Dec. 3, 2005
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#16 Grand Valley State made history as they defeated #1 Nebraska-Kearney, 3-1 (30-18, 30-27, 25-30, 30-24) to claim the school's first-ever NCAA Division II Volleyball National Championship. The Lakers won the title at host school Nebraska-Kearney in front of the largest crowd in Division II history with 5,025 fans. The championship marked the first for a women's sport at Grand Valley State.
Grand Valley State started off the match playing its defensive game, taking the first point of game one on a block by Megan Helsen and Tracy Kirk. Nebraska-Kearney took the next three points, taking a 3-1 lead, but GVSU stormed back to take the next six points and a 7-3 lead, forcing the Lopers to take an early timeout. The Lakers increased their lead to 13-6 on a series of kills and blocks forcing UNK to take their final timeout of game one. The Lakers spread out their offense and continued to dominate with three consecutive kills by Meghan Moore, Tracy Kirk, and Megan Helsen. Lindsey Bayle came in off the bench and recorded an ace to give GVSU an 18-7 lead. The Lopers recorded back-to-back aces to cut the lead to 18-10, but GVSU tallied an ace by Jamie Ashmore and a Tracy Kirk kill to come back and increase the lead to 10 (22-12). GVSU recorded five straight points to take their biggest lead of the game, 27-14. The Lopers won a long rally with phenomenal plays by both teams to cut the Laker lead to 11 points (28-17), but Meghan Moore came out of a GVSU timeout to record a kill and give the Lakers game point. It was only fitting after a UNK point, Moore tallied another kill to give GVSU the win in game one, 30-18.
The Lakers tallied an outstanding .412 hitting percentage in the first game and was led by Meghan Moore's five kills. GVSU posted 15 kills and just one error in the first game, while the Lopers had 12 kills and 12 errors for a .000 attack percentage. Each team recorded three service aces, while the Lakers had three team blocks and the Lopers had none.
Nebraska-Kearney took the first point of game two, but GVSU recorded the next five to take a 5-1 lead and forced the Lopers to take another early timeout. UNK cut the lead to one, 6-5, but kills by Meghan Moore and Tina Tromblay, coupled with an Alyson Riley service ace gave GVSU a five-point, 10-5 lead. The two teams swapped points, but the Lakers held onto their 14-9 lead on a block by Megan Helsen and Tracy Kirk. UNK scored the next three points to cut the lead to two, but GVSU charged back to take a 17-12 lead forcing Nebraska-Kearney to use their other timeout. The Lopers were led by AVCA Player of the Year Erin Gudmundson on a run to cut the Laker lead to one point, 19-18 and forcing GVSU to use their first timeout of the game. Tina Tromblay recorded a kill and an ace on back-to-back points to put the Lakers ahead, 21-18. Grand Valley scored nine straight points to take a 27-18 lead, but UNK went on a seven point run to cut the lead to 27-25. The Lakers hung on though, scoring the next three out of five points to seal the 30-27 game two win.
Grand Valley State hit .226, while Nebraska-Kearney tallied a .240 hitting percentage in game two, but GVSU added four service aces and three more blocks in the win. Tracy Kirk led the Lakers with six kills in game two.
GVSU got off to another hot start, taking the first three points of game three. The Lakers jumped out to a 6-1 early lead and a block by Meghan Moore and Tina Tromblay and a Cortney Lokker kill gave Grand Valley State a 9-2 lead and forced UNK to take their final timeout of the game. The Lopers scored the next nine out of 11 points to tie the game at 11-11 and forced GVSU to take a timeout of their own. Nebraska-Kearney came out of the timeout and scored the next four points to take a 15-11 lead. The Lopers increased their lead to 18-13 and then scored the next four out of seven points to take a six-point, 22-16 lead. GVSU came charging back though and scored four straight points to cut the lead to 22-20. The two teams swapped points back and forth, each scoring four to make the score 26-24 in favor of the Lopers. UNK scored the following two points and then went ahead, 29-25 to have their first game point. A hitting error by Meghan Moore sealed the 30-25 win for Nebraska-Kearney and forced a fourth game.
Neither team hit well in game three as Grand Valley State hit just -.022 as they recorded 12 errors and 11 kills, while the Lopers posted a .075 attack percentage. Tracy Kirk and Meghan Moore each posted three kills in the third game.
Nebraska-Kearney came out and scored the first two points of the, but the Lakers marched back to take the next seven points, including two on aces by Jamie Ashmore to take a 7-2 lead. UNK went on a run of its own, scoring four straight points to cut the lead to one (7-6). The two teams battled back and forth until the Lopers scored two straight points and took a 12-11 lead. Out of a Laker timeout, UNK recorded a block and two kills to go up by four points, 15-11. GVSU chipped away at the lead as they scored the next four out of five points to cut the UNK lead to 16-15. Back-to-back blocks by the Lakers gave GVSU an 18-17 lead and forced the Lopers to use a timeout. Tina Tromblay and Meghan Moore recorded a kill each to put GVSU up 21-19. Cortney Lokker, Meghan Moore, and Megan Helsen all recorded kills to put the Lakers up, 25-22. Grand Valley tallied four out of five points to take a 29-23 lead and record game and match point. GVSU won the national championship title as Tracy Kirk and Megan Helsen recorded a block to take game four, 30-24.
Junior middle blocker Meghan Moore led all hitters with 17 kills and added four assisted blocks. Senior middle blocker Tracy Kirk tallied 13 kills, a .400 hitting percentage, one solo and seven assisted blocks, while junior outside hitter Megan Helsen added 10 kills, 15 digs, and six assisted blocks. Senior outside hitter Tina Tromblay posted nine kills, two aces, five assists, nine digs, and three assisted blocks and sophomore Cortney Lokker recorded eight kills, 15 digs, and four assists. Redshirt freshman setter Jamie Ashmore tallied a career-high 50 assists, seven kills, four service aces, and nine digs, while sophomore libero Alyson Riley added 28 digs.
Five Lakers were named to the 2005 NCAA Division II Elite 8 All-Tournament Team. Outside hitter Megan Helsen, middle blocker Tracy Kirk, libero Alyson Riley, middle hitter Meghan Moore, and setter Jamie Ashmore all earned honors for their play in the tournament.
Seniors Tracy Kirk, Lauren Hanson, and Tina Tromblay all finished their careers tonight. The three helped GVSU to a 121-24 record over the past four seasons. Kirk ended her career as one of the most prolific volleyball players in GVSU history. Her .371 hitting percentage this season ranks third on GVSU's single-season list. Tracy's .328 career hitting percentage ranks third, her 1,485 kills is fourth, and her 334 assisted blocks is fourth on the Lakers all-time career list.
