After suffering some disappointing losses early in the season, the Grand Valley State University volleyball team made a return to form this weekend with two home wins.

Friday night was the battle of the Lakers at the Fieldhouse Arena, as the GVSU Lakers faced off against the Lake Superior State Lakers in GVSU’s first home game of the season.

During the first set, the two teams seemed evenly matched, and it was with some difficulty that GVSU was awarded the win, 25-17.

When GVSU emerged from the break, it was with a more defined rhythm, and several digs from liberos Sacha Gill and Clair Ruhenkamp — combined with kills from outside hitter Abby Aiken — narrowly won GVSU the next two sets, 26-24 and 25-14, respectively. The final score was 3-0.

However, instead of gloating or sitting back and enjoying the win, GVSU showed their character by admitting that the game was far from perfect.

“I feel like it could have been better,” said junior middle blocker Eno Umoh. “With teams like that, we shouldn’t let them catch up, but that’s just fixing our errors. They didn’t do anything special; it was just the small things that we have to improve on.”

Saturday afternoon, the Lakers returned to the Fieldhouse Arena, this time to play against the Northwood University Timberwolves.

The Lakers tied the Timberwolves eight times throughout the first set, with neither team being able to conclusively shake the other off. The set was finally awarded to the Timberwolves as they won 22-25.

The Lakers returned with determination and dominated the next set, with the team scoring four service aces. The set was clearly GVSU’s, and it ended 25-17, in the Lakers’ favor.

The third set was characterized by intense guarding on the part of the Lakers, and GVSU maintained a heavy lead throughout. The set ended decisively when Ally Simmons executed a kill to end the set 25-9.

The Timberwolves refused to give up in the final set, and rallied their team. Their aggressive style of playing was admirable, but the defensive play of Olivia Kohler and Ally Simmons stopped NU in their tracks, finishing the set 25-12. The final score was 3-1.

“Everything just pretty much came together these last few days,” said sophomore Stacey Catalano. “I feel like we’re coming together more as a team, and that we’re getting motivated by each other.”

When asked what these victories meant to the team, head coach Deanne Scanlon made it clear that winning was just another step for the Lakers on the path to bigger and better things.

“It’s a process, especially with us being as young as we are,” Scanlon said. “I told the girls that we can’t get frustrated with not executing right now, but I wasn’t going to accept losing, even as we’re trying to get better. I think there’s always a way to find a way to compete and find a way to win. It’s nice to see our stat numbers getting better. We’re feeling good that some of the work we’ve been doing is paying off.”

The Lakers’ next game is Friday against opponent Wayne State University. The game will take place at the Fieldhouse Arena and begins at 7 p.m.

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