Tiffin (Friday, 7:00 p.m.): Video | Live Stats
Ashland (Saturday, 4:00 p.m.): Video | Live Stats
 
Grand Valley State will host its first full weekend of home matches this Friday and Saturday, as the Lakers return home after an Ohio road trip last weekend. On Friday night (Oct. 7), GVSU will take on Tiffin at 7:00 p.m. before taking the court again on Saturday (Oct. 8) at 4:00 p.m. against Ashland.
 
These contests are just the third and fourth home matches of the year for the Lakers, who opened the home portion of their schedule on Saturday, Sept. 24 against Walsh before hosting Ferris State three days later on Tuesday, Sept. 27. GVSU swept Walsh in the home opener before dropping a 3-1 decision to the Bulldogs.
 
Grand Valley State will host two more home weekends - against Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech on Oct. 28-29 and the Lakers will close the regular season on Nov. 11-12 against Northwood and Hillsdale.
 
After a 1-2 record in last week's three contests, GVSU is 8-6 overall and 3-3 in GLIAC play. The Lakers fell to Ferris State last Tuesday night before traveling to Ohio and splitting a pair of four-set decisions against Ohio Dominican (win on Friday) and Lake Erie (loss on Saturday).
 
In the victory over Ohio Dominican, all four sets were decided by three points or less in an extremely close contest. The Lakers had four players reach double-digits in kills and four in digs, with two players reaching double figures in both categories. Freshman Jayci Suseland led the Lakers with 19 kills and just two errors for a .415 hitting percentage, while sophomore Staci Brower tallied 12 kills in 28 attempts.
 
A pair of GVSU outside hitters tallied double-doubles, as sophomore Brooke Smith notched 20 digs, 12 kills, and added three blocks. Freshman Kendall Yerkes also supplied 13 digs and 10 kills. The third Laker to record a double-double was setter Katie Olson, who provided 42 assists and 17 digs, but the junior also put down six kills and no errors in 11 attempts for a .545 attack percentage.
 
Freshman Sydney Benchley was also productive, as the newcomer delivered a team-high 21 digs, seven assists, and two service aces. The Lakers prevailed over ODU in a match that was tied 20 times and saw 12 lead changes.
 
The following day at Lake Erie, GVSU outnumbered the Storm in kills (53-47), assists (53-42), aces (5-1), and digs (86-82), but Lake Erie used a wide 13-3 margin in total blocks to earn the home win. Brower and Suseland recorded 16 and 15 kills, respectively, while Smith added another double-double with 15 digs and 10 kills.
 
Olson also notched a double-double with 43 assists and 11 digs, while Benchley led all players with a match-high and career-high 27 digs. Lake Erie also posted a .185 hitting percentage, while holding Grand Valley State to a .112 mark, its second-lowest attack clip of the season.
 
Brower continues her strong sophomore campaign, as the reigning GLIAC Freshman of the Year ranks in the top-10 in the GLIAC in every blocking category. She is second in the conference in solo rejections (16), third in blocks per set (1.07), fifth in total blocks (58), and 10th in block assists (42). Offensively, Brower ranks sixth with a .330 hitting percentage and ninth with 3.04 kills per set, while scoring the seventh-most points (3.9) per set.
 
While Suseland ranks 12th in kills per set and 18th in total kills overall this season, those figures move to fourth in kills per set (3.67) and seventh in kills (88) in GLIAC matches. Her 4.1 points per set in conference contests is the fifth-highest mark, while her .318 hitting percentage ranks ninth.
 
Brower and Suseland lead the Lakers in kills, but are followed by Yerkes and Smith, who have recorded five and four double-doubles, respectively. Yerkes is second on the team in digs (179) and third in kills (120), while Smith's 194 digs are a team-high and she ranks fourth with 110 kills.
 
Olson owns a team-best eight double-doubles (assists and digs) and has topped the 40-assist mark in five of those performances. She has passed for a Laker-high 479 assists and is one of three players with double-digits in aces (10). Benchley and senior Amanda Glaza lead GVSU with 14 aces apiece.
 
In per set averages, Grand Valley Stats ranks third in the league in digs (18.06), fourth in assists (12.19), and fifth in kills (12.98) and blocks (1.85). The Lakers move to first in the GLIAC in kills per set (14.00) and assists per set (13.38) in conference matches.
 
Tiffin will bring a 9-6 overall record and a two-match winning streak to Allendale on Friday. The Dragons are 3-4 in GLIAC play, but have combined for an 8-4 record in road/neutral contests. At a season-opening tournament at North Alabama, Tiffin went 2-2, but followed up with a perfect 4-0 weekend at the Kentucky Wesleyan Tournament the next weekend.
 
The Dragons dropped four of their first five GLIAC matches, but three of those losses (at Wayne State, at Findlay, Ashland) were 3-2 defeats. Most recently, Tiffin won road contests at Saginaw Valley State (3-1) and Lake Superior State (3-0) last weekend.
 
Not only do the Dragons have the second-fewest hitting errors of any team (behind only Findlay), Tiffin's .238 hitting percentage is third-best in the league. TU also is fifth in the GLIAC in service aces per set (1.44), seventh in kills per set (12.62), and eighth in blocks per set (1.76).
 
Junior middle hitter Jenna Huffman leads Tiffin in both kills (152) and blocks (58) and is third in the GLIAC in both hitting percentage (.363) and blocks per set (1.07). Olivia Cobb, a senior outside hitter, is second on the team in kills (143) and digs (133), to go with 20 total rejections. Also having solid seasons thus far are senior outside hitter Alexandria Miglin (120 kills, 35 blocks) and junior right side Kasey Adelsperger (108 kills, 27 blocks).
 
Ashland enters the weekend with a 10-6 record and a 4-3 mark in GLIAC play, while a recent 3-2 loss at Saginaw Valley State snapping a four-match winning streak. Three of the four wins (Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, at Tiffin) during that recent surge were five-set victories. The Eagles started the year with a 4-0 record at the Angelina Miele Memorial Tournament in Lock Haven, Pa. before going 1-3 at the University of Indianapolis Tournament the following weekend.
 
Before falling to SVSU last weekend, the Eagles hadn't lost since dropping a pair of road contests at Findlay (3-0) and Wayne State (3-2) on Sept. 16-17. Overall, Ashland is 7-6 in road or neutral site contests, including a 3-3 true road record.
 
AU leads the GLIAC with 109 service aces, but is second in both attack errors (369) and ball handling errors (43). The Eagles rank third in the league in kills (810) and fifth in total blocks (114).
 
Senior outside hitter Alli Cudworth, the former GLIAC Freshman of the Year, leads the conference in kills (256) and points (294.5), but also in errors (103) and total attacks (661). Her 42 service errors are second-most, but she has 24 aces, third-highest of any player. Fellow senior Casey Clark paces AU with 217 digs and has added 116 kills, third-most on the team. Two sophomores have also played well: outside hitter Jordan Mackay (123 kills, 29 blocks) and Reanne Neal (112 kills, team-high 49 blocks, 23 aces).

Saturday's match against Ashland is also GVSU Volleyball Alumni Day, with Laker alumni being recognized between sets two and three of the match.
 
After this weekend, Grand Valley State heads to Aurora, Ill. for three matches at the Midwest Region Crossover next weekend (Oct. 14-15). The Lakers own a 17-7 all-time record in the previous eight years of the Crossover Tournament, where GVSU will be pitted against teams from the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) or Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).