GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A tough stretch for Saginaw Valley State University volleyball as they lost 3-0 at Davenport Saturday evening. The Panthers took the sets in 25-18, 25-17, and 25-13 fashion.

Set one started back and forth with 3-0 runs for both teams. The Cardinals got points from a service error, a kill from Madison Thompson, and an attack error to make it 4-4. DU kept tallying a point or two more in several sequences as they pushed the lead to 18-13. The two teams exchanged points back and forth until the Panthers tallied a couple in a row to eventually win the set and take a 1-0 advantage.

The second set started with a 5-0 run for Davenport until Makaylah Roberts stopped it with a kill. She led the Cardinals in kills with 11 and kill percentage hitting .500. Back-to-back aces by Ava Beard and a block by Madison Smith and Nicole Sisk brought the game back to 7-6 Davenport before two ball handling errors aided a 6-0 run for the Panthers extended their lead. Another 5-0 run forced a timeout from SVSU making it 20-10 DU and the Panthers traded points with the Cardinals to claim the set 25-17.

The final set started with a push by Saginaw Valley. Thompson and Roberts got kills along with an attack error by Davenport gave the ma 4-2 lead. However, the Panthers battled back and tied it up 6-6 and Saginaw Valley tied it at 7-7 before a few runs for Davenport took off. Two 4-0 runs and a 5-0 run made it 21-9 before Sarah Veale tallied a kill and two attack errors gave SVSU a 3-0 run, but the damage was done. The final three points went to Davenport to claim the set and the match.

Roberts and Thompson were the bright spots for the offense while Kelsey Vittitow had 13 digs on the defensive side. Ava Beard led the assist category with 16 of the 22. McKenna Sovis had four. Cardinal volleyball continues the road trip in October as they head to Grand Valley Friday. First serve set for 6:00 P.M.