ALLENDALE, MICH. – The Grand Valley State women's volleyball team opened their home slate Friday with two games, as part of the Hampton Inn and Suites Grand Rapids Downtown Classic. The Lakers went 1-1 on the day, falling to Central Missouri in the opener, then sweeping Wheeling in the nightcap.
Against the Jennies, the Lakers fell by the scores of 15-25, 20-25, 24-26. Central Missouri got out to a hot start in the opening set and never let the Lakers get into the game, dominating the opening set. In set two, the Lakers led 11-10, but the Jennies went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-11 lead and they held on from there, going up 2-0. Set three saw the Lakers jump out to a big lead up 20-10, but Central Missouri came storming back, going on two separate 6-0 runs to complete the sweep.
Meghan O'Sullivan,
Brianna Stawski, and
Kendall Stover all tallied eight kills in the match to lead the offense. O'Sullivan dished out 18 assists, with
Caroline Baker adding 15. O'Sullivan also had a team-high 10 digs.
To close out Friday's action, the Laker got back in the win column with a dominating sweep of Wheeling. GVSU took the match by the scores of 25-11, 25-12, and 25-17. With the Lakers up 7-6 in the opening set, GVSU went on an 8-0 run that kickstarted a larger 18-5 run to end the set, putting them up 1-0. Set two was a very similar story to the first, as the Lakers went on a 7-2 run to push their lead up to 13-7, then closed on an 8-1 scoring run to go up 2-0 in the match. Once again, Grand Valley State had a big lead in set three, up 22-12. This time, the Cardinals mounted a comeback, putting up five of the next six points, but it was too little, too late, as kills from
Kate Goudreau and
Autumn Gorman finished off the sweep.
Stawski and Pahl tied for the team-high with eight kills, with Stawski hitting .467 and Pahl swung at a .667 clip. Stover added seven kills and 11 digs, with Baker having 21 assists.
McKenzie Johnson tallied 11 digs. As a team, the Lakers hit .442 and held the Cardinals to a .022 hitting percentage.
The Lakers close out the tournament tomorrow at 3:00 with a matchup against Hillsdale.
