The Grand Valley State volleyball team lost a tough road match against the Rangers of Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday night (Nov. 2), falling in five sets. GVSU fell in set one 25-17 before bouncing back for victories in sets two and three, 25-18 and 25-20, before dropping the final two sets 25-16 and 20-18, respectively. 
 
The Rangers held the advantage in total kills (69-63) and attack percentage (.296-.205) and also managed to out-block the Lakers 11-3. 
 
Senior Staci Brower led the Lakers with 16 kills while fellow seniors Hannah Murdock and Jillian Butsavich added 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Freshman Ali Thompson added 10 kills as well. Butsavich and Abby Graham both tallied two blocks on the night while setter Ashlyn Kartes assisted on a block to go along with her 52 assists. 
 
GVSU struggled in the first set as they found themselves down early, 8-4, and eventually 15-8. GVSU mounted a slight comeback late but the early deficit would be too much for the Lakers to overcome as they would fall 25-17. 
 
Set two started in favor of the Lakers as they would go up 3-1 early before a kill from Brower and a Parkside attack error would put the Lakers up 5-2. From there, the teams would play back and forth volleyball as GVSU's lead held steady at two points over the middle portion of the set. With a 15-13 lead, GVSU used a 5-1 run to take the 20-14 lead late in the set. Brower would supply four of the next five kills for the Lakers to give them the 25-18 second set victory.
 
Set three was a back and forth affair in the early goings, as GVSU maintained a two to three point lead to open up. After a Parkside attack error gave the Lakers the 10-7 lead, they used a quick 5-2 run to push their lead to six, 15-9. The teams would then trade five points back and forth to a 20-14 score. Murdock, Butsavich, and Brower would supply one kill apiece while two Parkside errors would give GVSU the 25-20 third set victory. 
 
After trailing early in the fourth set, GVSU would tie it up at 8-all thanks to a quick kill from Kartes off of the hands of Graham. The Rangers managed to take a two-point lead, 14-12, before rattiling off five straight to go up 19-12. The deficit would turn out to be too much for the Lakers to overcome as they would drop the fourth set, 25-16. 
 
The fifth and final set started out in the Lakers favor as they took and early 6-4 lead before scoring three of the next five to go up 9-5. After a 13-8 margin in favor of the Lakers, the Rangers mounted a comeback and eventually took the set 20-18. 
 
GVSU will be back in action tomorrow afternoon against Purdue Northwest at 4:00 PM.