SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - This weekend, five different Laker teams are in action, as women's tennis is home for their final match of the fall season, while volleyball, hockey, men's cross country and women's cross country are all away.
Volleyball
Staying on the road this weekend, the volleyball team will face GLIAC opponents Grand Valley and Wayne State. Lake Superior (3-15, 1-8 GLIAC) is coming off of a 1-2 showing at the Midwest Region Crossover this past weekend in Aurora, Illinois. There, they fell to Truman State of the Great Lakes Valley Conference 3-0 on Friday night before playing two matches on Saturday. On Saturday morning, the Lakers dropped to Missouri S&T, also of the GLVC, 3-1, before rebounding to beat Ohio Dominican of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference 3-1.
The Lakers return home on Friday, October 27th for their final homestand of the season. Lake Superior takes on GLIAC foe Northern Michigan on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Michigan Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m. Both matches will be held in the Bud Cooper Gymnasium. Tickets for both matches can be purchased at the Norris Center ticket office or by going to lssulakers.com/tickets.
Women's Tennis
The Laker women's tennis team is set to play their final match of the fall season. They will face Michigan Tech, whom they have already played against this season, albeit in non-conference action. The Lakers (3-8, 2-7 GLIAC) come into play with a weekend sweep against Purdue Northwest and Davenport.
Against PNW, Lake State earned its first conference victory of the season in a 9-0 sweep. The following day, the Lakers earned an 8-1 win over Davenport, with one doubles and two singles matches awarded to Lake Superior in default.
For the Lakers, freshman AlexiAnn Drouin has put together an incredible season playing in the number one singles slot, with a 10-1 record. Her only loss of the year in singles play came against Wayne State's Khadija Da-Silva.
The action starts on Saturday, October 21st at 10 a.m. in the Arbuckle Student Activities Center.
Men's and Women's Cross Country
The men's and women's cross country teams will compete on Saturday, October 21st in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships in Marquette. This year, the championships will be held at Gent'z Homestead Golf Course. The women's 6K is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., while the men's 8K is set to start at 11:45 a.m.
Both teams have been at four meets this season, with the most recent being the Lansing Community College Invitational on October 6th. There, the men's team finished in 6th place out of 21 teams, while the women placed 8th of 20 teams.
Mackenzie Richardson led the women's team at Lansing with a 36th place finish, completing the 5K course in 20:31.3. Sophomore Lydia Heimonen of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, finished in 59th place with a time of 21:11.2. Heimonen's time was 39 seconds shorter than her finish at the Bay College Invitational on September 30th.
David Mitter of the men's team has led the Lakers at most of their events so far this year, including taking first overall at the Bay College Invitational and followed up his performance at Escanaba on September 30th with a time of 25:59.2, good for seventh place. Junior Garrett Smith, who was among the top 10 finishers at Escanaba, earned a 13th place finish with a time of 26:35.0.
The next event for cross country is the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional on November 5th. This year, the regional will be held in Cedarville, Ohio, at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. The women will start at 10:30 a.m. while the men begin at 11:45 a.m.