Oct. 21, 2007

Box Score

#8 Grand Valley State dropped a tough 3-2 (30-22, 19-30, 20-30, 30-27, 15-12) decision at Northern Michigan Sundat afternoon. The Wildcats snapped the Lakers 19 match winning streak and their first loss in GLIAC. GVSU falls to 24-3 overall and 14-1 in the GLIAC, while Northern Michigan improves to 16-10 and 10-4. Grand Valley State will end its four match road stint at rival Ferris State on Friday, Oct. 26 at 5:00 p.m.

Grand Valley State fell into a hole right off the bat as Northern Michigan took game one, 30-22. The Wildcats jumped out to a 6-3 lead, but the Lakers quickly tied the game at 9-9. NMU pulled ahead 18-17 and then scored the next five points to take a 23-17 lead. Northern Michigan added three more consecutive points to go up, 27-19 and it proved to be too much for the Lakers to battle back. Northern Michigan recorded 21 kills and just four errors as they hit .321 in game one, while the Lakers tallied just 12 kills, five errors and hit .159.

GVSU came right back, however, and took games two and three to go ahead in the match, 2-1. The two teams battled back and forth in game two, tying the game at 11-11, before the Lakers went on a 5-0 run to go up, 16-11. GVSU pushed its lead to 25-17 and then the Wildcats cut it to 25-19. Grand Valley closed out the game on a 5-0 run. The Lakers won game two 30-19 as they hit .233 as a team and the Wildcats hit -.073. The Lakers then posted an 11-6 lead in game three and then went up, 20-13. GVSU went on a 5-0 run to go up, 24-14. NMU went on a run of its own and cut the lead to 25-18. The Lakers then went on a 4-0 run to go ahead, 29-18. NMU made a push at the end, but it wasn't enough to overcome Grand Valley State's lead. GVSU recorded an outstanding .375 team hitting percentage in game three to seal the 30-20 win.

Northern Michigan came right back and tied up the match with a 30-27 win in game four. Game four was a constant battle between both teams as neither team lead by more than three points. Northern Michigan went up 25-20, but the Lakers went on a 5-0 run to tie the match at 25-25. The Wildcats went on a 3-0 run and took a 29-26 lead and then scored the final point to seal the win. Neither team hit well as the Wildcats posted a .196 hitting percentage and the Lakers hit .137.

Northern Michigan jumped out to a 9-4 lead in game five, but the Lakers battled back to pull within two points, 13-11. Northern Michigan held on and won game five, 15-12, to win the match. GVSU hit just .095 in game five, while NMU hit .158.

Northern Michigan hit just .167 as a team in the match, while Grand Valley State posted a .197 attack percentage. The Lakers recorded 14 service aces and 12 team blocks to the Wildcats nine aces and five blocks.

Junior middle blocker Danielle Alexander led the Lakers with 17 kills, four solo and five assisted blocks, and three digs. Senior middle blocker Erica Vandekopple recorded 12 kills, two digs, and three assisted blocks and freshman Rebeccah Rapin added 10 kills and three assisted blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Meredith Young posted 10 kills and 11 digs and junior outside hitter Lauren Reber had four kills, four service aces, and 11 digs. Junior setter Jamie Ashmore tallied five kills, four aces, 10 digs, and 47 assists and senior libero Allyson Riley added 36 digs and four aces.

Grand Valley State will play at West Michigan rival Ferris State on Friday, Oct. 26 at 5:00 p.m.