Posted: Oct 01, 2022
UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – Visiting Davenport University defeated Saginaw Valley State University in three sets on Saturday in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference women's volleyball matchup in Hamilton Gymnasium. The set scores were 25-23, 25-19, 25-19.
The host Cardinals fall to 9-8 on the season, including 5-4 in the GLIAC, while the Panthers up their overall record to 14-4 and 7-2 in the conference.
How it Happened:
- The first set featured a slugfest as both teams' offense was clicking as Davenport hit .326 and Saginaw Valley at .304
- Things started out well for the Cardinals who built leads of 11-5, 18-13 and 21-16—never trailing for the first 25 minutes of the match.
- But the Panthers reeled off three kills and a service ace to cut the deficit to 22-20 that prompted a SVSU timeout.
- Then DU won the next two points to tie the score 22-all and force another SVSU timeout.
- After Lindsay Taylor's kill gave the Panthers their first lead of the afternoon, the Cardinals tied it 23-23 on a Rylee Zimmer putdown.
- The Panthers closed out the opening frame on another Taylor kill and SVSU attack error.
- In the second set, SVSU battled DU point-for-point until the Panthers used an 11-6 run to go up 18-11. The Cardinals were held at bay for the remainder of the frame.
- The Cardinals had another strong start in the final stanza, up 4-1, before the Panthers rallied to win it by six points. DU hit .268 in the third while holding SVSU to .098.
- For the match, Davenport attacked at a .281 clip while SVSU came in at .200
- Saginaw Valley was led offensively by Zimmer who had 12 kills and 13 digs.
- DU's Hayley Kreiger posted a double-double that included 25 kills (.438) and 16 digs, plus she had two blocks and two aces.
Inside the Box Score:
- Peyton Gerstacker joined teammate Zimmer with a team-best 13 digs and she led all playmakers with 31 assists.
- Madison Thompson contributed nine kills to the Cardinals' offensive cause.
- The Panthers have won six matches in a row.
Up Next:
Saginaw Valley travel to the U.P. next weekend to square off against GLIAC opponents Michigan Tech on Friday (5 p.m.) and Northern Michigan on Saturday (4 p.m.).