Ferris State Volleyball Claims GLIAC North Division Crowd With Memorable Senior Day Victory

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball team secured its third Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division Championship in the last five years on Saturday (Nov. 7) as the Bulldogs defeated Northwood 3-0 in their final regular-season home match at FSU's Ewigleben Sports Arena.

The nationally fifth-ranked Bulldogs honored their senior class prior to the home tilt and rolled past the visiting Timberwolves in decisive fashion by a 25-9, 25-7 and 25-15 count while improving to 26-2 overall this campaign. FSU also moved to 15-1 in the GLIAC standings, clinching the league divisional crown as FSU owns a three-match lead over second place Grand Valley State with only two regular-season contests remaining.

The divisional title is FSU's second-straight and the Bulldogs are also now assured of tying for at least the best mark overall in the conference with Ashland owning a 13-3 mark to date.

Saturday was Senior Day as the Bulldogs honored and recognized four senior student-athletes prior to their final regular-season home contests. The talented group includes outside hitters Alexis Huntey (Stanwood/Morley-Stanwood) and Megan Vander Meer (Grand Rapids) along with middle hitter Caroline Heitzman (Newayo) and libero Danielle Dowd (Manhattan, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central). All four have been mainstays in the Bulldog lineup in recent years.

Vander Meer had a memorable afternoon in pacing the Bulldogs as she topped the 1,000 career kills mark in the contest en route to a team-high tying 10 kills overall. Heitzman also added 10 kills for the Bulldogs while Huntey had nine and Dowd tallied 14 digs as part of a superb effort by the senior quartet.

Ferris State posted the dominating win behind an impressive .402 attack figure with 43 kills and only four mistakes on 97 total attacks. FSU also compiled 61 digs with eight block assists and four solo blocks in addition to four aces and seven service errors.

Along with Dowd, freshman hitter Katie Placek notched 16 digs to help the Bulldog cause while junior setter Stephanie Sikorski posted 26 assists.

FSU limited Northwood to a -.080 attack percentage with the Timberwolves totaling 25 attack errors and only 16 kills on 112 total attempts. NU posted 45 digs to go with three aces, but had one service error and no blocks in the outing.

Northwood was led by Colleen Mayer with four kills and Kiana Martinez, who had 11 digs as NU fell to 11-16 overall and 7-9 in the GLIAC this season.

In the past five years, the Bulldogs have now compiled a 126-29 overall record, which includes a 81-8 mark in GLIAC regular season action. This year's GLIAC North Division crown represents the Bulldogs' third in the five-year span and the squad has also reached at least the NCAA Regional Semifinals each of the past four years, including an NCAA-II Elite Eight appearance and regional crown in 2013.

The Bulldogs have been particularly dominate at home where they are now 13-0 at the Ewigleben Sports Arena this season. FSU has currently won 34 of its last 35 home encounters, including 22-straight, and owns a 59-7 mark at home dating back to the start of the 2011 season.

Along with this week's number five national ranking, the Bulldogs are also listed first in the initial NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Rankings, which will help determine the teams receiving bids for the NCAA Tournament at the end of the year.

Ferris State wraps up the regular season on the road next week as FSU visits Wayne State on Friday (Nov. 13) for a 7 p.m. (ET) match in Detroit before venturing to Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Nov. 14) with match time set for 2 p.m. (ET) in University Center, Mich.