Oct. 16, 2009

Box Score

Lansing, Mich. - In a match that lasted over two hours, GVSU fell to #13 Lewis on Friday night (Oct. 16) in a five-set marathon at the GLIAC-GLVC Crossover Tournament in Lansing, Mich. Grand Valley State won two of the first three sets before Lewis rallied to win the match, 3-2 (16-25, 25-12, 21-25, 25-18, 15-11), in a match-up of the first and third ranked teams in Midwest Region.

The victory puts Lewis, the #1 seed of the entire tournament, at 20-3 overall, as the Flyers have won 16 straight matches. GVSU, the GLIAC's second seed, is now 12-9 and have lost back-to-back matches for just the second time this year. Earlier on Friday, the Lakers fell to Rockhurst, 3-1.

Grand Valley State came out firing in the first set, dropping Lewis, 25-16. The Lakers led 12-11 and started to pull away, advancing their lead to 21-13, which included three kills from senior Whitney Tremain. Junior Rebeccah Rapin finished the set with a kill, assisted by freshman Olivia Kohler. GVSU hit .162 in the opening frame and held Lewis to a .026 attack clip in the set.

The Flyers bounced right back and jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the second set, which included three consecutive aces during the run. Lewis dominated the set with a .310 hitting percentage (10 kills, one error), while GVSU hit .000 with the same number of kills and errors (10).

After a LU service ace in the third set, the Flyers led early, 7-1. Grand Valley State rallied back and used a 10-4 run to tie the set at 11-11. The score was again tied at 14-14 before GVSU started to pull away. Rapin notched a kill, followed by consecutive putaways from Tremain, and another kill from junior Krysta Kornack to jump ahead, 18-14. Tremain's fourth kill of the set gave the Lakers a 25-21 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.

The two teams played to an 8-8 tie at the beginning of the fourth set before Lewis scored five straight points to push ahead to a 13-8 advantage. After cutting the score to 18-14, GVSU was unable to get much closer, as the Flyers notched seven of the next 11 points to knot the match at 2-2.

Lewis opened up the fifth set with a 10-4 lead, but Grand Valley State never folded. The Lakers scored seven of the next nine points to cut the Flyer lead to 12-11 and completely change the momentum of the set. However, the Flyers totaled the final three points of the set, using a Laker error, a service ace, and a kill to finish off the match with a 3-2 win.

Statistically, the teams were rather even throughout the night. Lewis hit .151 in the match with 47 kills, while GVSU connected at a .113 rate with 53 putaways. The Lakers recorded eight total blocks and 73 digs, while LU tallied seven blocks and 72 digs. Grand Valley State managed 51 assists and seven service aces, while the Flyers produced 42 assists and nine aces.

Rapin led all players with a match-best 18 kills and notched three blocks (two solo). She connected at a .286 hitting percentage, which came on the heels of a 17-kill, one-error performance against Rockhurst earlier in the day. Tremain also tallied double-figures in kils with 14 putaways. She added 17 digs and a pair of block assists.

Four players (including Tremain) had at least 10 digs for the Lakers. Junior Janelle Beaudry supplied 16 digs, while junior Meghan Scanlon added a dozen and senior Katey Crichton provided 11 digs. Scanlon led the Lakers with 24 assists, while Kohler notched 18 helpers and a pair of kills.

Grand Valley State meets up with Missouri-St. Louis at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. UMSL is the third seed from the GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference).