Ferris State Volleyball Wraps Up Regular Season With Five-Set Victory

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nationally fourth-ranked and GLIAC regular season champion Ferris State women's volleyball team finished the 2015 regular season with a thrilling 3-2 victory (22-25, 25-11, 17-25, 25-19, 15-10) over the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Saturday (Nov. 14) in University Center, Mich.             

Ferris State entered the match coming off of a 3-1 victory over Wayne State on Friday night to clinch the GLIAC regular season crown, but needed five sets against the Cardinals.               

It was a seesaw affair, with the two teams trading sets. The Cardinals won the first and third sets with the Bulldogs winning the second, fourth and fifth sets.               

Sophomore middle hitter Ayanna Buckley finished with a team-leading 17 kills and hit for a team best .371 attack percentage to lead the Bulldogs in the comeback effort.

Senior outside hitters Megan Vander Meer and Alexis Huntey added 13 and 12 kills, respectively, to back Buckley's performance.               

At the net, sophomore middle hitter Maria Kronner had a match-high six block assists with freshman outside hitter Katie Placek tallying three for the Bulldogs.               

The Cardinals had only four block assists all day as Kaylee Schmitt had two of them.               

Junior setter Stephanie Sikorski lead all players with 48 assists with Saginaw Valley State setter Kelly Vellucci tallying 46 for the Cardinals.             

Five Bulldogs finished with 13 or more digs. Senior libero Danielle Dowd led Ferris State with 24, Placek had 18, Vander Meer tallied 17, Huntey finished with 15 while Sikorski had 13 for the Bulldogs.        

The Cardinals had four players with 10 or more digs as Brooke Tiller matched Dowd's match-high 24 digs for Saginaw Valley State.              

Ferris State finished the regular season with a 28-2 overall record and riding a five-match win streak. FSU heads into the GLIAC Tournament as the number one overall seed in the conference.               

Ferris State, which has won 23 consecutive matches at home dating back to 2013, will host a GLIAC quarterfinal match this upcoming week.               

The Bulldogs will host a quarterfinal match on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m. (ET) inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena in Big Rapids versus eighth-seeded Michigan Tech.

Stay tuned to FerrisStateBulldogs.com for updates on the upcoming GLIAC Tournament.