Aurora, Ill. - The Saginaw Valley State University Cardinal volleyball team was victorious in its opening match today (Oct. 25) at the sixth-annual GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Tournament.  The event, being held at the Great Lakes Center in Aurora, Ill., pits the 16 teams from both conferences against each other over a span of two days.

The Cardinals got the 1-0 to start the tournament with a 3-1 victory over the Missouri S&T Miners.  The victory was the fifth-straight for SVSU and improves the team's record to 13-7 overall.  S&T fell to 12-10 overall after the loss.

The Miners jumped-out to a quick 1-0 lead in the match, taking set number one by a score of 25-20.  SVSU responded to knot the contest at 1 set-apiece with a 25-22 win in game two.  The Cardinals would continue the solid play and grab sets three and four by scores of 25-17 and 25-20, respectively.

Ashley Driscoll earned Chili's "Player of the Match" honors after her stellar offensive output.  The 6-1 junior middle hitter posted a .409 hitting percentage with 10 kills against just one error in 22 attempts.  She added four blocks on the defensive end for SVSU.

Junior Kelsey Ferla had a match-high 14 kills to go along with 10 digs and four blocks.  

Kaylee Schmitt, a freshman middle hitter, recorded seven kills and five blocks in the victory.

Junior Makenzie Frodle posted a match-high eight total blocks and added six kills.

Both SVSU setters had double-doubles in the 3-1 victory.  Redshirt freshman Kelly Vellucci had 24 assists and 11 digs while senior Nicole Adam recorded 21 helpers and 10 digs. 

Sophomore libero Brooke Tiller had a match-high 21 digs for the Cardinals, who limited their opponents to just a .118 hitting percentage.

Saginaw Valley rounds-out tournament play with a pair of matches tomorrow.  The Cardinals square-off against Southern Indiana at 11:00 am before looking to revenge an earlier 3-0 loss this season against the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 5:00 pm.