Ferris State Volleyball Beats Defending National Runner-Up & Nation's #2 Team

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University volleyball program pulled off a big win on Saturday (Sept. 12) afternoon as the Bulldogs beat defending national runner-up and nationally 2nd-ranked Southwest Minnesota State 3-1 to advance to the Gold Division Championship match at the Colorado Premier Challenge in Denver.

Ferris State, which won two matches to claim pool two in first day action on Friday, will next take on perennial D2 power Concordia-St. Paul in Saturday night's title match at 9 p.m. (ET). The match will be carried live across the country by ESPN3.

In Saturday's first match, the Bulldogs took the first frame 25-20, but Southwest Minnesota State came back for a 25-23 win in the second. FSU rallied to win the third set 25-20 and then sealed the win with a 26-24 triumph in the fourth.

With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 7-0 overall this season while Southwest Minnesota State dropped to 6-1 on the year.

FSU hit .213 for the match, which nearly doubled Southwest Minnesota State's .111 figure. The Bulldogs came up with 51 kills and also had an impressive 18 block assists with two solo blocks.

Senior Alexis Huntey led FSU with 13 kills and 24 digs. Senior Caroline Heitzman added 12 kills and sophomore Ayanna Buckley chipped in with 11 kills. Senior libero Danielle Dowd had a team-high 26 digs, senior Megan Vander Meer compiled 12 digs and freshman Katie Placek tallied 14 digs. Meanwhile, junior setter Stephanie Sikorski totaled 35 assists and eight digs.

FSU also came up with five service aces in the outing to go with 89 total digs and 44 assists.

Eisha Oden had 17 kills in the setback for Southwest Minnesota State with Abby Thissen adding 12 kills in the match. Megan Larson netted 27 digs.

A total of 12 schools are taking part in the annual Colorado Premier Challenge. The 2015 tournament field features six teams that finished the 2014 season in the top 25, and 10 of the 12 teams were ranked at some point last season.

The past seven national champions have all competed in the Premier, including last year's winners from the University of Tampa. The Spartans are returning to this year's tournament for the fourth consecutive year. Last year's national runner-up Southwest Minnesota State is competing for the third consecutive year. Concordia-St. Paul, which had its streak of seven consecutive national championships snapped last year, has won the Premier four of the past seven years.