The Grand Valley State volleyball team capped of the first day of the Cavalier Classic with a 3-1 victory over host school Walsh on Friday night (Aug. 31). The Lakers won by scores of 25-18, 25-22, 26-28, and 25-21. The Lakers improve to 5-1 on the season after going 2-0 on the first day of the tournament. The Cavaliers fall to 1-4 on the year after the loss. 
 
The Lakers posted a .257 attack percentage while the Cavaliers managed just a .167 clip as GVSU held the 55-51 advantage in kills and posted six less errors (25-16). GVSU also posted a season-high 11 service aces to go along with another season-best eight blocks. 
 
Offensively, freshman Ali Thompson and Abby Graham led the way with 12 kills apiece while senior Staci Brower posted 11 and fellow senior Jillian Butsavich tallied nine on the night. Both Butsavich and Brower were efficient in their time on the floor, posting attack percentages of .444 and .360, respectively. Sophomore Ashlyn Kartes once again led the Lakers in assists, tallying 41 in the match. 
 
Both Brower and Butsavich tallied four blocks apiece, while Graham and Hannah Murdock picked up three rejections as well. Libero Kendall Yerkes dug up a team-high 20 balls while Kartes wasn't far behind with 17. 
 
Set one started off as a back and forth affair, as the Lakers and Cavaliers were tied at points one through 10 before the Lakers were able to create some separation with a couple of kills and aces to go up 14-11. GVSU would hold their lead, never letting it dip below two, until they used 10-6 run to close out the first set with a 25-18 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match. 
 
GVSU kept their roll going into the second set, taking a quick 6-3 lead thanks to a Walsh error, a Norris ace, and a Kartes kill after a 3-3 tie. The Lakers would hold onto their early lead through the midway point in the set before the Cavaliers battled back to tie the set up 14-all. Another three-point run by the Lakers gave them a little bit of breathing room but a three-point run by Walsh just a few points later got them right back into it by cutting the Laker lead to just one, 20-19. Walsh kept the pressure on, eventually tying the match, 22-22. With the backs against the wall, the Lakers clutched up and delivered another three-point run which included a kill from Murdock, Graham, and finally an ace from Thompson to secure the 25-22 second set win and the 2-0 lead in the match. 
 
The Lakers got off on the right foot to start the third set, taking a 5-1 lead, thanks to a couple of blocks by the Lakers and some errors on the Cavaliers. Walsh quickly turned things around however, and slowly fought back into the set, eventually tying the set at nine-all. The teams traded points back and forth until a 6-1 run by Walsh gave them the 17-14 advantage over GVSU. The Lakers then used a run of their own, this time 6-3, to tie the set at 20-all. After a Walsh timeout, they came out and took a 24-22 lead. GVSU had some fight left however and tied the match at 24, 25, and 26 before the Cavaliers were able to rattle off two straight points to take set three and bring the match score to 2-1. 
 
GVSU scored the first two points of the fourth set but the teams would quickly get knotted up at 3-3. The Lakers started clicking following the tie and rattled off a 7-2 run to go up 10-5 early in the the fourth set. After pushing their lead to eight, 14-8, the Cavaliers scored four straight points of their own to pull within two. GVSU didn't let the Walsh push get to them and scored four of the next six points to push their lead back to four, 18-14. The Lakers would then use back to back kills from Brower and Thompson to go up 20-15. From there, the Lakers wouldn't look back and would go on to win the set on a kill from Brower. 
 
The Lakers will be back in action tomorrow morning with a matchup with Pitt.-Johnstown at 11AM before a 3PM matchup with Virginia Union.