Ferris State Volleyball Secures Overall GLIAC Regular-Season Championship

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nationally fourth-ranked Ferris State University volleyball team opened up its weekend road trip in a big way as the Bulldogs secured the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC)'s overall regular season championship with a 3-1 triumph over Wayne State in the Motor City of Detroit.

The Bulldogs, who previously had claimed the GLIAC North Division crown last week, assured themselves of finishing with the best overall record in the 16-team conference by winning their first of two road contests in the final weekend of regular-season competition.

FSU won the opening set over the Warriors 25-21 at the Mattheai Complex before Wayne State rallied for a 25-16 victory in the second frame to knot the match at a win apiece. However, the Bulldogs raced to a 25-13 victory in the third and then sealed the win with a decisive 25-12 advantage in the fourth set.

Ferris State ran its record to 27-2 overall this campaign and 16-1 in conference play by virtue of the victory while Wayne State dropped to 12-17 overall and 7-10 in league action.

Sophomore middle hitter Ayanna Buckley led the Bulldogs in Friday night's victory with a team-high 14 kills. She had no errors on 26 attempts and registered an impressive .538 attack figure.

Along with Buckley's 14 kills, the Bulldogs received 12 kills from senior hitter Alexis Huntey along with nine from redshirt freshman Maria Kronner. Both senior Megan Vander Meer and junior setter Stephanie Sikorski recorded eight kills each in the FSU victory.

Defensively, junior libero Danielle Dowd notched 22 digs in leading FSU with Huntey chipping in 16 digs overall. Sikorski added 15 digs, freshman Katie Placek had 13 and Vander Meer tallied 11 overall.

Ferris State posted a .260 attack figure with 53 kills and only 15 errors on 146 attempts. FSU also compiled 81 digs to go with six aces, four block assists, three solo blocks and four service errors.

On the Wayne State side, Hannah Moore registered a match-high 15 kills with Mikayla Shell adding 10 kills in the setback. Ellie Rodriguez posted 20 digs and Moore chipped in with 14 digs while Brittany Guldan totaled 34 assists.

Wayne State was limited to a .151 attack figure with 46 kills and 22 attack mistakes on 159 attempts. The Warriors finished with 67 digs, six block assists, three solo blocks and three service aces along with six service errors.

Ferris State wraps up the regular season on Saturday (Nov. 14) as FSU visits Saginaw Valley State for a 2 p.m. (ET) league encounter in University Center, Mich.

The Bulldogs will host a GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal match next Wednesday (Nov. 18) at 7 p.m. (ET) in Big Rapids and would also host the league semifinals/finals on Nov. 21-22 with a quarterfinal-round win as FSU has secured the number one overall seed for the postseason event.

Presently, the Bulldogs are also ranked first in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings with the top eight teams at the end of the year earning bids to the national tournament.

This year's regular season championship is the Bulldogs' 11th overall in GLIAC history, including the second consecutive and third in the last five years to date.