Oct. 22, 2011

Box Score

Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State put together one of its best wins of the season on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 22), as the Lakers knocked off Northern Michigan by a 3-1 score (25-17, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20) on the team's Senior Day. After sweeping Michigan Tech on Friday night, GVSU won the first and second sets against Northern Michigan on Saturday before closing out the match with a 25-20 win in the fourth set.

The Lakers earned a big victory over the visiting Wildcats, as GVSU improves to 11-10 on the season and 8-6 in conference play. Northern Michigan drops to 12-10 overall and NMU is 9-4 in the GLIAC. The Wildcats are in fourth place in the conference, giving Grand Valley State a strong win as it pushes towards postseason play.

On Saturday afternoon, GVSU was better offensively (.231 hitting percentage to NMU's .194 clip) and defensively (11 blocks to six), while the Lakers served up a season-high 10 aces.

A close first set turned Grand Valley State's way on a 5-0 run after the score was tied 16-16. Three NMU attack errors surrounded a kill from sophomore Abby Ebels, while the five-point spurt ended with one of sophomore Megan Schroeder's five service aces. Later in the set, Schroeder tallied a kill and Ebels and freshman Abby Aiken combined on back-to-back blocks for a 24-17 lead. The Lakers would win the set 25-17.

Northern Michigan led the second set 14-10 before GVSU erupted for nine consecutive points, seven of which came during the strong serving of sophomore Lyndsey Holt. She had two aces during the 9-0 run, while Ebels supplied three kills, making the score 19-14. NMU would pull within 23-21, but the Lakers would finish the set at 25-22 on a Schroeder kill.

Trailing 2-0, the Wildcats put together their best set of the match, turning a 9-8 lead to an 18-10 advantage. GVSU got back to 19-14, but Northern Michigan would hit .409 during the stanza to win and force a fourth set.

A 14-14 tie score would turn to a 17-14 Laker lead on an Ebels kill, though NMU would stay close at 20-18. Schroeder provided back-to-back kills to put GVSU ahead by four points at 22-18. Ebels then notched another kill to make the score 24-20 and, in fitting fashion, senior Courtney McCotter ended the set and match on Senior Day with a final kill from freshman Clair Ruhenkamp.

Schroeder and Ebels combined for a quite a 1-2 punch on Saturday afternoon. For Schroeder, her 13 kills were a career-high, as she added three service aces, three blocks, and three digs. Her previous career-high in kills was 12, when the Lakers played at Northern Michigan on Sept. 10. Ebels, one day after tying a Division II record for most kills (13) with a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage, tallied 11 kills, a .529 hitting percentage, and a match-best seven blocked shots (two solo, five assists). For the weekend, Ebels hit .733 (24 kills, two errors) and added nine blocks.

Junior Eno Umoh added eight kills and a .462 attack clip, to go with three blocks. Ruhenkamp delivered 37 assists, seven digs, four kills, and a pair of blocks. Aiken supplied 12 digs, seven kills, three blocks, three assists, and an ace, while Holt served up four aces, to go with six digs.

The Lakers' final five regular season matches are all on the road, as GVSU heads to Saginaw Valley State on Wednesday (Oct. 26) for a 7:00 p.m. showdown with the Cardinals.