Wednesday (Nov. 18) - vs. Ashland, 7:00 p.m.
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Grand Valley State begins 2015 postseason play on Wednesday night (Nov. 18), as the Lakers will host Ashland at 7:00 p.m. in the opening round of the GLIAC Volleyball Tournament. This is the 20th time GVSU has advanced to the conference tournament and the Lakers have won six tournament titles since 2000.
 
GVSU earned the #4 seed in the tournament by going 13-5 in the GLIAC's regular season, finishing one game ahead of Ashland and Saginaw Valley State, who were both 12-6. Ashland won a tiebreaker process over SVSU to notch the fifth seed. Both Grand Valley State and AU are 19-10 overall this season.
 
The teams have played just once this season, with Ashland earning a 3-1 victory over GVSU in Ohio on Oct. 10.
 
Here is the schedule for Wednesday's GLIAC Quarterfinal matches (all matches will start at 7:00 p.m.):
 
#8 Michigan Tech (19-11, 10-8 GLIAC) at #1 Ferris State (28-2, 17-1 GLIAC)
 
#7 Northern Michigan (21-9, 10-8 GLIAC) at #2 Findlay (23-7, 15-3 GLIAC)
 
#6 Saginaw Valley State (22-7, 12-6 GLIAC) at #3 Hillsdale (22-6, 14-4 GLIAC)
 
#5 Ashland (19-10, 12-6 GLIAC) at #4 Grand Valley State (19-10, 13-5 GLIAC)
 
The conference tournament semifinals and finals would be held this weekend at the highest remaining seed after Wednesday's matches. The winner of the 1-8 match will play the 4-5 winner in one semifinal, while the 3-6 winner and the 2-7 winner square off in the other semifinal contest.
 
Grand Valley State won six of its final nine conference matches after falling to Ashland on Oct. 10. Two of the three defeats were five-set losses to Findlay and Ferris State, the top two seeds in the tournament. The Lakers are 10-3 at home this season and defeated Ashland by a 3-0 score on Oct. 4, 2014, which was the last meeting in Allendale between the schools.
 
Wednesday's meeting is not only important for the league tournament, but also for NCAA Tournament positioning. In last week's Midwest Region rankings, Ashland was sixth and GVSU sat in seventh place, with the top eight teams advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The most updated rankings will likely not be released until Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before the match.
 
Ashland was 18-6 overall and 11-2 in GLIAC play after a 3-0 sweep over Malone on Halloween. Since then, November has not been friendly to the Eagles, who went just 1-4 during the month. AU played all five contests on the road, dropping a pair of tough five-set matches to Lake Erie and Findlay.
 
Two of the better volleyball programs in the conference, surprisingly GVSU and Ashland have met just twice in the GLIAC Tournament. Both those meetings came in the conference tournament championship. In 2006, Ashland upended Grand Valley State in Hillsdale, Mich. by a 3-1 score to capture the league tournament title. GVSU evened the score in 2013 with a wild 3-2 victory in Allendale over the Eagles, which included a 19-17 fifth set win.
 
In the previous 19 GLIAC Tournament appearances, Grand Valley State is 34-15. The Lakers have advanced to the conference championship 12 times and captured six league tournament titles (2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2013). GVSU owns a 25-4 record all-time over Ashland in the series.