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It'll be a Top-25 contest between a pair of West Michigan rivals on Tuesday night (Oct. 28) in Big Rapids, with the GLIAC regular season title quite possibly at stake. At 7:00 p.m., #14 Grand Valley State will face #22 Ferris State on the Bulldogs' home floor in another showdown between the GLIAC North Division foes.
 
GVSU and Ferris State are a combined 25-1 in GLIAC play this season. The top two teams in the conference, Grand Valley State sits in first place with a 13-0 record, while FSU is only a loss behind at 12-1. Overall, the Lakers are 17-3, while the Bulldogs are 15-5.
 
The Lakers will enter Ewigleben Arena with a trio of impressive win streaks. Obviously, Grand Valley State has got out to a great start in GLIAC play this season, winning its first 13 contests. That is the fourth-longest stretch to start a year in GVSU history, trailing 15 consecutive wins to begin the 2001 season and 14 in a row to start both 2007 and 2008.
 
Big Rapids is also the scene of the last GLIAC loss for the Lakers, who fell in five sets last season to FSU on Oct. 1, 2013. Since then, Grand Valley State has rattled off 26 consecutive league victories, the second-longest streak in school history. The 43-match conference win streak from 1973 to 1977 is the only longer stretch.
 
Perhaps even more impressive is GVSU's 12-match road winning streak, which is the third-longest run in program history. The school record of 18 consecutive road wins took place from Nov. 8, 2003 to Oct. 28, 2005, followed by a streak of 17 in a row from Dec. 3, 2005 to Oct. 20, 2007.
 
On Sept. 23 in Allendale, then-#18 GVSU dropped first set (25-23) to then-#14 Ferris State before winning the final three sets, 25-17, 25-17, and 25-22 for the 3-1 victory. As a team, the Lakers registered 53 kills and committed just 18 errors for a .216 hitting percentage, whereas Ferris State hit .097 with 50 kills, but also 33 attack errors.
 
Four players reached double-figures in kills, led by 11 apiece from senior setter Kaitlyn Wolters and junior outside hitter Betsy Ronda. Wolters added 34 assists and 12 digs - while not committing an attack error and hitting .478 - for the first triple-double by a GVSU player since Nov. 17, 2007. Junior middle hitter Kaleigh Lound supplied 10 kills and sophomore Carley Gross did the same, but with only 13 attacks for a tremendous .692 hitting percentage.
 
Five Lakers picked up 10 or more kills, including 19 by seniors Abby Aiken and Christina Canepa. The team's starting libero, Canepa is now third all-time in GVSU history with 1,520 career digs.
 
Tuesday's match could help determine the conference champion. If Grand Valley State is victorious, the Lakers would hold a two-match lead with four contests remaining. A Ferris State victory would put the teams in a tie for first place. As travel partners, GVSU and FSU have the same remaining schedule: at Northwood and Lake Superior State this weekend and at home against Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State next weekend.
 
Grand Valley State has won its last three contests, including consecutive sweeps over Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech last weekend in Allendale. Defense was the key in both victories, as NMU managed a -.052 hitting percentage on Friday, followed by a .094 attack mark from MTU on Saturday. GVSU totaled 15 blocks in the six sets played, but also committed only 19 hitting errors in the two victories.
 
The Lakers will stay on the road for their next two matches - a 7:00 p.m. contest on Friday (Oct. 31) vs. Northwood and a 3:00 p.m. match at Lake Superior State on Saturday (Nov. 1).
 
Follow along with free audio and video provided by Ferris State or keep up with live stats of the contest. Those links can be found at the top of this page.