Oct. 31, 2009

Box Score

University Center, Mich. - After sweeping Lake Superior State on Friday afternoon, Grand Valley State was swept by Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Oct. 31), falling to the Cardinals, 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 29-27). The loss snapped GVSU's five-match conference winning streak. Next weekend, the Lakers will close out the regular season with home contests against Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech.

With the loss, Grand Valley State falls to 15-10 overall and 10-4 in the GLIAC, while SVSU improves to 18-8 and 11-4 in league play. There currently is a logjam at the top of the GLIAC standings with Saginaw Valley State in first with an 11-4 record, with GVSU, Northern Michigan, and Hillsdale all tied in second place with a 10-4 mark. The team with the best regular season record will host the GLIAC Final Four, as long as they advance past the first-round match.

SVSU took it to the Lakers early in the first set on Saturday. The score was tied at 5-5 before Saginaw Valley State went ahead 11-6 and extended the lead to 18-9, which included three service aces in a four-point stretch. Trailing 22-11, the Lakers responded and cut the lead to 22-16 with a pair of kills from junior Krysta Kornack, an ace from freshman Olivia Kohler, and a kill from senior Whitney Tremain. The Cardinals, however, finished the set with a 25-17 win, as SVSU hit .250 with 15 kills in the frame and the Lakers notched an .067 percentage with six kills.

In the second set, the Cardinals jumped ahead again early with a 9-3 advantage, which featured three service aces. The Lakers cut the score to 14-10, as sophomore Nicole Whiddon cut the Cardinal lead to four with a kill. GVSU kept the score close at 20-15, but the teams continued to trade points and Saginaw Valley State notched five of the last seven points to push ahead in the match, 2-0.

The third set saw the score tied 11 times and featured six lead changes. Late in the frame, the Lakers trailed 23-21 but scored three straight points to briefly take a 24-23 advantage. SVSU then scored two quick points, which were answered by Grand Valley State's two points to make the score 26-25 in the Lakers' favor. To continue the back-and-forth affair, Saginaw Valley State scored a pair of points and led 27-26 before Tremain's kill tied the set at 27-27. The Cardinals then closed the set and match with the final two points for a 3-0 match victory.

GVSU hit .099 with 31 kills in the match, while Saginaw Valley State connected at a .196 pace and 46 putaways. There were few blocks at the net, as the Lakers outblocked SVSU, 4-3. Grand Valley State also tallied 68 digs to the Cardinals' 67 pickups.

Tremain led the Lakers with nine kills and added 14 digs, a block assist, and a service ace. Rapin connected for eight kills and two blocks, including the team's lone solo rejection. Kornack provided seven kills, two digs, and a block.

Junior Janelle Beaudry picked up 25 digs for the Lakers and added three assists. Junior Meghan Scanlon led GVSU with 15 assists and nine digs, while Kohler supplied 11 assists and seven digs.

Grand Valley State hosts Northern Michigan next Friday night (Nov. 6) at 7:00 p.m. and closes out the regular season with a 4:00 p.m. match against Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 7).