Nov. 3, 2012

Box Score

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. - For the fourth straight match and the 13th time in the past 14 matches, Grand Valley State was victorious, sweeping Lake Superior State on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 3). GVSU tallied its 14th 3-0 win of the season by scores of 28-26, 25-14, and 25-16.

With the win, the Lakers are 22-5 on the year and 12-4 in conference play. Lake Superior State falls to 4-23 overall and 1-15 in GLIAC contests. After GVSU held on for a tough first-set victory, the visiting Lakers had their way with LSSU, easily winning sets two and three.

Grand Valley State was coming off of a tough five-set win at rival Saginaw Valley State on Friday night, but still overpowered LSSU to the tune of a 43-20 edge in kills. The GVSU defense held Lake Superior State to a -.017 hitting percentage. In fact, LSSU did not hit better than .000 in any of the three sets.

The first set was tied 11 times despite GVSU owning a 15-9 lead midway through the stanza. Lake Superior State rallied back to tie the score at 19-19. The score would be tied again at points 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 before GVSU would get a kill from junior Megan Schroeder. Leading 27-26, Grand Valley State would force LSSU into an attack error, ending the set at 28-26.

Lake Superior State led 5-1 before GVSU senior middle blocker Eno Umoh tallied a solo block to make the score 5-2. The next seven points would be scored by Grand Valley State, all behind the serving of junior Sacha Gill, whose service ace put the team ahead 9-5. GVSU would extend that advantage to 15-8 and eventually 21-10. Back-to-back kills from Umoh and freshman Betsy Ronda put Grand Valley State on top, 24-14. One point later, the team was ahead two sets to none.

In set three, the visiting Lakers raced out to an 8-1 lead, as sophomore Ally Simmons served five straight points during the run. LSSU pulled to within 11-9 before a 5-0 run made the score 16-9 in GVSU's favor. Grand Valley State would close out the set and match on a kill from sophomore Abby Aiken to win 25-16.

Ronda led GVSU with a match-high 13 kills and 12 digs for her team-high 16th double-double of the season. Umoh added nine kills and three blocks, two of which were solo rejections. She also recorded the 400th block assist of her career on Saturday.

Simmons and junior Sam Phillips each had six kills, while sophomore Clair Ruhenkamp passed for 35 assists and added five digs. Sophomore Christina Canepa picked up 14 digs, while Gill supplied seven digs and a pair of aces.

GVSU returns home next weekend to close out the regular season. The Lakers will face Northwood on Friday night (Nov. 9) and Hillsdale on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 10).