ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State volleyball team dropped a hard fought five-set match against Northern Michigan by a score of 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 25-15, 30-32, 13-15) in the GLIAC opener on Friday night at the GVSU Fieldhouse. The Lakers have played the entire five-sets in five out of their first nine matches so far this season. GVSU is now 4-5 overall and 0-1 in GLIAC play.
GVSU cruised in the first set by extending their lead by as many as 12 points. The Lakers led 19-7 before Northern Michigan would chip away at the lead. The Wildcats cut the lead down to 24-18, but freshman
Karlie Kucharczyk ended the set with a kill.
The Lakers carried the momentum into set two by jumping out to a 4-1 lead. Northern Michigan would respond and tie the match at 6-6, 9-9, and 10-10 before taking control of the set. The Wildcats took a 18-12 lead and won the set to tie the match at 1-1.
Set three was all GVSU. The Lakers once again went up early, leading 5-0 and 8-1, while increasing their lead by as many as nine points at 12-3. NMU would trim the deficit to just two at 15-13 but the Lakers went on a 10-2 run to close the set.
After the Wildcats got an early lead in set four, 7-2, the Lakers rallied back and tied the set at 8-8. No team would lead by more than two points until NMU took a 20-17 lead which grew into a 22-17 lead. However, GVSU would rattle off six straight points to gain their first lead of the set at 23-22. The two teams traded points until the Wildcats finally broke through at 32-30 off a pair of Laker errors.
Set five was tight all the way through. GVSU and NMU were tied at 4-4 and would see eight more ties throughout the set including at 12-12 before the Wildcats took a 14-12 lead. A kill by redshirt freshman
Emma Clines closed the deficit, but an attack error by GVSU ended the match.
The two teams were fairly even in most statistical categories. GVSU led in aces (7-6) and attack percentage (.173-.118), while NMU led in blocks (7-5), assists (58-50) and digs (88-85). Both teams tallied 58 kills on the evening.
Individually for the Lakers, Clines had a team-high 14 kills, while sophomore
Ali Thompson and freshman
Jaeli Primus added 12 and 11 respectively. Freshman setter
Rachel Jacquay totaled 45 assists and senior
Kendall Yerkes contributed 23 digs.
GVSU will be back in action tomorrow (Sep. 21) against Michigan Tech at the GVSU Fieldhouse.
