UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University women's volleyball program swept Lake Superior State University Friday evening winning the sets 25-23, 30-28, and 25-22. Sarah Veale led the Cardinals offensively with 14 kills and Kendall Ihm was efficient in her attacks with nine kills on 11 attacks and one error for a hitting percentage of .727.
SVSU started cold going down 5-2 in set one, but a 5-0 run including two aces by Kelsey Vittitow gave them a 7-5 lead. The Cardinals and Lakers traded blows as the score bloomed to 18-13 in favor of Saginaw Valley. The Lakers started to come back bringing the set within one point two times, but kills by Ihm and Veale ended the match in the Cardinals favor.
The second set started with an ace by Ihm and a Laker attack error for a 2-0 lead. SVSU took advantage of a service error and two attack errors for a 3-0 run to push their lead to 6-3 before having one of their best runs of the match. A 7-0 run off the back of three kills by Veale, one by Karissa Ferry, another ace for Vittitow and a pair of attack errors by Lake State. A 13-4 lead for SVSU diminished. LSSU had runs of 3-0, 2-0 and 7-0 to answer and knotted the set at 16-16. Madison Thompson started and ended a 3-0 run with kills for SVSU as they took the lead again 20-18. Another sequence of points traded back and forth pushed the set to 24-24 and force a win by two scenario. The Cardinals took the first two advantages but could not seal it. The Lakers took the advantage twice as well, but a 3-0 run to tie and win the came off two attack errors and a Sedona Coon ace to give Saginaw Valley a 2-0 set lead.
In the final set, the Lakers came out swinging. A 5-0 run after the first point went to SVSU gave them a 5-1 lead. Saginaw Valley had two 3-0 runs including another kill for Ihm and Veale along with an ace by Elizabeth Bruschuk to tie it 8-8. Lake State took a four-point lead going up 14-10 before a 4-0 run for SVSU knotted the set at 16-16. A 3-0 run followed that up with another Bruschuk ace and the Cardinals never trailed to close out the set. The Lakers tied it up 22-22, but the next three points went to SVSU. A kill for Ihm, followed by an ace for her as well forced a timeout by LSSU. Out of the timeout, an attack error by the Lakers won the match for the Cardinals.
Saginaw Valley had 10 aces, three from Vittitow, three from Bruschuk, two from Ihm, and one from Coon and Veale. Veale had her third most kills of the season as the Cardinals hit .246 as a team with 10 attack errors, the third lowest this season.
It's a quick turn around for SVSU as they head to Kenosha, Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. The first set of the match is scheduled for 4:00 PM against the Parkside Rangers. Six games remain for Saginaw Valley in the regular season.
