ALLENDALE, Mich.— The Lady Cardinal volleyball team fell 3-0 to west side rival Grand Valley State Saturday afternoon in GLIAC action. The Saginaw Valley State team led most of each set, but were not able to close-out and fell to the Lakers.
The Saginaw Valley State Volleyball team came out strong in the first set, leading 15-8 over the Lakers. With multiple back and forth long runs from each team, the score finally became knotted 19-19. The Cardinals struggled offensively, posting 12 errors to the Lakers five. Only two more points were earned for Saginaw Valley to the GVSU's six, finishing the set 25-21. The Lakers held SVSU to a -.056 hitting percentage and now led 1-0.
Within set two, both teams posted 13 kills. Although, due to another rough set offensively for the Cardinals, the Lakers only had three hitting errors to the Cards 10. Saginaw Valley was aggressive the entire match defensively, but could not keep their errors to a minimum in the final few points. Grand Valley went on a six point streak giving the Cardinals the second loss of the night, 25-18.
Set three was no different for the teams with Grand Valley minimizing their errors yet again, posting a .440 team hitting percentage with 12 kills and only a single error. Saginaw Valley dropped their error amount to only eight on the night, hitting a high of .143. The Cardinals will later go on to drop the match with a Grand Valley kill, leading to a 25-18 Laker victory and a 3-0 match.
Inside the Box Score:
• Senior right side hitter McKenzie Schuster posted 12 kills and the team high hitting percentage of .222.
• Outside attacker Sarah Tabit earned her third double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs on tonight's three set match. She is currently second in the GLIAC for kills per set averaging 3.57 and fourth in overall kills with 268.
• Emily Friesel posted six kills and two blocks. She is currently leading the SVSU team in total blocks with 63.
• Setter Hannah Tabit added in 31 assists, five digs and one service ace.
• Lindsey Jacobs and Abbie Toland tied defensively at nine digs.
• The team out swung the Lakers 36-33 kills and out dug, 39-37.
From head coach Will Stanton
"We did not pass very well today, which means we were sending way too many soft attacks as a result. That gave Grand Valley too much of an advantage at the net. We served well again and gave ourselves multiple opportunities, but did not capitalize on enough of them. McKenzie Schuster had a good day offensively."
Up Next...
The Cardinals will return home after a long few weeks on the road to play Michigan Tech on Friday at 7 p.m. and Northern Michigan on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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