Aug. 31, 2007

Box Score

#11 Grand Valley State dropped its first match of the season Friday night, falling to #25 Southwest Minnesota State, 3-0 (30-26, 30-28, 30-25) in the Regis Premier Tournament in Denver, Colo. The Lakers fall to 5-1 overall, while the Mustangs improve to 5-1. The tournament will conclude on Saturday, Sept. 1 with the Lakers' opponent to be determined.

The Mustangs jumped out to an early 9-4 lead and kept their lead until the Lakers battled back to tie the game at 22-22. Southwest Minnesota State scored the next three points to go ahead, 25-22. GVSU continued to play tough, but couldn't cut the lead to under three points as the Mustangs went ahead, 28-25. Southwest Minnesota State scored the next two out of three points to take the 30-26 game one win.

Game two was much closer from the beginning as each team had the lead numerous times. Southwest Minnesota State went up 14-11, but GVSU came back to tie the game at 17-17. The Mustangs scored the next seven out of nine points to go ahead, 24-19. Grand Valley went on a 7-2 run to tie the game at 26-26. Southwest Minnesota State scored the next two points to take a 28-26 lead and GVSU won the next two out of three points to make the score 29-28. A kill by the Mustangs won the close game, 30-28.

Grand Valley State took an early 8-4 lead, but Southwest Minnesota State quickly went ahead 15-11. The two teams were all tied up at 18-18, when the Mustangs scored five straight points to go up 23-18. Grand Vally rattled off four consecutive points of its own to cut the lead to 23-22, but Southwest Minnesota State scored the next six points out of seven, taking a 29-22 lead. GVSU scored three points in a row, but the Mustangs won the game, 30-25, on a kill.

Grand Valley hit just .122 as a team and Southwest Minnesota State only hit .171. The Lakers were led by junior middle blocker Danielle Alexander who had 12 kills and two assisted blocks. Senior middle blocker Erica Vandekopple recorded eight kills, four digs, and one solo and three assisted blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Meredith Young added eight kills, two aces, and six digs. Senior libero Allyson Riley posted 18 digs and junior setter Jamie Ashmore had 30 assists and three digs.