Oct. 1, 2010

Box Score

Big Rapids, Mich. - Grand Valley State used a balanced team effort on Friday night (Oct. 1) in Big Rapids to defeat its West Michigan rival, Ferris State by a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-18, 25-23). The Lakers captured a season sweep of the Bulldogs to push their winning streak to 13 straight victories over FSU. On its current seven-match road trip, Grand Valley State improves to 5-1 with a match at Saginaw Valley State on Saturday afternoon.

The victory puts the Lakers at 8-5 on the year with a 7-2 record in the GLIAC, while Ferris State falls to 7-6 this season with a 4-5 conference mark. GVSU is now 5-2 in true road matches. The Lakers captured a four-set victory over FSU in Allendale on Sept. 15, but earned a straight sweep of the Bulldogs on their home court on Friday night.

GVSU opened up the match strong by scoring the first four points of the first set, including a pair of kills from freshman Stacey Catalano. Another kill from Catalano was followed by a service ace from the freshman, as the Lakers pushed the lead out to 7-2. The score was extended to 16-8 on a kill from senior Rebeccah Rapin, assisted from classmate Meghan Scanlon. FSU closed the gap to within four points at 17-13, but the Lakers responded with kills from senior Krysta Kornack and sophomore Eno Umoh and a combined block from the same duo to put GVSU ahead at 21-13. Ferris State would mount a small comeback, but Grand Valley State would close out the set at 25-20.

The second set was tied a number of times, including 13-13, before Grand Valley State started to slowly pull away. Two kills apiece from Rapin and Kornack, plus one from Umoh, made for a nice 6-1 run that forced Ferris State to use a timeout with the score at 19-14. FSU rallied back to within 19-17 with three straight points, but the Lakers then scored five consecutive points to open up a commanding 24-17 edge. Kornack recorded two putaways during the run, as the Bulldogs committed three errors during that stretch. A kill from senior Leslie Curtis two points later ended the set at 25-18.

Ferris State led 3-0 in the early part of the third set, but GVSU tied the score up at 7-7. The Bulldogs then jumped back ahead and took a 15-11 advantage before the Lakers started to rally. Grand Valley State ended up taking a 21-17 lead and then notched back-to-back kills from Rapin to up the lead to 23-17. A few points later, Kornack used a kill on a pass from Scanlon to end the set and match in a 3-0 sweep for the Lakers.

For the match, GVSU hit .211 with 36 kills, while Ferris State totaled 37 kills, but hit just .113. Grand Valley State forced four Bulldogs into negative hitting percentages. The Laker defense forced 23 FSU hitting errors and notched 53 digs and six total blocks, while the Bulldogs had just one rejection. In Grand Valley State's four-set win at home in September, Ferris State also had just one block in that match.

Leading the way for the Lakers was Rapin, who notched team-best 10 kills and led all players in the match with three blocks. Kornack added nine kils and two blocks, while Curtis picked up a match-high 17 digs and supplied four kills in eight attempts.

Catalano provided eight digs, seven kills, an ace, and a block assist. Umoh also had four kills and a block, while Scanlon and sophomore Olivia Kohler each dished out 13 assists. Freshman Sacha Gill totaled 12 digs and an ace, while Kohler picked up eight digs.

The Lakers meet up with Saginaw Valley State on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 2) at 2:00 p.m. in University Center, Mich.