This weekend, the Grand Valley State volleyball team went on the road for their last regular season matches of the season. The Lakers took on the Ashland Eagles Friday, Nov. 15 and the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday, Nov. 16. GVSU lost both matches, pushing them to a 6th-place rank in the conference with an overall record of 13-14 and a GLIAC record of 8-8. 

The Lakers battled against the Eagles in a tight matchup, each set ending with both teams within five points of one another. Although sophomore Ali Thompson had 11 kills and 20 digs, recording a double-double, GVSU was unable to win the match. The first two sets ended with Ashland winning by two, 25-23. The Lakers took their only win of the match in the third set, 25-23  The Eagles finished off the match in their fourth set, 25-20. 

“We played consistently against Ashland and competed with energy and effort the entire match,” said GVSU coach Deanne Scanlon. 

The Lakers set out against the Wayne State Warriors the next day in their last regulation match of the season. The two teams went into five sets with the Warriors ending up victorious, even though GVSU led in both blocks and aces. Ali Thompson led the team with 15 kills in this match, Kendal Yerkes led with 19 digs and setter Rachel Jacquay had 45 assists. 

The first two sets were close, ending with the Lakers winning both 25-21 and 29-27 in the second. The Warriors would gain momentum soon after and take the last three sets to win the match. In the third and fourth set the Warriors held the Lakers to only 15 points, 25-15 in the third and 25-15 again in the fourth. The Lakers were only able to score 9 points in their final set before the Warriors finished off the match 15-9. 

“The GLIAC is a very deep talented conference with competitive matches every night,” Scanlon said.

With the Lakers being seated 6th in the conference, they officially have qualified to complete in the GLIAC tournament next week. The team is confident and excited to start their post season journey. 

“We have battled all season to position ourselves to qualify for postseason play,” Scanlon said. “We feel confident and are ready to make a statement in the conference tournament”.

The young GVSU team have worked hard this season and are ready to show how much they have improved. The Lakers will have their nine freshman take on their first postseason tournament in hopes to reach a championship. 

“I feel like we are competing at a high level and have made steady gains through the season,” Scanlon said. “I am excited for these nine freshmen to experience playoff intensity and what it takes to win Championships.”

The Lakers will take on the Michigan Tech Huskies Wednesday, Nov. 20 for the first round of the tournament and hopefully get a successful start to their post season play.