The Grand Valley State Lakers took down the Missouri Western State Griffons to earn their first win of the season and improve their record to 1-2. The loss drops the Griffons to 1-2 on the season as well.
 
The Lakers were able to win the first two sets by a large margin before a closer third set, which saw GVSU win six of the last nine points to secure the victory. Grand Valley State led in most statistical categories, including kills (38-28), digs (60-54), assists (36-25), aces (2-1), and blocks (5-2), while also hitting .277 and holding the Griffons to .000.
 
The Lakers did not have a hard time finding any offense, as eight different Lakers recorded kills in the three-set victory. Junior Hannah Murdock led the way with nine kills in the contest while also chipping in three digs. Senior Sydney Doby tallied eight kills while hitting .615 while sophomore Jayci Suseland and junior Staci Brower both chipped in seven kills apiece.
 
Sophomore libero Sydney Benchley led the way on the defensive side with 15 digs while senior Katie Olson tallied 14 and added a team high 28 assists as well. Kaylene Norris also tallied double-digit digs with 11.
 
The Lakers got out to a quick start in the first set after scoring seven of the first ten points of the match. Missouri Western then went on a 5-0 run to tie the match at 8-8. GVSU took a three-point lead courtesy of a Griffon error, Brower kill, and another attack error by Missouri Western. The teams would trade points back and forth until GVSU rattled off seven straight points to take a commanding 22-12 lead. Missouri Western would score a few more points but ultimately the Lakers would come out with a 25-16 first-set victory.
 
Not much changed heading into the second set, as the Lakers would take another early lead after going up 10-4. GVSU then used two big runs to close out the second set. After the Griffons closed the gap a little, Grand Valley State would score five straight to bring the score to 17-9. Three Griffon attack errors and kills from Suseland and Murdock contributed to the run. After a slight comeback bid by Missouri Western, the Lakers lead shrunk to seven before GVSU would score the final five points of the match to win 25-14 and take a 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
 
Once again, the Lakers came out strong in the third set and took an 8-3 lead. During the early run, Doby tallied two kills while Suseland added one to go along with five errors by the Griffons. The Lakers would maintain their lead until Missouri Western would go on a 7-3 run to bring the score to 19-15. GVSU would score the final five points on four Griffon errors and capped off the victory with a kill by Doby from Benchley.
 
The Lakers will play their final match of the Ferris State Invitational tonight at 6:00 PM against the Yellow Jackets of Cedarville. This is the first ever matchup between the two teams. Stay tuned to gvsulakers.com for final stats and scores.