The No. 2 seeded Grand Valley State fell to the No. 3 seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis, 5-4, in the Midwest Region II championship match during the 2018 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championships on Sunday (April 29) afternoon. The Lakers end the 2017-18 season with an overall of 23-4.
In doubles, GVSU's sole win came from No. 2 doubles after
Madison Ballard and
Nicole Heiniger won 8-6.
Alexa Sweeney and
Aimee Moccia fell from the No. 1 pairing 8-6, while
Abby Perkins and
Livia Christman also fell, 8-6, from the No. 3 doubles position.
The Lakers nearly rallied back in singles action, after Christman won 6-2, 6-0, from No. 6 singles, while Perkins tallied a 6-1, 6-2 victory from the No. 4 slot.
Olivia Hanover captured another point for GVSU, after she won 6-4, 6-0 from No. 5 singles. UMSL would hold off GVSU, as Ballard fell in three sets from the No. 1 position. Ballard fell in the first set 6-2, rallied back in the second and won 6-2, before falling in tie-breaker in the third 7-6(3). Sweeney fell in three sets at No. 2 singles by a score of 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, while Moccia was also defeated 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 from No. 3 singles.
Grand Valley State ends the 2017-18 season with an 23-4 overall record, 21-1 against Division II teams and 18-1 against in-region opponents.
