Oct. 26, 2013
Box Score
Aurora, Ill. - #17 Grand Valley State dropped the opening set against Missouri-St. Louis at the GLIAC-GLVC Crossover Tournament on Saturday morning, but the Lakers came roaring back to capture a solid 3-1 victory. GVSU captured its eighth straight victory and 16th in its last 17 matches, winning by scores of 22-25, 25-17, 25-16, and 25-22.
The Lakers moved to 2-0 on the weekend at what is believed to be the largest collegiate volleyball tournament in the country, after defeating #15 Truman State by a 3-1 score on Friday night. Grand Valley State, the GLIAC's #3 seed, is now 18-3 on the year, while eighth-seeded Missouri-St. Louis is 13-10 overall.
Junior Abby Aiken took over the match for GVSU, totaling a career-high 27 kills and adding 22 digs. Both of those figures were match-highs. In fact, no other player in the contest had more than 12 kills. In just the fourth set alone, Aiken nearly recorded a double-double, tallying 12 kills and eight digs. It is the second time this season (and in her career) she notched a 20-20 performance (kills-digs), as she also had 25 kills and 28 digs against Eckerd on Sept. 7, 2013.
GVSU led midway through the first set, owning a 14-11 advantage after consecutive kills from senior Megan Schroeder and sophomore Kaleigh Lound. Missouri-St. Louis battled back to tie the score at 14-14 before it was again knotted up at points 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, and 21. The Tritons then scored four of the final five points in the set to take the 1-0 lead. UMSL recorded 15 kills and only three errors for a .267 hitting percentage in the opening frame.
The Lakers bounced back strong in the second set. With the score tied at 8-8, GVSU rolled off five straight points, two of which came on service aces by junior Ally Simmons, while Lound added a kill. Leading 19-17, Grand Valley State scored the final six points, including a pair of combined blocks from Lound and sophomore Jessica Majerle. Junior setter Kaitlyn Wolters served during the 6-0 run, delivering an ace and a kill. The Lakers hit .345 (12 kills, two errors) in the frame.
GVSU was ahead 11-5 in set three after back-to-back UMSL hitting errors and extended to a 14-6 cushion. The closest that the Tritons would get during the rest of the set was 17-12, but Majerle and classmate Betsy Ronda each put away kills to up the score to 19-12 and take control. Defensively, the Lakers forced Missouri-St. Louis to a .000 hitting percentage, with nine kills and nine errors.
Trailing 8-4 in the fourth set, Aiken notched three consecutive kills to bring GVSU within a point at 8-7. Later in the set, with the Lakers down 14-9, Ronda took over and recorded back-to-back-to-back-to-back kills. After an ace from junior libero Christina Canepa, the score was tied at 14-14. Aiken replicated Ronda's four-straight-kills feat later in the set; the Lakers trailed 18-16 before Aiken put down four kills in a row to give GVSU the 20-18 lead. Up 20-19, Aiken added three more kills in the final five points and Schroeder's kill ended the set and match.
Ronda neared a double-double with 10 digs and eight kills, while Majerle provided six kills and three blocks. Lound supplied a match-high six blocks and five kills, as Simmons added five kills and four blocks (two solo). Strong again was Wolters, who nearly duplicated her statline from the Friday win over Truman State with 48 assists, 17 digs, and five kills without an error. Freshman Nicayla Joyce (16 digs) and Canepa (13 digs) were the fourth and fifth Lakers with double-digit kills.
GVSU finishes up the weekend with a 5:00 p.m. ET match against Southern Indiana on Saturday.
