Oct. 3, 2006

Box Score

#1 Grand Valley State won a thriller on the road over rival Ferris State, 3-2 (33-35, 30-26, 30-22, 21-30, 15-13) on Tuesday night. The Lakers remain a perfect 10-0 in GLIAC and improve to 17-1 overall. GVSU has won 17 straight matches and 26 out of their last 27. Grand Valley will host Wayne State on Friday, Oct. 6 at 7:00 p.m. and #9 Hillsdale on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 4:00 p.m.

It was evident the match was going to be a hard fought battle as early as game one. The two teams went back and forth before GVSU took a four-point lead, 16-12. Ferris State rallied back to tie the game at 16-16. GVSU went up by five, 28-23, but the Bulldogs scored six straight to take a 29-28 lead. The two teams tied five more times before Ferris State scored the final two points to take the 35-33 game one win.

GVSU jumped out to an early 11-5 lead and pushed the lead to six points, going ahead 20-14. FSU cut the Laker lead to just one point, 22-21, but GVSU rattled off five consecutive points to go up, 27-21. One again, Ferris State cut the lead to two points, 28-26, but this time GVSU scored the final two points to win game two, 30-26.

Ferris State went up early in the third game, 5-0, but GVSU fough back to take its first lead of the game, 17-16. GVSU pushed the lead to eight points (28-20) and then score two of the next four points to seal the 30-22 victory.

The Bulldogs dominated game four, jumping out to a 13-0 start. The lead was too much for the Lakers to overcome as they fell, 30-21 in game four. Grand Valley didn't give up though, fighting hard in game five. Ferris State went up 4-1, bt the Lakers tied it up at 5-5. GVSU then scored five out of the next six points to take a 10-6 lead. The Lakers had at least a two point lead until Ferris State cut it to 13-12. They scored the next point to make it 13-13, but Grand Valley scored the next two points on kills by Meghan Moore and Jamie Ashmore to seal game five (15-13) and the match.

The match stats were pretty much even as Grand Valley State hit .186 as a team, while Ferris State hit .182. GVSU had 13 service aces to FSU's nine.

Leading the way for GVSU, was senior middle blocker Meghan Moore who recorded 17 kills, six digs, and five assisted blocks. Senior outside hitter Megan Helsen posted 13 kills and 13 digs, while sophomore middle blocker Danielle Alexander added 13 kills, two aces, two digs, and two assisted blocks. Junior middle blocker Erica Vandekopple tallied seven kills, an ace, one solo and two assisted blocks. Sophomore setter Jamie Ashmore had six kills, 47 assists, two aces, 10 digs, and two assisted blocks and junior libero Alyson Riley added 23 digs and four service aces.