ERIE, Pa. – The Grand Valley State volleyball team split a pair of matches on day two of the Gannon/Mercyhurst Invite. The Lakers beat Malone in their first match of the day before falling to host No. 18 Gannon in their final game of the weekend; finishing 3-1 at the season-opening invitational.
GVSU won their opening match of the day, 3-1 (25-18, 22-25, 25-13, 25-7), over Malone to improve to 3-0 on the season. The Lakers hit .265, had seven total blocks and eight service aces across the four-set win. The Lakers held Malone to a lowly .051 hitting percentage.
Jaelianna Primus led the Lakers with 13.5 points with 11 kills, a .292 hit percentage, a solo block and block assist.
Kendall Stover and
Meghan O'Sullivan each had 11 kills with O'Sullivan hitting .556 while
Jordyn Gates had nine kills, 25 assists and 23 digs.
The first set went back-and-forth early, with neither team separating by more than two points midway through the set. The Lakers then pulled away from a 12-11 lead with a 6-1 scoring run to pull away to an 18-12 advantage to force a Malone timeout. The Lakers would continue to run away to the tune of a 25-17 winner in the opening set. O'Sullivan led the way with four kills on five total attacks with a pair of block assists in the set.
The Lakers trailed, 16-12, in set two before ripping off eight of the next nine points to take control with a 20-17 advantage. Malone used a timeout to steady themselves and responded with five straight points of their own and would outscore the Lakers 8-2 through the set, 25-22, to hand the Lakers their first lost set of the season.
GVSU responded nicely in the third, rattling off the first six points of the set and dominating from start to finish with a 25-13 win to take a 2-1 lead. The Lakers turned the intensity even higher in the fourth, taking eight of the first nine points en route to a commanding 25-7 win to polish off the match.
The Lakers dropped the second match in straight sets (14-25, 12-25, 24-26) to the Gannon Knights for their first loss of the season. Stover led the Lakers with nine kills while Gates had 14 assists and 18 digs.
The Lakers head to the UIndy Invitational next weekend for four more matches in the final tune-up before conference play. They open play on Friday (Sept. 2) at 11:30 AM against Bentley. GVSULakers.com and @GVSUVOLLEY on social media will provide live coverage links and updates.
