Nov. 7, 2009

Box Score

Allendale, Mich. - The Lakers celebrated Senior Day in victorious fashion, as Grand Valley State swept visiting Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 7), 3-0 (25-12, 25-22, 25-17). GVSU recorded its 10th 3-0 sweep of the season, as it tallied a .354 hitting percentage and notched 42 kills to improve to 16-11 overall and 11-5 in GLIAC play.

Grand Valley State earned revenge over Michigan Tech, who defeated the Lakers on Sept. 19 in Houghton, Mich. in a five-set thriller, which featured a 15-13 fifth set score. The loss drops MTU to 14-13 overall with a 10-6 record in league play.

After falling to Northern Michigan on Friday night, GVSU completely manhandled the Huskies. Grand Valley State scored the match's first four points and never looked back. The Lakers extended the lead to 13-5, as Michigan Tech recorded five straight attack errors. GVSU upped its advantage to 21-9 and used kills from senior Kaity Gormley and junior Rebeccah Rapin, along with a service ace from senior Katey Crichton to end the first set, 25-12.

The Lakers hit .333 in the opening set with 11 kills and just two errors, but defensively they held Michigan Tech to a -.086 hitting percentage with 11 attack errors and just eight kills.

MTU was much more competitive in the second set, which featured eight tie scores. The Huskies led early, 5-1, before GVSU tied the score at 6-6 with a pair of kills from senior Whitney Tremain during the 5-1 run. With the set knotted at 19-19, Grand Valley State scored six of the next nine points, which featured three kills from Tremain and one apiece from junior Krysta Kornack and Rapin, to finish the set, 25-22. While the Huskies hit .306 with 16 kills, GVSU notched a .472 hitting percentage with 17 kills and zero attack errors.

Grand Valley State pulled away in the third set around the midway point of the set. The Lakers led 10-9 and used a 6-2 run to push the lead to 16-11. MTU rallied to within 16-13, but Kornack tallied a kill, which was followed by Tremain's service ace and another kill to push ahead 19-13. Grand Valley State finished the match on a 15-8 run, with Tremain's 14th kill ending the set at 25-17.

One of the four seniors recognized prior to the match, Tremain was outstanding. She recorded 14 kills for her 18th match of double-digit kills this season. Tremain also had just one error for a .500 attack percentage, which is the third time this year she has hit .500 or better. For good measure, she added four digs and a pair of block assists.

Rapin was also tremendous with a dozen kills, a .346 hitting percentage, and three total blocks, including two solo rejections. Kornack filled the stat sheet with eight kills while hitting .368 for the match and added three blocks (one solo), two digs, and a service ace.

Junior Meghan Scanlon recorded a match-best 19 assists and added eight digs, while freshman Olivia Kohler added 14 assists and six digs. Crichton provided a career-high 21 digs to go along with three of GVSU's six service aces. Freshman Eno Umoh had a hand in six blocks for the Lakers, which tallied 10 team blocks to just one rejection for Michigan Tech.

Grand Valley State returns to action on Wednesday night (Nov. 11) in the opening round of the GLIAC Tournament. The Lakers will take on Northern Michigan at 7:00 p.m., with the winner advancing to the GLIAC Final Four at a site to be determined. Friday night in Allendale, the Wildcats defeated GVSU, 3-1, while the Lakers dropped NMU 3-1 on Sept. 18 in Marquette, Mich.