Bulldog Volleyball Suffers Home Loss To Rival GVSU

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball team could not pull off the season sweep over rival Grand Valley State as the Lakers pulled out a 3-0 win over the 25th-ranked Bulldogs in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play on Tuesday (Oct. 30) night at the Ewigleben Sports Arena.

The Lakers registered a 25-21, 27-25, 25-22 win over the Bulldogs before a capacity crowd inside the FSU facility to earn the season split in the series.  FSU had previously won a close 3-2 decision in Allendale on Sept. 25.

GVSU jumped in front of the Bulldogs early as FSU posted a -.021 attack percentage in the opening set.  FSU improved to .212 for the second frame and hit .098 in the final set, but neither figure was good enough to win a set.

The Lakers tallied 53 kills to 27 for the Bulldogs and hit .139 overall with FSU posting a .100 attack percentage.  The Lakers totaled 173 attacks with 29 errors while Ferris State had only 140 attempts and posted 13 errors.

Grand Valley State also held an advantage in digs with 93 total compared to the Bulldogs' 82 digs on the night.  However, Ferris State posted seven blocks to four for GVSU.  The Bulldogs netted three aces and two service errors with the Lakers recording two aces and seven errors from the service line.

The Bulldogs were led by senior middle hitter Angi Kent's 10 kills on the night.  Senior setter Samantha Fordyce posted 26 assists and had 10 digs in the setback for Ferris State.

FSU also received a match-high tying 21 digs from senior defensive specialist Paige Wyers to go with 19 digs by junior libero Brandie Merren and 13 each from sophomore outside hitter Courtney Rehm and senior outside hitter Aly Brecht.

On the Grand Valley State side, Abby Aiken totaled 15 kills with Betsy Ronda adding 14 and Megan Schroeder contributing 11 overall.  Clair Ruhenkamp paced the Laker attack with 40 assists.

GVSU also had five players reach double-digits in digs as Ronda had 21, Christina Canepa totaled 20, Lyndsey Holt netted 17, Ruhenkamp registered 15 and Sacha Gill had 11 overall.

With the setback, the Bulldogs dropped to 19-6 overall and 12-2 in league play.  FSU also had its four-match winning streak snapped by the Lakers, who improved to 20-5 overall and 10-4 in conference play.

The Bulldogs had won the three previous matchups against Grand Valley State after sweeping the Lakers in 2011 prior to the win earlier this year at Allendale.

Ferris State will play its final two regular-season road matches this weekend as the Bulldogs visit Lake Superior State on Friday (Nov. 2) for a 7 p.m. (ET) tilt in Sault Ste. Marie and then head to University Center on Saturday (Nov. 3) to face Saginaw Valley State at 2 p.m. (ET).

After this weekend, the Bulldogs will play their last two league match at home next week with home encounters against Hillsdale and Northwood on Nov. 9-10, respectively.