Ferris State Drops First Two Matches Of Season At Western Washington Invite

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball team, which was ranked 20th in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) D2 Preseason National Poll, suffered a pair of setbacks on Thursday (Aug. 25) in day one action at the Western Washington Invitational.

FSU suffered a 3-0 decision to Western Washington in the opener and then fell to Cal-State Los Angeles 3-2 in the finale.

In the opening match against host Western Washington, the Bulldogs dropped the opening set 25-8 and fell in set two 25-19. FSU battled in the third, falling 29-27 in the contest.

Newcomer Chelsie Freeman paced the Bulldogs with eight kills in the opening match while both Claire Nowicki and Syann Fairfield added seven kills each. Kaylee Maat totaled 29 assists and the Bulldogs got 10 digs from Emma Bleecher.

FSU was held to a .151 hitting figure in the opener and finished with 31 kills and 17 errors on 93 total attempts. WWU hit .344 overall and also produced nine service aces.

In the second match of the day, the Bulldogs dropped the first set 25-23 before bouncing back for a 29-27 decision in the second. However, the Golden Eagles came up with a 25-22 victory in the third set, but FSU responded for a 25-21 win in the fourth to force the deciding frame, which was captured by Cal-State Los Angeles.

Nowicki paced the Bulldogs with 13 kills in the nightcap while Olivia Henneman-Dallape totaled 12 kills and Fairfield produced 10 kills. Maat finished with 43 assists for FSU while Leah Bylut notched 12 digs.

Ferris State increased its hitting figure to .227 for the second match and also totaled 15 aces in the contest with seven coming from Maat.

The Bulldogs close out the Western Washington Invitational with two more matches on Friday (Aug. 26), facing Sonoma State (Calif.) at 3 p.m. (ET) and Simon Fraser at 8 p.m. (ET).