An extremely close road match ended up in Grand Valley State's favor on Friday night (Sept. 30) in Columbus, as the Lakers topped Ohio Dominican in a four-set contest. After the match was tied 1-1, GVSU won the final two sets to earn the tough road victory, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 26-24. 

In a conference match that was tied 20 times and saw 12 lead changes, all four sets were decided by three points or less. The first, second, and fourth sets were decided by the minimum two points, but the Lakers eventually prevailed to move back above .500 in GLIAC action.

Grand Valley State moves to 8-5 on the season and 3-2 in conference play, while Ohio Dominican falls to 4-8 overall and 1-4 in league contests. 

The Lakers held slight advantages over ODU in kills (63-58), hitting percentage (.220 to .218), assists (60-49), aces (5-3), and total blocks (6-5). Ohio Dominican led in digs, 92-88.

GVSU had four players reach double figures in kills and in digs, while three Lakers posted double-doubles. Freshman Jayci Suseland notched a career-high 19 kills and hit .415 offensively, while adding three blocks. Sophomore Brooke Smith totaled 20 digs, 12 kills, three blocks, and three assists.

Fellow sophomore Staci Brower also tallied a dozen kills and supplied two blocks, while freshman Kendall Yerkes recorded 13 digs and 10 kills. 

Junior setter Katie Olson handed out 42 assists, picked up 17 digs, and put down six kills without an error for a .545 percentage. Freshman libero Sydney Benchley led the Lakers with 21 digs, while adding seven assists, and a pair of service aces.

The opening set was back and forth, as the Lakers' 10-6 lead (after kills from Yerkes and Smith) was the largest advantage of the frame. ODU came back to take an 18-17 edge, but a Smith kill and consecutive Panther errors put GVSU back in front, 20-18. An ace from Smith made the score 22-19 before Ohio Dominican managed to pull within a point at 23-22. Suseland and Brower followed with a combined block and the Lakers won the set one point later on a Brower kill from Olson.

Grand Valley State opened a 6-1 lead in set two and pushed out to a 13-6 cushion on a combined block from Smith and junior Sydney Doby. The Lakers were in control at 19-8 before ODU mounted a huge comeback, pulling within two points at 22-20. GVSU still led 24-22 before the Panthers scored four straight points to take the second set, 26-24. 

The Lakers came out on a big run in set three, opening a 9-2 cushion after three kills each from Yerkes and Suseland. Similar to the end of set two, Ohio Dominican responded and used a 14-4 run to gain a 16-13 advantage. ODU was still in front 22-20 and holding serve, but Olson delivered a kill and a Panther error followed to tie the score at 22-22. Senior Amanda Glaza served an ace to give the Lakers the 23-22 lead and GVSU won the set two points later on a combined block from Doby and Smith, 25-22.

Ohio Dominican led midway through the fourth frame 14-10 and pushed out to 19-14 advantage, looking to push the match to a fifth set. Trailing 20-16, it was GVSU's turn to make a comeback and the Lakers used a kill from Brower and consecutive putaways from Smith. After a Panther point, sophomore Danielle McCormick and Doby posted back-to-back kills to tie the set, 21-21. ODU regained a 24-23 lead and was serving for the set, but a Panther error knotted the score at 24-24. Benchley then served up an ace to put GVSU ahead by a point and Suseland's final kill ended the match in the Lakers' favor.

Doby led all players with four block assists to go with four digs and three kills.

The Lakers return to the court tomorrow in Painesville, Ohio. GVSU faces the Lake Erie Storm at 2:00 p.m. before returning home next weekend (Oct. 7-8) against Tiffin and Ashland.