SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team surrendered a 2-1 lead to fall in five sets to Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (2-8, 0-2 GLIAC) won sets one and three, but the Lakers took the fourth and decisive fifth set to swipe the match in a tightly fought contest.
Madison Thompson led the way for SVSU with a double-double after 18 kills and 10 digs to her stats. Sedona Coon also tallied a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. Ava Beard paced the attack for the Cardinals with a season-high 41 assists. Kelsey Vittitow anchored the back line for SVSU with 30 digs. Elizabeth Bruschuk contributed defensively with 16 digs. Natalie Siler added six service aces and six digs to her final numbers.
Saginaw Valley built a 13-8 lead in the middle of the first set. The Lakers battled back with a 4-0 run to capture a 16-15 lead. A kill by Emily Foster tied the score at 16, the fifth tie of the first set. Each team traded points up to a deadlock at 22. Lake Superior State took a 23-22 lead with a kill. A service error tied the score and a bad set gave the Cards set point and Thompson put things away with a kill to take the 1-0 lead.
SVSU hopped out to a 9-2 lead in the second before the Lakers rallied back to eventually tie the score at 13. The rest of the set resembled the first as the teams traded points up to a tie at 24 to force extra points. That trend continued until the Cardinals had set point at 27-26. LSSU knotted things up again with a kill before two additional kills grabbed the set and tied the match at 1-1.
The third set was an efficient one for the Cardinals as they had 11 kills and only three errors to hit .222 as a team in the winning set. SVSU pulled away to a six-point lead (11-5) before LSSU cut the deficit to 15-13. Thompson got a kill to begin a 3-0 run that pushed the advantage to five. The lead grew to six points, 23-17, before a 5-0 run by the Lakers threatened the Cardinals' advantage. The next two points went to the Cards and gave them the 2-1 edge.
The home team continued to battle out of deficits as the Cards started the fourth with a 4-0 run and held the lead until the Lakers dug out of the hole to tie the game at 15. Saginaw Valley State retook the lead with a 21-17 advantage, but LSSU used a 5-0 run to take a 24-22 lead and finished the set two plays later to force a fifth set.
The Lakers scored a 5-0 run in the beginning of the set to take an 8-4 lead in the fifth. The lead grew to 10-5 in favor of the home team. That lead would remain for the rest of the match as LSSU received the last point to take the win 15-11.
The Cardinals will return home to face conference rival Ferris State on Friday, September 22. The match with the Bulldogs is set to begin at 7:00 p.m.