The Grand Valley State University volleyball team trekked to Tampa, Fla., during the holiday weekend to take part in the Tampa Classic, braving cross-country travel to go up against four of the nation’s top 15-ranked opponents.

Sailing into Friday night, the Lakers swept three matches against No. 1 Concordia-St. Paul, which snapped the team’s record 75-match winning streak in Division II. Senior middle blocker Rebeccah Rapin had a starring role in the upset with 12 kills and two aces. Defensively, the captain made seven of the team’s 12 blocks.

“I think our whole collective thought coming down was to just get after it as hard as we could and use this experience to strengthen the team as a whole,” said GVSU head coach Deanne Scanlon. “This is the toughest tournament we’ve ever had on our schedule, but I was fairly satisfied with our performance against Concordia.”

While Friday’s upset served as a great start to the season, it also took its toll as the team’s first match up Saturday saw the Lakers squaring off and subsequently falling to the No. 5 University of Central Missouri 3-0. The Lakers battled with the Mules the entire morning as Central Missouri jumped ahead to a 10-4 lead in the first game and GVSU rallied to 11-8. Both teams tied one another 12 times in the second game.

Playing again Saturday evening, GVSU fell to the University of Nebraska-Kearney in hard-fought sets that scored 25-20, 26-28, 25-17 and 25-18. Senior Krysta Kornack recorded a career and team high of 15 kills and added three blocks. Rapin finished close behind with 14 kills.

“Nebraska-Kearney is a very good team, and I would venture to say we matched up against them better than anyone else this weekend,” Scanlon said. “They are very seasoned what with returning all their starters, and all three matches came down to a small enough run to allow them to pull away.”

The Lakers faced the tournament’s host, No. 3 University of Tampa, on Sunday. After three days of play against some of the best teams in the nation, GVSU still managed to play well against the Spartans. Freshman Stacey Catalano led the team with eight kills and a match-high 10 digs.

“I’m never pleased with losing, but I’d rather come back after a good series of challenging games than pad our stats,” Scanlon said. “The whole point of the Tampa Classic was to focus on what we need to build on going into the rest of the season, and worry about feeling good about ourselves later on in our schedule.”

The Lakers will play their first home game this Saturday against Michigan Technological University at 4 p.m. It will be the first in a string of three home matchups in five days.

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