SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - An energetic crowd was in attendance this Friday (Sept. 22) night to cheer on the Lake Superior State University women's volleyball team, but the Lakers were unable to come away victorious falling 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-14) to the Ashland Eagles in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) competition at LSSU's Bud Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
Ashland, which produced a .365 hitting percentage for the match, kept the Lakers active on the defensive end as senior libero-defensive specialist Justice Kjolhede's 19 digs represented a match high. Lake Superior State concluded the contest hitting at a .148 clip and held a 45-43 edge in digs. Junior libero-defensive specialist Mikala Williams and junior setter Lauren Lukasik provided seven digs apiece for LSSU, which is now 1-9 overall and 0-4 in conference action this season.
Sophomore outside hitter Amanda Reid was tops among Lake Superior State's kills leaders with nine while Shelby Woycik's match-best 13 kills and Michaela Ping's 10 spearheaded the Eagles' offensive attack. AU, which upped its record to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in the GLIAC, registered a 47-36 advantage in kills.
In the opening set, Ashland raced to a 21-10 lead and never looked back to earn a decisive win as the Eagles posted a .235 hitting proficiency while the Lakers struggled by hitting at a .077 rate.
Lake Superior State bounced back in set two battling the visitors all the way as the score would be tied seven times to go along with five lead changes. A kill by senior setter Madison Castle drew the hosts into a 22-all deadlock, but the Eagles would tally the next three points to secure the decision and go up 2-0 in the contest.
The third and final set was almost a mirror of the first one as Lake State was down 20-9 over the midway point after the start of the set was tight as illustrated by five ties and two lead changes. Ashland, which connected on a blistering .500 of its attack attempts in the third set, managed to effectively prevent the Lakers from mounting any type of a rally as the Eagles would maintained a lead of no less than an eight points for the remainder of the set.
Lake Superior State will attempt to get back on the winning track this Saturday (Sept. 23) as the Tiffin Dragons provide the opposition at Bud Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. A 2 p.m. (EDT) first serve is scheduled for the conference tilt.
