The Grand Valley State volleyball team took to the road this past weekend to play their final two regular season games before going into the GLIAC tournament, traveling to Wisconsin to take on Wisconsin-Parkside and to Indiana to take on Purdue Northwest. The Lakers would split the matches, making them 1-1 on the weekend and bringing them to 13-14 on the season.

The first match of the weekend against Parkside was a back and forth affair that went five sets and saw the Lakers drop the last, with the final tally at 3-2. The final set of the game was very close and ended with GVSU losing 20-18. This game was very close in all categories, as GVSU had a hitting percentage of .122, 12 kills and seven errors as a team. Parkside hit .296 with 10 kills and only four errors.

The team statistics for the match also favored Parkside. They scored 85 total points to GVSU’s 74, as UWP finished with 69 kills to 63 for GVSU. UWP also had 11 blocks to three for the Lakers, 63 assists to the Lakers’ 61 and 87 digs to 73 for GVSU. The only stat where the Lakers held a lead was in aces, of which the Lakers had 8 and UWP finished with 5.

“We get to take away the positives and those were that we competed hard and put ourselves in a position to win,” said head coach Deanne Scanlon. “But it just didn’t happen.” 

Staci Brower, Hannah Murdock and Jillian Butsavich led the team in blocks with 16, 15 and 11 respectively. Kendall Yerkes, Alexandra Thompson and Ashlyn Kartes led the way in aces with three, two and one apiece. 

Butsavich, Abby Graham and Kartes led the Lakers in blocks with two, two and one.

The second match of the weekend would fare much better for GVSU, as it saw them beat Purdue Northwest in four games (25-19, 22-25, 25-17 and 25-17). The Lakers led in virtually every major statically category, finishing the match hitting .213, 59 kills and 26 errors while PUNW hit .135, 41 kills and 23 errors.

“We couldn’t let last night’s loss affect us today, and I felt like for the most part we didn’t,” Scanlon said. “They were fired up and ready to play so they didn’t just lay down and let us come in and win. We had to work for it.” 

The Lakers scored 73 points to Purdue Northwest’s 46, GVSU had seven aces to PUNW’s two, GVSU was able to secure seven blocks while PUNW only blocked three shots. The Lakers had 53 assists and Purdue Northwest had 39 and tGVSU had 63 digs while PUNW had 60.

Brower once again led the team in kills with 18, Butsavich had 12 and Murdock finished with eight. Kaylene Norris led the way with three aces, Kartes had one and Brower was able to score one ace. 

Kartes and Brower each had three blocks while Butsavich was right behind them with two. Kartes had 46 assists, Norris had three and Yerkes dished out two. Norris led the team in digs with 16, Yerkes had 12 and Thompson finished with nine.

After the weekend, GVSU holds a record of 13-14 overall, as well as 6-10 in the GLIAC. The Lakers regular season is finished and the team now looks to make a run in the GLIAC tournament.