Newsfeed
Printer-Friendly ModeLakers beat tennis team, too
Freshman Coldren named GLIAC Player of the Week
October 17, 2005 —
The SVSU women's tennis team dropped a 7-0 decision to Grand Valley State Saturday in Allendale.The loss to the Lakers, third in the GLIAC, was not what coach Mike Major was hoping for on the road.
"I was disappointed by the level of play and I think that the players were disappointed as well," he said.
Major said several of the doubles matches, played first, were close, and losing those hurt the team's confidence before the singles matches
Major said he believes the team is one that can compete in the conference, but just needs to take that next step from mediocre to good.
"I wish we could have converted the game points," he said. "There were multiple occasions in which we had chances to win a game and we committed an error."
Without errors, Major believed that the contest would have had a bit of a different outcome.
"If we would have not had as many errors, it would have been a much different performance," he said. "All we need to do is take it to the next step and not waste opportunities, but convert them."
A bright spot for the Cardinals has been freshman Danielle Coldren, who was named GLIAC Player of the Week on Oct. 11 for her performance the week before. It is the first time in the University's history that an SVSU tennis player had been named Player of the Week.
Coldren's record was at 8-0 when she selected for the award, but after this past weekend her record has dropped to 9-1. Major referred to her selection as a positive for the Cardinals, as they have not had too much success as of late.
Over the past four matches, the Cardinals' record has been 1-3, with their last victory coming three weeks ago against Findlay. Regardless, Major has remained optimistic.
"Well, I think we learned that we can definitely play with the number three team in the conference," he said. "Just like we said all season, we're close, right on the bubble. As soon as we start converting those game points in actual games, we got a chance to increase our chance in the conference."
SVSU has one more conference match against Ferris State University, second in the GLIAC, on Thursday. Major hopes for some fan support for their final home game of the season.
"It'd be great to see the fan support show up and cheer us on," he said.
This weekend, they travel to the Midland Community Tennis Center for the GLIAC Championships. The top eight teams in the conference get to compete in the seeded tournament.
SVSU has already locked up at least the eighth spot, and if it stays there, they could face Northwood, which figures to be the top seed and is one of the top teams in the nation, according to Major.
"We're looking for another chance to go against the teams we played this year," he said. "I feel that we're a better team now than when we played them in the beginning of the year."