Sept. 26, 2008

Box Score

University Center, Mich. - In a battle of the top two teams in the GLIAC North Division, the #9 Grand Valley State Lakers upended Saginaw Valley State on Friday night, 3-1 (25-15, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19). With the victory, GVSU improves to 13-2 overall, 6-0 in the GLIAC, while the Cardinals fall to 12-2, 4-2 in league play.

Friday's victory marks the 10th consecutive win for the Lakers, who are now 11-2 on the year against teams with winning records. After going 3-0 last week at GVSU Fieldhouse Arena, the Lakers showed they can win on the road as well, pushing their record to 4-0 in away contests. Head coach Deanne Scanlon is now 23-3 against the rival Cardinals in her career.

While Grand Valley State did not have its best hitting week of the season in the three victories last week, the Lakers corrected that against the Cardinals. For the match, GVSU notched a .333 hitting percentage, its second-best total of the season. The Lakers recorded 65 kills (to only 11 errors), which is their third best figure of the year.

The first set was all Grand Valley State, as the Lakers put together a stellar 21-kill, one-error performance in hitting .588 in the 25-15 win. GVSU went up 2-0 in the match by tallying 16 more kills in the second set for a 25-20 victory.

Saginaw Valley State recorded a win in the third set before the Lakers won the match with a 25-19 defeat in the fourth set. Grand Valley State tallied 14 kills and three errors in both the third and fourth sets.

Senior middle blocker Danielle Alexander tied a Laker season-high with 20 kills. What was more impressive is that Alexander totaled that number without a single attack error. She hit .455 for the match, the fourth-best single-match total of the season for GVSU. Alexander also recorded a match-best four block assists. Fellow senior Lauren Reber also notched 20 kills against Southern Indiana on Aug. 29.

Following not far behind Alexander was junior Kaity Gormley, who put together a 14-kill, one-error performance. She hit .371 for the match, including nine digs and three block assists.

Sophomore Rebeccah Rapin added 12 kills and a .300 hitting percentage for the Lakers. Senior setter Jamie Ashmore contributed 38 assists, five kills, and five digs. Junior libero Meredith Young tallied a match-high 22 digs.

Grand Valley State is the only unbeaten team in the GLIAC and all other teams in the league have at least two conference losses. The Lakers continue their trip through Michigan with a 2:00 p.m. match at Lake Superior State on Saturday (Sept. 27).