberwolves improved to 13-1 with the win, their 11
th all-time GLIAC Tournament title.
Grand Valley State fell behind early 2-1 in doubles action.
Aimee Moccia/
Rachel Sumner fell 8-1 to Carol Arnez-Mercado/Anna Aniskina in match No. 1, and
Abby Perkins/
Livia Christman lost 8-5 in the No. 3 match to Olesia Riabchuk.
Alexa Sweeney/
Madison Ballard kept the Lakers from being swept with an 8-3 win over Alisa Reshetnikova/Maria Avksenenko in match No. 2.
In singles competition, Sweeney picked up the win for GVSU with a tight two-sets (6-3, 7-6 (8-6)) over Reshetnikova in match No. 2, but it wasn't enough as Christman fell in match No. 4 (6-3, 6-0), Sumner lost match No. 5 (6-0, 7-5), and Ballard dropped a hard-fought match No. 6 (5-7, 6-3, 7-5) to give Northwood the required five points and the win.
At the conclusion of the tournament, All-GLIAC teams and award winners were announced. Head coach
John Black was named GLIAC Coach of the Year, while Sweeney was named All-GLIAC First Team, Perkins was named to the Second Team, and Moccia was named Honorable Mention. This is coach Black's second career GLIAC Women's Coach of the Year honor after leading the Lakers to a 13-2 overall record and 10-1 record in the conference in 2015. Sweeney earns First Team honors with a 10-1 conference singles record and 8-3 doubles record, Perkins went 6-4 in singles and 10-1 in doubles against conference opponents, and Moccia went 9-2 in singles and 6-5 in doubles against GLIAC competition.
This wraps up the Fall schedule for the Laker women. Keep an eye on
gvsulakers.com for the winter/spring schedule.
