Oct. 7, 2011

Box Score

Ashland, Ohio - Grand Valley State went on the road on Friday night (Oct. 7) to Ashland and the Lakers came away with arguably their biggest win of the season, a 3-1 win (23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 26-24) over the Eagles. GVSU entered the night with a three-match losing streak and Ashland was 7-1 in the GLIAC and owned a five-game winning streak, but the Lakers captured the final three sets in the convincing win.

With the victory, GVSU improves to 8-7 on the year and 5-6 in the conference, while Ashland drops to 9-4 overall and 7-2 in league play. The Lakers had dropped three straight home matches - two of which were to Hillsdale and Ferris State, both ranked in the top-20 nationally, while the other was a five-set heartbreaker to Saginaw Valley State - but Friday's win pushed the team's road record to 4-2. Ashland has only lost one other time on its home court; a 3-0 loss to Hillsdale back in September.

The Laker defense played well, forcing AU into 36 attack errors and just an .094 hitting percentage, while GVSU also picked up 74 digs and blocked 11 shots. Grand Valley State also benefited from Ashland's serving woes, as the Eagles committed 16 service errors. GVSU, on the other hand, served up five aces with only two errors.

Ashland led for nearly the entire first set, except for an 18-17 advantage for the Lakers more than halfway through the stanza. The Eagles, however, scored the next four points to take a 21-18 lead. GVSU pulled into a tie at 22-22 after consecutive AU errors, but Ashland closed out the set with three of the final four points to take a 1-0 lead.

Trailing 11-9 midway through the second tally, Grand Valley State notched five straight points behind the serving of freshman libero Christina Canepa. Back-to-back kills from sophomore Lyndsey Holt, another from junior Eno Umoh, and a double block from Umoh and sophomore Sam Phillips put the Lakers on top, 14-11. GVSU still led 17-14 before six straight points from the Eagles gave the home team at 20-17 advantage. The Lakers bent but did not break, as an AU service error and consecutive kills from freshman Abby Aiken tied the score at 20-20. Tied again at 23-23, Phillips and Umoh again combined for a block and the set ended on a kill from Holt, knotting the match at 1-1. GVSU hit .275 with 15 kills in the stanza, the best offensive set for either team in the match.

An early 6-0 run in the third set (which featured two kills apiece from Holt and Umoh) helped the Lakers push out to an 11-4 lead. Ashland got within three points a number of times, including 15-12, before GVSU rattled off five points in a row and took a commanding lead. Holt served up two aces while AU committed three errors to push the score to 20-12. Aiken's kill ended the set at 25-15, while the Lakers held Ashland to a -.048 hitting percentage with 10 errors.

The fourth set was tight throughout, with neither team leading by more than three points until Grand Valley State took a 24-20 lead on an Aiken kill and a service ace from sophomore Sacha Gill to get to match point. Ashland rebounded to tie the score with with four straight points before Phillips took a Clair Ruhenkamp pass and put it away to put the Lakers ahead, 25-24. Ashland's next attack attempt was an error and GVSU came out with a 3-1 match victory.

Grand Valley State had a better hitting percentage (.113 to .094), more digs (74-69), and more blocks (11-9), while Ashland led in kills (52-41) and assists (45-38). Both teams served up five aces.

Aiken led all players with a match-high 18 kills, while she hit .200 and added a pair of block assists. Both Umoh (six blocks, two solo) and Holt (17 digs) contributed seven kills, while Canepa added 17 digs. Ruhenkamp dished out 35 assists, while adding 10 digs for the double-double. Holt and Canepa each served up a pair of aces, while Phillips totaled four kills, four blocks, and four digs.

The Lakers are back in action on Sunday (Oct. 9) afternoon in Painesville, Ohio, when GVSU takes on Lake Erie in a GLIAC contest.