Oct. 11, 2013
Box Score
Painesville, Ohio - #21 Grand Valley State earned its third consecutive sweep and continued its dominance over the Ohio schools, as the Lakers swept Lake Erie on Friday night (Oct. 11) in Painesville, Ohio. Hitting .329 as a team and recording 10 blocks, GVSU's 3-0 win was put together by set scores of 25-10, 25-20, and 25-16.
The Lakers have won 11 of their last 12 contests, with six of those victories coming by the 3-0 variety. Not only has Grand Valley State swept its last three wins (beating Ohio Dominican, Tiffin, and Lake Erie), but the Lakers are 5-0 against Ohio schools, having not dropped a single set against those foes. Overall, GVSU is 13-3 on the season and 7-1 in GLIAC play, while Lake Erie dropped to 1-12 this year and 1-7 in the league.
Friday's win was a team effort, as 13 different Lakers saw the floor. Offensively, Grand Valley State (37 kills, .329) dominated Lake Erie (25 kills, .078), but the Laker defense was far stronger too. Owning edges in digs (44-30) and blocks (10-3), GVSU also served up three times as many aces (6-2) as the home team.
Junior Abby Aiken served on six straight points early in the first set, pushing the Lakers out to an 8-1 lead after three kills from sophomore Betsy Ronda. GVSU led 14-7 after an Ally Simmons kill and freshman Nicayla Joyce came up to serve for the Lakers. She served 10 consecutive times and Grand Valley State earned nine straight points to take the 23-8 advantage. During that run, Ronda and freshman Josie Werner each had two kills. The Lakers hit .400 (14 kills, four errors) in the opening frame.
GVSU's offense was identical in set two, also recording a .400 hitting percentage with 14 kills and four errors. Lake Erie, however, stayed in the contest and kept the score at 14-12 midway through the frame. Leading 19-16, the Lakers received four straight kills (one from Aiken, two from senior Megan Schroeder, one from Kaleigh Lound) and a Kaitlyn Wolters service ace to push ahead 24-16. Grand Valley State took a 2-0 lead moments later.
In the third set, freshman Rachel Dickerson served eight times in a row and GVSU used the 7-0 run to jump out to a 16-6 cushion. Werner had two blocks and a kill, while Dickerson notched a service ace of her own. Later in the stanza, Dickerson finished the contest with a kill to close out the team's seventh sweep of the year.
Werner put together the top performance with eight kills (and zero errors) in 15 swings, good for a .533 hitting clip. That tied match-high honors for kills, but her six blocks were the most in the contest. Aiken provided nine digs, six kills, three blocks, and an ace, while Ronda and Schroeder each added five kills.
Wolters passed for 25 assists, while junior libero Christina Canepa picked up 10 digs and served three aces, both of which were match-bests. Lound tallied four kills in nine swings and rejected three LEC attacks.
The Lakers head to Ashland on Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. showdown with the Eagles. Both Grand Valley State and AU are 7-1 in conference play, as Ashland defeated #20 Ferris State on Friday night by a 3-2 final. FSU handed the Lakers their only league loss of the season.
