Grand Valley State University’s volleyball team (3-1) entered the season last week in Golden, Colorado, at the Colorado Mines Tournament, where the Lakers played four games.
The Lakers began play Friday in an afternoon game against Valdosta State University (0-4), sweeping them in three sets.
In the first set, GVSU fell behind early with 18-9, but a late 16-5 run by the Lakers helped squeeze out a win at 25-23. Set two was controlled by the Lakers, starting with a 7-0 run that led to a 25-11 win. In set three, the lead bounced between the two teams. However, the Lakers pulled ahead late, giving them the win, 25-18, completing the sweep.
GVSU had 61 points scored over Valdosta’s 36. GVSU also won various battles, including in kills (42-27), aces (9-4), blocks (10-4), assists (37-23) and Digs (41-37).
GVSU’s leaders in kills included senior setter Meghan O’Sullivan, who shared the honor of nine kills with junior middle hitter Kennedy Arp. Redshirt junior middle blocker Brianna Stawski also led with seven blocks, and senior libero McKenzie Johnson led with 17 digs.
Returning to the court Friday evening to face Colorado Christian University (1-3), the Lakers won 3-1 in four sets. Unlike the first match against Valdosta, the Lakers struggled to keep up with the Cougars.
Colorado Christian held a short lead throughout the first set, which they won 21-25 over GVSU. However, the Lakers had a strong rebuttal, winning set two, 25-23. Set three began with a close 19-15 run for the Cougars, but a late 8-0 run for GVSU helped push them to a 25-23 score. In the fourth and final set, another close scoring match ensued. Once again, the Lakers were able to narrowly secure the win, 25-22.
The Cougars had 76 points compared to GVSU’s 64. In this matchup, O’Sullivan once again impressed with a team-leading 15 kills and 24 assists, and also tacking on four blocks.
The Lakers began the next day of the tournament in the afternoon, facing South Dakota Mines University (0-4), where GVSU pulled off a 3-1 victory.
Against the Hardrockers, GVSU took set one 25-20, but lost in set two, 18-25. The Lakers then won set three, 25-19, and a high-scoring set four, 28-26. The Lakers held 77 points, compared to 68 for South Dakota Mines. Both teams tied at 59 in kills, with Stawski leading the Lakers in an impressive 19-kills feat.
“I think overall this weekend we did an awesome job making adjustments and being aggressive,” said O’Sullivan. “This weekend I was really focused on getting into a groove and maintaining an aggressive mindset.”
In the final match of the weekend, the Lakers suffered their first loss of the season, falling 3-2 in five sets to Colorado School of Mines (4-0).
In the Saturday evening matchup, the Orediggers took the first two sets 20-25 and 21-25 before the Lakers won set three, 25-15, and set four, 25-13. Only needing 15 points to win set five, both teams clashed in a tight-scoring duel. In the end, the Mines closed out the set winning 16-14. GVSU led with 74 over the Orediggers, 67 points. GVSU also won 56-49 in kills, lost 8-5 in aces, won 13-10 in blocks, won 50-47 in assists and won 81-72 in digs.
“Overall, I thought the weekend was solid,” said Stover. “Our defense got better throughout the weekend, but we are still working through some offensive connections.”
Head coach Jason Johnson added the team faced a “bit of adversity” coming into the weekend.
“We had an injury to one of our better players, and so Thursday, when we showed up here, we had to pivot and put a new lineup together that we really hadn’t been working on,” Johnson said. “I thought the kids did an exceptional job.”
The Lakers return home to the GVSU Fieldhouse Arena this Friday to host the Hamilton Inn and Suites Grand Rapids Downtown Classic, where they will first face off against Central Missouri University (2-1), followed by matchups against Wheeling University (0-4) and Hillsdale College (1-2).
