Nov. 19, 2009

Box Score

Indianapolis, Ind. - Grand Valley State won the first set of the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament on Thursday (Nov. 19) in Indianapolis, Ind. before Saginaw Valley State came back to defeat the Lakers, 3-1 (21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-18). It was the first match of the regional tournament and the loss ends GVSU's season with a 16-13 overall record after the Lakers' 10th straight trip to the NCAA postseason.

The conference rivals had met twice in the regular season, with Grand Valley State earning a 3-0 victory over SVSU on Sept. 26. Saginaw Valley State returned the favor with a 3-0 win on its home court on Oct. 31 to even the season series. The win on Thursday afternoon put the Cardinals at 22-9 on the year and they will play the winner of the Lewis/Ferris State match at 2:30 p.m.

GVSU got out of the gates quickly, leading 3-0 after kills from senior Whitney Tremain and junior Krysta Kornack sandwiched a Meghan Scanlon service ace. Saginaw Valley State rallied to tie the score at 8-8 and neither team could pull away, although GVSU owned a three-point lead at various times in the set. With the score tied at 17-17, the Lakers notched three points on a kill from junior Rebeccah Rapin, a Cardinal attack error, and a service ace from freshman Olivia Kohler to push ahead 20-17. A kill from Kornack ended the set for a 25-21 Laker win.

Saginaw Valley State owned most of the second set, leading 8-3 early and pushing out to a 16-9 advantage. With the score at 17-12, SVSU notched the next six points to put the set away. The Cardinals used their best offensive set of the match (.226 percentage, 13 kills) and GVSU's -.026 attack clip to tie the set at 1-1.

In the third frame, Saginaw Valley State jumped out to a 4-0 lead and pushed their advantage out to 16-9 for the second straight set. The Lakers would rally and cut the score to 21-19 after consecutive kills from Rapin and a ball handling error by SVSU. Saginaw Valley State would then close out the set by scoring four of the next five points for a 25-20 win.

The fourth set was back and forth in the early going before the Cardinals took a six-point lead at 12-6. Grand Valley State then scored four straight points as sophomore Nicole Whiddon and Tremain each notched a kill in the mini-run. The Lakers kept it close at 17-15 on a Tremain service ace, but Saginaw Valley State slowly pulled away by using an 8-3 run to close the set and the match, ending GVSU's season.

Neither team hit well offensively, as SVSU connected at a .117 clip with 45 kills and Grand Valley State attacked at a .013 rate with 36 kills. The Lakers continued to block well with 17 block assists and 9.5 total blocks, compared to Saginaw Valley State's six rejections. Both teams served well, as GVSU recorded eight service aces and the Cardinals notched seven aces, while SVSU totaled more digs (74-63) than the Lakers.

In her final match for Grand Valley State, Tremain totaled nine kills, eight digs, and a service ace. Three Lakers connected for seven kills, as Rapin, Kornack, and Whiddon all tallied seven putaways apiece while blocking very well at the net. Rapin provided four block assists, while Kornack supplied four total blocks (one solo), and Whiddon added three block assists.

Junior Meghan Scanlon tallied 20 assists, eight digs, and three service aces, while junior Janelle Beaudry totaled a match-best 24 digs. Freshman Eno Umoh led all players with five block assists.

It was Grand Valley State's 11th appearance all-time in the NCAA Tournament and the Lakers have been in the postseason each year for the past 10 seasons. GVSU is 21-4 all-time in regional tournament play and had not lost a regional match since 2006. Overall, the Lakers are 28-10 in NCAA postseason play.