In a matchup of two of the better teams in the GLIAC, Ashland topped #21 Grand Valley State by a 3-1 score in Ashland, Ohio on Saturday (Oct. 10). The Lakers won set two and lost close sets in the first and third stanzas before falling, 23-25, 25-14, 20-25, 14-25. It is just the second conference loss of the 2015 for GVSU.
Saturday's match closes the first half of conference play for both teams. With the loss, the Lakers drop to 11-6 overall and 7-2 in GLIAC play. Ashland, who was receiving votes in the latest AVCA Top-25 poll, is also 7-2 in the league and owns a 12-5 overall mark. Both teams will head to Aurora, Ill. next weekend (Oct. 16-17) for the eighth annual GLIAC-GLVC Crossover Tournament. While matchups have not yet been decided for the tournament, GVSU and Ashland are tied with Hillsdale at 7-2 in conference matches, trailing just Ferris State (8-0) and Findlay (7-1) in the league standings.
Grand Valley State and Ashland were pretty similar on the stat sheet, as the Eagles held slim leads in kills (46-41), assists (41-40), service aces (6-4), and digs (59-56). While AU hit .130, the Lakers notched a .113 attack percentage. GVSU held a 10-9 edge in total blocks.
Freshman
Staci Brower led all Lakers with 11 kills and five total blocks. The only player with more kills in the contest was Ashland's Alli Cudworth, who totaled 18 putaways.
In addition to Brower, senior
Kaleigh Lound and redshirt freshman
Shannon Winicki each posted nine kills. Lound added four blocks and Winicki hit .333 with two blocks. Freshman setter
Taylor Stewart handed out 36 assists and picked up 10 digs. Both seniors
Kourtney Wolters and
Taylor Shomin provided 13 digs, while Wolters added four kills and thre block assists.
Ashland used a 7-0 run in set one to turn a 9-7 deficit into a 14-9 advantage. The Eagles held a lead for the remainder of the set, but late kills from seniors
Betsy Ronda and
Jessica Majerle made the score 24-23. A Laker service error gave the first set to Ashland.
After the Eagles scored the first point in set two, Grand Valley State ran off the next eight points, with Lound teaming with Wolters and Winicki for separate combined blocks. Winicki added a kill and a solo rejection, as well, during the 8-0 run. The lead swelled to 14-4 after a Brower-Stewart combined rejection and a Brower kill off a Stewart assist. Stewart dished another late set to Brower for a kill and the setter added another kill of her own to help GVSU tie the match at 1-1.Â
The Lakers led set three 10-8 after a Brower kill and a
Kaylene Norris service ace, but Ashland scored six straight points to take the 14-10 lead. Wolters and Brower teamed together for a block and GVSU stayed close at 17-16. A late kill from Lound made the score 22-20, but Ashland notched the next three points to move ahead 2-1 in the contest.
AU closed things out in set four, scoring six of the first seven points and pushing out to a 16-5 advantage. The Eagles clicked offensively in the last set, hitting .500 (13 kills, one error) and finishing the match with a 25-14 win in the final frame.
The loss snapped GVSU's three-match winning streak. Grand Valley State will head to the Crossover Tournament, where it owns a 15-6 record in the previous seven trips against Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opponents. The Lakers have went 3-0 at the tournament in four of the previous seven outings. Last year, GVSU was 2-1 with wins over Lewis and Rockhurst.
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