A hard-fought match against an equally tough and persistent opponent brought a screeching halt to the Grand Valley State University volleyball team’s season two games shy of playing for the National Championship. GVSU lost in straight sets to the University of Tampa in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA tournament Thursday in Louisville, Ky.

“I’m very exhausted and emotionally drained,” said senior middle blocker Rebeccah Rapin. “I feel like I’ve been here for a really long time. The match seemed longer than an hour and a half.”

Instead of focusing on what went wrong or what could have been done differently, GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon said the Lakers are looking at the bright spots of their season.

“We’re trying to focus on the positives,” she said. “We’ve had a great year and we were able to give our young kids experience here in the Elite Eight. They know what we have to do to get back here next year.”

The loss marked the second time this year the Lakers lost 3-0 to Tampa, who advanced to the National Championship match Saturday before losing 3-1 to Concordia University-St. Paul.

“We didn’t have the outcome that we wanted to have in that match, but Tampa’s an excellent team,” Scanlon said. “Their coach told me after our match that they hadn’t played that well in a long time. We didn’t execute that great, but a lot of that had to do with Tampa’s play.”

Aside from a playoff berth, this season could not have gone more differently than 2009 when the Lakers finished 16-13 after losing in the opening round of the NCAA Regional Tournament. This year, four seniors led the way en route to the program’s 11th-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“Several of the underclassmen spoke up in the locker room after the game and thanked the seniors for their leadership and for being there,” Scanlon said. “The fact that we were able to turn it around after last year and get here is due to how the senior class led the team.”

The loss closes out the brilliant four-year career of seniors Rapin, Leslie Curtis, Meghan Scanlon and Krysta Kornack. The group finished their time as Lakers with a 108-28 overall record, including a 60-9 mark in GLIAC competition.

“It was a great experience playing on this team,” Rapin said. “For the younger girls to have the opportunity to be on the court during this, it will help them prepare for what they need to do to get back here next year.”

The men’s and women’s cross country teams, as well as the women’s soccer team, joined the volleyball team in Louisville for the 2010 Division II National Championships Festival. The four teams brought with them a cavalcade of support in the stands, bringing a comforting feeling of home despite the long distance away from Allendale, Kornack said.

“It was cool that all the fall sports are down here,” she said. “We had a huge crowd and that pumped us up. We had about half the bleachers (filled with our fans). We had a lot more than Tampa.”

Despite the pain of not reaching their ultimate goal, the Lakers made considerable strides over last season and said they were able to enjoy their long journey with each other.

“This was a great experience,” Kornack said. “I’m glad it happened in my senior year. It’s going to stick with me for a while, but I’m still proud of this team and how far we were able to get.”

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