Oct. 2, 2007

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#9 Grand Valley State battled back from being down 2-0 to overtake West Michigan rival Ferris State, 3-2 (26-30, 27-30, 30-22, 30-25, 15-13), in front of 978 fans at the GVSU Fieldhouse Tuesday night. The Lakers increase their winning streak to 13 matches and remain the only undefeated team in the GLIAC North Division. GVSU improves to 18-2 overall and 8-0 in the GLIAC, while Ferris State drops to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in conference action. Grand Valley State will continue its five-match home stint as they host Mercyhurst on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:00 p.m. and Gannon on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 4:00 p.m.

Game one proved that the match would be close as the two teams constantly battled back and forth. One team would take the lead, but the other would come back to tie the game. There were eight ties between the score being 11-11 and 18-18. Grand Valley scored the next two points to take a 20-18 lead, but Ferris State tied the game at 22-22. The Bulldogs then took a two point lead, 24-22 and the Lakers came back to tie it at 24-24. GVSU scored the next point to force the Bulldogs to take a timeout as they trailed 25-24. Ferris State came out of the timeout and scored the next four points to go up, 28-25. The Lakers scored the next point, but Ferris State claimed the game, 30-26, by scoring the final two points.

Ferris State jumped out to an 8-4 lead in game two, but GVSU fought back to tie the game at 14-14. The Bulldogs put together a run, however, and went ahead, 21-15. GVSU then went on a run of its own and cut the lead to 21-19. Ferris State regained the lead, but once again the Lakers came back and tied the game at 24-24. The Bulldogs scored three straight points to force the Lakers to take a timeout. Following the timeout, Ferris State scored the next three out of four point to go up, 29-26. GVSU scored the next point, but Ferris State closed out the game, 30-27 to go up 2-0.

The Lakers started their comeback as they went ahead, 8-2 in game three. The Lakers kept their lead at six points, taking a 16-10 lead. GVSU pushed its lead to 21-14 and then went up, 27-18. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 29-22, but this time the Lakers closed out the game, 30-22.

Grand Valley jumped out to another early lead in game four, going up, 10-4. The momentum kept going the Lakers way as they went ahead, 18-10. GVSU went up, 21-12, but the Bulldogs scored the next three points to cut the lead to , 21-15. The Lakers wouldn't go away, however, and took a 25-20 lead. Ferris State scored the next three points and cut the lead to two, but once again GVSU took a five point, 28-23 lead. Grand Valley scored the next two out of four points to tie the match at 2-2 with a 30-25 game four win.

Ferris State took the first two points of the deciding fifth game. They then jumped out to a 5-2 lead, forcing the Lakers to take a timeout. Grand Valley came out and scored the next three points to make the Bulldogs call a timeout with a 5-5 tie. Ferris State scored the next three points to take an 8-5 lead, but the Lakers battled back to tie the game at 10-10. GVSU went up 11-10, but Ferris came back to take a 12-11 lead. Grand Valley tied the game and then went up by one, 13-12. Ferris State tied the game at 13-13, but the Lakers scored the final two points to win the game and the match.

Grand Valley State tallied a .228 hitting percentage in the game, while Ferris State hit just .178. Both teams recorded 21 service aces. The Bulldogs had nine service aces and four team blocks and the Lakers added eight aces and seven team blocks.

Senior middle blocker Erica Vandekopple tallied a team-high 16 kills, four digs, and two aces, while hitting .362. Junior middle blocker Danielle Alexander added 14 kills, five assists, two digs, one solo and three assisted blocks, and a .333 attack percentage. Junior outside hitter Lauren Reber recorded 11 kills, a career-high 22 digs, and three service aces and junior setter Jamie Ashmore had 46 assists, 15 digs, two assisted blocks, and six kills. Senior libero Allyson Riley posted 21 digs, while redshirt freshman Janelle Beaudry added 12 digs.

Grand Valley State will continue its five-match home stint as they host Mercyhurst on Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:00 p.m. and Gannon on Saturday, Oct. 6 at 4:00 p.m.