Bulldogs Celebrate Last Ever Regular Season Match In Ewigleben Arena With Sweep Of Lakers

Postgame Highlights & Interview 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball team paid its respects to one of the great home court advantages in all of NCAA Division II volleyball for the final time in a regular season match with a 3-0 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) sweep of the Lake Superior State Lakers inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena on Sunday (Oct. 24) in front of a crowd full of distinguished program alums.

The Bulldogs also celebrated senior day and won their 12th consecutive match to move to 8-2 in GLIAC play and 17-4 overall with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-11 performance against the Lakers.

Ferris State was led by senior outside hitter Katie O'Connell and her 14 kills while junior middle hitter Kira Merkle fired nine kills of her own. The Bulldogs also totaled four service aces, led by freshman Leah Bylut's two.

The Bulldogs hit for an attack percentage north of .219 the whole day, with a blistering .480 mark in the first set, and a .333 clip in the third to put the Lakers away.

Defensively, Ferris State senior libero Nina Gorgijevska had 13 digs while O'Connell added eight. FSU libero Brooke Norder and freshman outside hitter Claire Nowicki each chipped in seven digs. 

The Bulldogs had six total blocks to LSSU's four. Merkle had three total blocks to lead all Bulldogs on the day. For the Lakers, Bethany Wilson and Taylor Fleming had five kills each to lead all LSSU attackers. 

Ferris State freshman setter Kaylee Maat racked up 30 assists on the afternoon to lead all setters in the match.

Prior to the match, the Bulldogs honored six seniors, including O'Connell, Gorgijevska, Norder, Audrey Bellina and Samantha Hermann in addition to former player and current student assistant coach Julia Mitchell.

The match marked FSU's final regular-season home contest inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena where the Bulldogs have won 82% of their matches over the past 41 seasons of action since 1981. The Bulldogs are slated to move into the new Bulldog Arena at some point next fall when construction is complete with the Ewigleben Sports Arena slated to be converted into FSU's new Center for Athletics Performance as part of a major facility upgrade and renovation project.

With the win, the Bulldogs head next for a non-conference date with the nationally #18-ranked Hillsdale Chargers on Tuesday (Oct. 26) at 7 p.m. (ET) inside Dawn Tibbets Potter Arena in Hillsdale.