Oct. 11, 2005

Box Score

#15 Grand Valley State defeated West Michigan rival #20 Ferris State 3-2 (22-40, 30-26, 30-20, 31-33, 15-2) in a GLIAC North Division battle at the GVSU Fieldhouse Tuesday night. The Lakers improve to 17-4 overall and 9-1 in GLIAC action, while the Bulldogs drop to 16-6 and 6-4.

Ferris State came out strong as they hit .395 to take a 30-22 game one win. GVSU went ahead in the match, two games to one, as they took games two and three, 30-26, 30-20, respectively.

The Lakers took a 5-1 lead to start game four, but the Bulldogs battled back to even things up at 8-8. The two teams continued to battle back and forth, tying the game 10 more times. Ferris State took a 28-26 lead late in the game, but GVSU tied it at 28-28. Each team scored, making it 30-30. The Lakers went ahead 31-30, but the Bulldogs took the next three points to win game four, 33-31.

Grand Valley came out dominating in game five, taking a 5-0 lead. The Lakers took the next seven out of eight points to increase their lead to 12-1. GVSU scored three out of the final four points to seal game five, 15-2 and the match, 3-2.

Senior middle blocker Tracy Kirk had a career night, posting a career-high 31 kills. She also added six digs, an assisted block, and a .397 hitting percentage. Kirk is just the eighth player in Division II to record 31 or more kills this season. Her previous career-high was 23 kills at West Texas A&M on August 30, 2003.

Junior outside hitter Megan Helsen added 13 kills, a .379 hitting percentage, and nine digs, while senior outside hitter Tina Tromblay added nine kills, 17 digs, three assists, and one ace. Junior middle blocker Meghan Moore posted eight kills, eight assisted blocks, and five digs. Senior middle blocker Lauren Hanson added five kills, four digs, and one solo and four assisted blocks. Redshirt freshman Jamie Ashmore had a career-high 48 assists in the match for the Lakers. Redshirt freshman Alyson Riley posted a team-high 21 digs.

Before the win, the Lakers were just 1-2 in five game matches. GVSU is 15-0 in matches that go three games and 0-2 in four game matches.

The Lakers will travel to Wayne State on Oct. 14 at 7:00 p.m. and to Hillsdale College on Oct. 15 at 12:00 p.m.