#3 Ferris State Dominates #8 Rockhurst To Close Midwest Region Crossover Unbeaten

Big Rapids, Mich. - The third-ranked Ferris State University women's volleyball team wrapped up the nation's largest collegiate event with a perfect mark as the Bulldogs swept eighth-ranked Rockhurst (Mo.) 3-0 on Saturday (Oct. 17) at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill.

The Bulldogs won the opening set 25-20 and then came back with wins of 25-18 and 25-20 in the second and third frames, respectively. The win lifted FSU to 20-1 overall this campaign while the setback was only the Hawks' second of the year as they fell to 20-2 overall.

Ferris State senior outside hitter Megan Vander Meer recorded 17 kills to lead the Bulldogs and had 16 digs in a double-double showing. Meanwhile, senior middle hitter Caroline Heitzman also joined her in double-figure kills with 14 in the match.

The Bulldogs, who hit .328 for the day, also received nine kills apiece from both senior hitter Alexis Huntey and sophomore Ayanna Buckley. Overall, FSU compiled 54 kills and had only 12 errors in the match.

On the back end, Ferris State junior libero Danielle Dowd tallied a team-best 20 digs. In addition to 16 from Vander Meer, the Bulldogs also garnered 13 by freshman Katie Placek. Junior setter Stephanie Sikorski tallied 46 assists.

Ferris State limited the Hawks to only a .176 attack figure on 37 kills with 14 attack errors. The Hawks were led by Morgan Rietzke with nine kills. In addition, Alyssa Arnold compiled 16 digs and Whitney Kostal manged 31 assists.

Ferris State finished with 69 digs, six block assists, four aces and three solo blocks. Meanwhile, Rockhurst netted 55 digs, eight assisted blocks, two aces and a solo hit at the net.

Both teams entered the Midwest Region Crossover as the number one seeds from their respective conferences.

Mizuno served as the title sponsor for the regional volleyball event which pitted 16 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) volleyball teams, 16 institutions representing the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) and, for the first time in 2015, four programs from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).

The two-day tournament featured 54 matches conducted on nine courts at one of the top volleyball facilities in the country. The event, designed to increase competition between teams from the two leagues in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region, had previously been held in Indianapolis, Ind. and Lansing, Mich.

Ferris State returns home to host Findlay and Hillsdale next Friday and Saturday, Oct. 23-24, with both matches starting at 5 p.m. (ET) inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena.