The Grand Valley State Laker women's volleyball team fell to Wheeling Jesuit in its first match at the UIndy Invitational on Friday (Sept. 8). After winning the first set 25-18, the Lakers would go on to lose the final three by scores of 25-16, 25-20, and 25-19. The loss drops GVSU to 2-3 on the season.
 
The Lakers will look to even their record later tonight as they are slated to play Clarion at 6:00 p.m. GVSU will also be back in action tomorrow (Sept. 9) as they take on host school Indianapolis at 1:00 p.m. and #13 Winona State at 7:00 p.m.
 
The Cardinals held a .252 hitting percentage throughout the match while holding GVSU to just .155 and led the Lakers in kills (55-53), digs (77-72), assists (52-48), while GVSU led in total team blocks with 10.0 compared to the Cardinals 7.0.
 
Junior outside hitter Shannon Winicki led the team in kills with 12 while hitting .219 while adding in five digs, one solo block, and one block assist. Senior Sydney Doby and junior Stacy Brower both tallied 11 kills while hitting .370. Doby assisted on three blocks while Brower assisted on four and added a solo block as well.
 
Katie Olson led the team in assists for the fifth time in as many matches with 37 during the contest. Olson also added 13 digs and four kills. Junior outside hitter Hannah Murdock led the team with 23 digs while also chipping in 10 kills and two assists.
 
The Lakers found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the Cardinals recorded a kill for the first point and got back-to-back blocks to take the early lead. Doby would get GVSU on the board will a kill from Olson to bring the score to 3-1 in favor of Wheeling Jesuit. GVSU chipped away at the deficit and found themselves tied with the Cardinals at six apiece. An attack error by Cassie Meyer would give the Lakers a 7-6 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the set. After going up 8-7, GVSU would go on an 8-4 run to increase their lead to 16-11. The Cardinals fought back to bring the score to 19-16, in favor of the Lakers, but that is the closest they would get as GSVU would go on a 6-2 run to win the set 25-18 and take a 1-0 lead.
 
The teams would trade points early in set two, with Wheeling Jesuit tying the score at 9-9 after a Laker blocking error. The Cardinals would then go on a 10-4 run to take a 19-13 lead. GVSU would score the next two points to bring the score to 19-15 after kills from Murdock and Brower. The Cardinals however, would score six of the last seven points to win the second set 25-16 and tie the match 1-1.
 
Once again, the Lakers and Cardinals would trade points early in the third set until a 6-6 tie would be broken by the Cardinals with a nine-point run. GVSU would score the next three points to bring the score to 15-9. The Cardinals then scored nine of the next 14 points to bring the score to 24-14. GVSU would start a comeback by scoring the next six points to find themselves down 24-20 until a final kill from Haley Kramer would end the set and put the Cardinals up 2-1 in the match.
 
The Cardinals would use an early run in the fourth set to take an 11-6 lead, which turned out to be more than the Lakers could overcome. GVSU would score three of the next five points to pull within four but Wheeling Jesuit would go on a 4-1 run to take a 17-10 lead. GVSU would once again make a push at the end of the set, scoring seven of the final eleven points, but ultimately the early deficit proved too much as the cardinals would take the set and the match, 3-1.
 
After the UIndy Invitational is over this weekend, the Lakers will open up GLIAC play with a home match against Ashland at 7:00 p.m. in GVSU Fieldhouse Arena on Friday, Sept. 15.