But it’s not just a chance to continue forward in the tournament, which is single elimination, that makes tonight’s game at Saginaw a must-win. In order to keep alive any chance the Lakers have of making a national championship run, the team must win the conference tournament.

“This is what you work for all season long,” said GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon. “This is the icing on the cake, just going out to play hard and with a lot of effort, especially this time of the year where anything can happen.”

Other matchups on the slate for tonight include No. 8 Wayne State University against No. 1 Ferris State University, No. 5 Northern Michigan University at No. 4 Ashland University and No. 2 Hillsdale University hosting No. 7 Northwood University.

The Lakers lost to Northwood on Sunday, the first time the Timberwolves managed to knock off the Lakers in 30 attempts. The loss left GVSU with a bitter taste at season’s end, but it also showed the team some of its weaknesses.

“During the game against Northwood we didn’t have the energy all through the game. That’s what hurt us,” said freshman outside hitter Abby Aiken, who tied for a match high with 13 kills in the game. “Energy and confidence, playing like we know we can beat each team and just going at it all out because we have nothing to lose now is how we have to play.”

Although the season ended on a bit of a sour note, the team did finish the year with five wins in its last seven contests, good enough to clinch a spot in the conference tournament and provide for some momentum along the way.

“Even though we have had a couple losses, we definitely have been able to pull out some good wins,” said sophomore middle blocker Abby Ebels. “We have a little bit of a confidence boost from that so hopefully that shows up against Saginaw.”

GVSU last faced off against Saginaw Valley just two weeks ago in a five-set losing effort that went down to the wire.

Although the Lakers couldn’t come out on top in the back-and-forth contest, Scanlon said the fact that the team had such close contests with the Cardinals should show that the Lakers have the ability to beat them.

“If you’re playing five-game matches, it means you are good enough to be competing with those teams and win those matches,” she said. “Hopefully we don’t have to wait until next season for this to pay off and we can get on a run through the conference tournament.”

Semifinal action continues Saturday with the finals of the GLIAC conference played Sunday. The team knows it must win the tournament to move on, but it will still take things one match at a time.

“It is going to be a good battle between both of us,” Ebels said. “We are going to have to put all of our effort out onto the floor. Being that really scrappy defensive team and also cutting down on our offensive errors, if we do those two things then we’ll have no problem beating them. We will just have to bring it all together.”

Tonight’s game begins at 7 p.m. in University Center, Mich.

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