Sept. 11, 2009

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Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State won its GLIAC and home opener on Friday night (Sept. 11) over visiting Northwood, 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 26-24) at Fieldhouse Arena. The Lakers, ranked #18 in the country, secured 75 digs and combined for 18.0 total team blocks. GVSU pushes its school-record home winning streak to 37 straight matches.

The victory pushes Grand Valley State's record to 5-4 overall, 1-0 in GLIAC play, while Northwood falls to 2-7 overall and 0-1 in the league. GVSU welcomes Wayne State into town on Saturday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. match. The Warriors fell to Ferris State, 3-2, on Friday night, giving them their first loss of the season. WSU is 8-1 overall.

Both teams were better defensively than on the offensive side of the ball, as GVSU hit .030 for the match and forced the Timberwolves to a -.011 hitting percentage. Grand Valley State also totaled six solo blocks and 24 block assists.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair which featured nine ties and four lead changes. After trailing 15-13, the Lakers rattled off five straight points, including a combined block from junior Krysta Kornack and freshman Eno Umoh, immediately followed by a kill from Kornack. Northwood, however, then scored the next six points of the set to take a 21-18 advantage. The Lakers would cut the gap to 22-20 before NU notched the final three points of the set.

Grand Valley State used a strong run in the middle of the second set to even up the match at 1-1. Leading 9-7, the Lakers rattled off eight of the next 10 points to push their lead to 17-9, ending on consecutive kills from sophomore Nicole Whiddon and senior Whitney Tremain. Northwood rallied back to within 17-15, but GVSU answered with four straight points, helped by three NU attack errors, one of which was blocked by Kornack. The Lakers scored the final three points of the set behind the strong serving of freshman Olivia Kohler.

In the third set, the teams were tied at 1-1 before the Lakers scored the next point for a 2-1 lead. GVSU would not trail again in the set, although Northwood hung around and cut what was once a seven-point advantage to 21-19 after a Laker service error. Grand Valley State then finished off the set at 25-22 on a kill from junior Rebeccah Rapin.

Northwood jumped ahead 7-2 in the early part of the fourth set before GVSU rallied behind the serving of Janelle Beaudry. The junior libero notched the next eight points of the set for the Lakers to take a 10-7 lead, including blocks on the final three points. Rapin and Kornack notched back-to-back combined blocks, followed by a solo block from Tremain. Northwood rallied to tie the score and the set was knotted 10 different times in the fourth set alone. Trailing 21-20, Tremain secured a kill, followed up by another Kornack-Rapin block to jump ahead 22-21. The Timberwolves knotted the score at 24-24 before Kornack ended the match with back-to-back kills, both assisted from Kohler.

Kornack totaled 12 blocks (three solo, nine assists) to go along with five kills. Tremain paced the Lakers with nine kills, seven digs, and a pair of blocks. Three Lakers recorded double-digits in digs, with Beaudry leading the way with 27 pickups. Senior Meredith Young added 19 digs and four kills, while Kohler secured a double-double with 11 assists and 10 digs. Rapin notched seven kills and seven total blocks (six solo).