Nov. 17, 2012

Box Score

MIDLAND, Mich. - The Grand Valley State volleyball team defeated Wayne State, 3-1 (27-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-11), in the GLIAC Semifinals at the Bennett Center on the campus of Northwood University on Saturday evening.

The Lakers improve to 25-6 on the year and more importantly advance to face host Northwood on Sunday in the GLIAC Championship match at 1 p.m. GVSU recently fell to the Timberwolves, 3-1, in one of its final regular season match of the season.

For the game, freshman Betsy Ronda led with 22 kills and 21 digs, while recording three block assists. Junior Megan Schroeder had 13 kills, while senior Eno Umoh had a team-high .364 hitting percentage on 10 kills with only two errors on 22 attempts. Umoh also recorded a team-high five block assists with one solo block. Clair Ruhenkamp had 47 assists on the Lakers 56 kills, while also recorded four block assists.

In the opening set, the teams traded points as neither held more than a three point lead at any time. Finally with the match at 15-12 in Wayne State's favor, a 7-0 run that included three straight kills from Schroeder gave GVSU a 18-15 lead.

The Warriors battled back and tied the game at 24 before going ahead 25-24 on a Laker error. Another Schroeder kill brought GVSU back into the game at 25-25. A kill from Ronda and a Warrior error gave the Lakers the win in the first set.

Wayne State took an early 10-5 lead in the second set, which set the tone for the match. GVSU was able to come within four several times, but could not get past that until a Ronda kill and an error from Wayne State made it 23-21, but an error by both teams and a final kill from Kristen Bulkiewicz gave the Warriors their only win of the game.

In the third set, the teams once again battled for points before coming up tied, 17-17. Wayne State then recorded four straight points on two kills and two Laker errors before GVSU responded and once again tied the set at 22-22. The set tied two more times before back-to-back errors by Wayne State and a final kill by Abby Aiken gave GVSU the 2-1 lead.

Grand Valley State ran away with the fourth set, taking an early 10-5 lead. Wayne State notched its final kill from Madie Kent before GVSU went on an 11-3 run to take a 22-9 lead. Wayne State earned two more kills from Candice Ottey, but it would be the final ones of the match as Umoh recorded the Lakers' last three kills to take the match.

Bulkiewicz led Wayne State with 18 kills and 16 digs in addition to 10 block assists, while Kent recorded 12 kills and 17 digs.

Live stats will be available at GLIAC.org for the championship match.