Senior day, an NCAA Division-II record and a little frustration all contributed to the Grand Valley State University volleyball team taking out Michigan Technological University in straight sets on Friday and Northern Michigan University 3-1 on Saturday.

GVSU swept Michigan Tech 26-24, 25-15, 25-17 to start off the solid weekend Friday night and end a three-game skid.

In the match, sophomore middle blocker Abby Ebels tied a 14-year-old Division II record for most kills in a match with a perfect hitting percentage. She finished with 13 kills in 13 attempts, equaling the record set by Kim Merrill of University of South Carolina-Aiken.

There have been only two better performances in the history of NCAA volleyball across all divisions.

“You don’t usually walk into the gym thinking you’re going to set an NCAA record,” Ebels said. “It was everybody. The passing was there and Clair [Ruhenkamp] was doing a great job setting so I was able to do my job. I didn’t really think about it while we were playing but as soon as I came off and everybody started screaming ‘one-thousand’ it set in a little bit.”

The Lakers finished with a .398 hitting percentage, their best all season, and limited errors their errors to just seven. Eight service aces were also a season-high.

“I think we played really well and I think we are coming together,” said senior middle blocker Nicole Whiddon. “Given the adversity that we’ve had to deal with this whole season, it is nice to see what we can do even with injuries and all the stuff that is trying to weigh us down.”

Saturday was Senior Day, and the Lakers used the emotion to defeat Northern Michigan University 25-17, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20.

The GVSU home crowd said goodbye to three seniors: Whiddon and fellow middle blocker Allyssa DeHaan, as well as outside hitter Courtney McCotter.

While five games remain in the regular season, home play has concluded for their careers.

“I kind of really haven’t thought about it much because the season has gone by so fast,” she said.

GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon recognized not only what the group has meant to her, but also to the entire team.

“It is bittersweet,” she said. “It is good to see our underclassmen playing hard for this group. It says a lot that they want to help them continue their season.”

The Lakers played solid the entire match against Northern Michigan, a team they lost to in a five-set heartbreaker earlier in the year.

Sophomore right side hitter Megan Schroeder notched a career-high 13 kills in the match and Ebels tallied 11 kills and a match-best seven blocked shots. For the weekend, Ebels hit .733 with 24 kills and only two errors.

“It reminds me of what Grand Valley is all about,” Whiddon said. “We are expected to win and now I think we have that confidence where before we were kind of unsure of what we should be doing and how to finish games.”

The Lakers now own an 11-10 overall record and are 8-6 in conference play. With the fate of their playoff hopes still to be determined, the march toward postseason play starts with a stop against Saginaw Valley State University on Wednesday.

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