Grand Valley State put up a valiant effort, but was unable to upend #21 Winona State on Saturday afternoon (Sept. 3) at the Ferris State Invitational in Big Rapids, Mich. The Lakers battled hard against the Warriors, falling in four sets, 19-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-27 in their third match of the weekend and second against a top-25 opponent.

After splitting against Minnesota Crookston (3-0 win) and #10 Minnesota-Duluth (3-1 loss), GVSU played the first of two nationally ranked opponents on Saturday before facing #20 Cal State San Bernardino at 5:00 p.m. The loss puts Grand Valley State at 1-2, while Winona State stays unbeaten at 4-0.

Three Lakers reached double-digits in kills, while four GVSU players picked up at least 10 digs. The only player to do both was freshman Kendall Yerkes, who notched a second straight double-double with a team-best 19 digs to go with 11 kills. Classmate Jayci Suseland supplied a season-high 16 kills, while freshman libero Sydney Benchley posted 17 digs and five assists.

Sophomores Brooke Smith and Shannon Winicki were again productive. Smith recorded 16 digs and posted eight kills, while Winicki delivered 11 kills. Junior setter Katie Olson passed for 39 assists, picked up 17 digs, served two of the team's three aces, and notched two blocks (one solo).

The teams were pretty even in most statistical categories. Winona State held slight edges in kills (56-53), assists (53-48), digs (86-84), and total blocks (9-6). Both teams served three aces. The major edge for WSU was in hitting percentage; the Warriors hit .206, while GVSU owned a .121 attack clip.

Grand Valley State turned an early four-point deficit in the first set into a tie score at 8-8. The Lakers forced three straight hitting errors to open a 14-11 cushion before WSU ran off five points in a row to take a 16-14 lead. Sophomore Staci Brower would put up a pair of kills to keep GVSU within a point at 18-17 before Winona State used a 7-2 run to close the frame with a 25-19 win.

Set two was tied at 7-7 when the Lakers notched a 5-0 run to open a 12-7 advantage. Winicki provided two kills and Suseland added a putaway during the five-point surge. However, WSU answered right back with five consecutive points of its own to tie the set at 12-12 before another Suseland kill stopped the streak. With the score tied at 14-14, the Warriors used an 8-3 run to open a 22-17 lead. A kill from Winicki and an Olson ace could not prevent WSU from taking a 2-0 lead in the match, winning 25-20 in set two.

The third frame was tied midway through at points 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17. GVSU tallied the next four points, two of which came on kills from Yerkes; a third Yerkes kill followed a Warrior point to make the score 22-18. Brower then added a solo rejection and teamed with Olson a few points later for another block, upping the lead to 24-20. GVSU won the set at 25-21 on a bad set by the Warriors.

There were 17 tie scores in just the fourth set alone (after nine ties in set three), as neither team had more than a three-point lead; WSU held that advantage at 13-10 midway through the stanza. Winona State looked to pull away late in the frame, but two kills from Winicki and one from sophomore Jillian Butsavich kept the score even at 24-24. WSU, however, scored three of the next four points to take the match with a hard-earned 27-25 win.

In total, the match saw 39 tie scores and 10 lead changes in a second straight tough early-season test for the Lakers. 

Senior Amanda Glaza picked up nine digs, falling one dig shy of being the fifth GVSU player in double-digits. Brower posted a team-best four blocks (two solo) and five kills.