The No. 13 Grand Valley State University volleyball team came up one win shy of their preseason goal Sunday by losing 3-2 to No. 8 Hillsdale College in the GLIAC Tournament finals.

Down 2-1 in the fourth set, the Lakers pushed through to force a fifth set before dropping it 15-12, crowning Hillsdale as the 2010 GLIAC Champions.

But making it to the final game is an accomplishment in itself. After downing Northwood University 3-1 Thursday night in the tournament’s quarterfinal matchup, the Lakers encored with a 3-1 effort against No. 21 Northern Michigan University Saturday in the semifinals.

“Northwood came out really strong in the first game,” said senior Rebeccah Rapin. “Our blocking and our defense were not so hot early, and it gave them the confidence that they could swing away. When they get that confidence, there’s no stopping them.”

Despite quickly toppling Northwood 3-0 Nov. 5, GVSU knew that the Timberwolves would come back to Allendale with a meaner look. Northwood’s three seniors helped keep their team close.

“I wasn’t surprised at how strong Northwood was,” said GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon. “When we played them at their place earlier in the year, this was the type of team and effort that we got from them. We knew they were going to come in with the mentality of if they lose, their season’s done. Their only way of going on to postseason play was to win the GLIAC tournament. (Their seniors) played like it’s their last game. They played with intensity.”

Not helping the intensity of the match against Northwood were several calls that each team’s head coach were not hesitant to question. Ironically, when the two teams met for the first time this season on Sep. 17, the officiating was also suspect at times, but Scanlon said that Thursday’s protests were more the result of the situation than anything else.

“When you get to postseason, everything gets magnified a little bit,” she said. “You’re hoping for some type of consistency, and it wasn’t consistent tonight, but everybody has a bad night … players, coaches, even officials.”

Rapin, who finished the three-day stretch with 43 kills and 20 blocks, said she knew each foe would challenge the Lakers during the tournament.

“Northern is a great team,” she said Thursday. “We split with them (during the season). It should be competitive and fun, and that’s exactly what we (thought we were) going to get. Our keys are our block and our serve. We have to keep (opponents) off the net.”

GVSU faced Ashlee Crowder, Hillsdale University’s GLIAC Player of the Year, Sunday in a match many expected to come down to the wire. Before Sunday’s loss, Rapin said she knew the match would be tough.

“Against Hillsdale, I feel it’s going to be a very tough game,” Rapin said Thursday. “It’s going to take a lot of our mental and physical state, but I know that we can do that. We’ve only been able to play them once, at the beginning of the season, and we’ve improved so much since then. As long as we know what’s coming at us, I think we’ll be fine. When we play at our game, there’s nobody that can stop us.”

Freshman outside hitter Stacey Catalano said the team has seen much change in performance this season.

“I think our defense has really changed,” she said. “Last year, the defense was a little shaky, but it’s really improved this year, and our hitting has improved enormously. We’re all coming together at the right time.”

Pushing the conference loss behind them, the Lakers will look to make its initial push at a National Championship in this weekend’s Midwest Regional Tournament. The quarterfinal round will begin Thursday against an opponent to be determined.

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