Oct. 26, 2012

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Allendale, Mich. - Grand Valley State dropped a tough five-set contest with Northern Michigan on Friday night (Oct. 26), falling to the Wildcats 3-2 (25-23, 22-25, 15-25, 25-19, 15-11). The Lakers brought a nine-match win streak into the match and suffered just their second loss at home this season.

GVSU had not loss since a similar 3-2 defeat to Ferris State at home on Sept. 25, rattling off nine consecutive victories after the FSU match. With the loss on Friday, Grand Valley State is 18-5 overall and 8-4 in GLIAC play. Northern Michigan improves to 16-9 on the season and is also 8-4 in the conference. Friday's match saw 21 tie scores and nine lead changes between the two teams.

Junior Megan Schroeder and sophomore Abby Aiken tried to carry the Lakers on offense, combining for 36 of GVSU's 58 kills. Schroeder notched a match-high and career-high 20 putaways, including 13 in the first two sets of the contest. She hit .317 on Friday night. Aiken tallied 16 kills and a .308 hitting percentage for the Lakers, who hit .182 as a team. NMU attacked at a .200 clip and outblocked Grand Valley State, 12-8.

Northern Michigan pulled away at the end of the first set after the score was tied 19-19. The Wildcats actually opened up a 22-20 advantage before GVSU rallied to within a point at 23-22 on a Schroeder kill. Another Schroeder kill kept the Lakers close at 24-23, but NMU would get a final kill to take the opening stanza.

In set two, GVSU used a small 3-0 run to open up a 16-12 cushion. For the rest of the set, the Lakers would hold at least a three-point advantage. Grand Valley State hit .400 in the stanza, led by Schroeder's six kills in 11 attempts without an error. Her final kill of the set evened the tally at one set apiece.

NMU looked to have some control in the third set, leading 11-8 near the midway point of the frame. However, Grand Valley State rattled off eight consecutive points behind the strong serving of senior Eno Umoh. The reigning two-time GLIAC North Division Player of the Week, Umoh had two aces and Aiken had two kills during the 8-0 spurt. Another 5-0 run made an 11-8 deficit into a 21-12 advantage, giving GVSU a huge 13-1 swing that opened up the contest. Junior Abby Ebels and Schroeder would notch consecutive kills to end the set.

With the score tied at 12-12 in the fourth frame, Northern Michigan ran off a 6-1 run of its own to lead 18-13. The Lakers would try and rally, pulling with three points at 22-19, but NMU hit .419 in the set and closed out on a GVSU hitting error, sending the match to the fifth set. Grand Valley State entered the contest with a 3-1 record in five-set matches.

Northern Michigan used the momentum from set four and carried it over to the fifth set, taking an early 5-1 lead and pushing the advantage to 8-3. GVSU continued to chip away at the score and pulled to within 11-9 after a Wildcat attack error. A kill from freshman Betsy Ronda and another NMU error made it 13-11, but the match would end with two final points from Northern Michigan. The Lakers hit -.074 in the fifth frame.

For the match, NMU held a slight advantage in kills (64-58), assists (60-57), and digs (75-71). Grand Valley State served up six aces - two each from Ronda and Umoh - while the Wildcats had four.

Ronda also tallied nine kills and nine digs, while sophomore Clair Ruhenkamp passed for 52 assists and picked up 14 digs. Libero Christina Canepa added 17 digs and four assists. Ebels provided six kills, three blocks (two solo), and hit .333, while Umoh notched five blocks and five kills.

The Lakers return to their home court on Saturday afternoon (Oct. 27) against Michigan Tech. Saturday's match begins at 4:00 p.m.