The Grand Valley State volleyball team bounced back from a 3-0 loss to Saginaw Valley State last night to take down the Lakers of Lake Superior State, 3-1, in Sault Ste. Marie. After falling in a close first set, 26-24, GVSU rolled to three straight victories, 25-15, 25-14, and 25-16 to secure the victory. With the win, the Lakers improve to 12-7 overall and 5-6 and conference action while Lake Superior State drops to 3-16 overall and 2-9 against conference foes. 
 
GVSU used a strong overall offensive attack to overwhelm the northern Lakers, tallying 48 kills on the afternoon and a .310 attack percentage. Meanwhile, LSSU was held to just a .154 attack percentage, picking up 42 kills and 22 attack errors in the process. GVSU also held the 5-0 advantage in team blocks and the 11-5 advantage in service aces. 
 
Senior middle blocker Staci Brower exploded for 20 kills on the afternoon to just two errors in her 33 total attacks, good for an impressive .545 attack percentage. She also picked up a block assist as well. Freshman Ali Thompson picked up seven kills, while senior Jillian Butsavich added six of her own. Butsavich also tallied a solo rejection while setter Ashlyn Kartes led the team in both assists (27) and solo blocks (2). 
 
GVSU got off to a tough start to the match, tallying just a .174 attack percentage in the first set while LSSU hit at a .289 clip. Lake Superior State jumped out to a quick 4-3 lead over the Lakers before eventually pushing it out to 8-6 early on. A 7-1 run for LSSU a while later gave them the 15-9 lead. GVSU slowly started to chip away at the lead, bring it with one, 19-18, before taking the late lead, 22-20. With a 24-21 score in favor of GVSU, LSSU managed to rattle off five straight points to steal the first set, 26-24. 
 
In set two, the Lakers jumped out to the early lead, taking a 7-3 advantage thanks to four straight points after a 3-all tie. From there, the Lakers continued to hold their lead, eventually going up 14-7 over LSSU. After a slight push late in the set from Lake State to bring the score to 18-14, GVSU closed it out with a 7-1 run to take set two, 25-15, and tie the match at 1-1. 
 
The Lakers carried the momentum over from their second set victory, taking an early 8-1 lead over LSSU. After some back and forth, GVSU led 14-7 before four straight points from LSSU brought the score to within three, 14-11. From then on however, LSSU would score just three more points the rest of the way as the Lakers would roll to a 25-14 victory and take the 2-1 advantage in the match. 
 
Set four was a near copy of set three, with GVSU jumping out to an 8-1 lead over LSSU before pushing it to 10-1 this time around. Lake State would turn things around and cut GVSU's lead to six, 16-10, before the Lakers rattled off another five straight for the commanding 21-10 lead late in the set. One last surge from Lake Superior State wouldn't be enough, as GVSU would take the final set, 25-16, and secure the 3-1 victory in the match.