SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Lake Superior State women's volleyball team dropped a match to the Davenport University Panthers by a score of 4-1 on Friday, March 5 in the Bud Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. in the first game of a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) series.
The Lakers would start off strong against the Panthers, winning the first set by a score of 25-18 but Davenport would clinch the match in the next three sets. The Panthers would take three straight sets, by scores of 25-18, 15-16, and 25-23, to win the first match of the weekend series.
With the loss, the Lakers record drops to 0-5 this season as the team is in the midst of the third week of GLIAC play.
In the Lakers winning set, the home team got ahead to a 9-5 lead as senior Sarah Bailey gave the Lakers a point with a kill. LSSU would continue its strong play through the middle stages of the set as Halle Grulke, Kyra Vezina and Bethany Wilson all contributed to the offense with kills. Wilson would also come up with a block for the Lakers 12th point in the set.
The Panthers would tighten the lead in the set, coming within six points (21-15) but the Lakers would hold them off for the win. Camdyn Odykirk recorded a kill for the 24th point of the set and a service ace by Grulke would give the Lakers their first set win of the 2021 season.
In sets two and three, the Panthers would win the sets by larger margins to enter the fourth set with a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was evenly contested between the two GLIAC teams as the game favored the visitors by only two points through the first 18 points (10-8). LSSU would rally to within a point of Davenport thanks to a block by Wilson and kills from Emily Kalinowski and Vezina (15-14). Another service ace from Grulke would tie the set at 16.
Trailing 24-19, the Lakers would score four points to come within a point of the Panthers but Davenport would seal the win by a final score of 25-23.
The Lakers finished the match against the Bulldogs registering a total of 47 kills, led by Bailey (13) and Vezina (12). Odykirk finished the match with seven kills to round out the Lakers top three offensive contributors. Emily Kalinowski finished the match with 21 assists to lead the Lakers while Grulke ranked second among her teammates with 14 assists against the Bulldogs.
Grulke recorded three of the team's five aces in the match, with Odykirk and Vezina registering the remaining two.
Defensively, the Lakers were led by libero Sidney Briney, who recorded 18 digs. Vezina and Kalinowski were tied for second on the team with nine digs apiece.
The Lakers and Panthers will close out the series tomorrow Saturday, March 6 at 12:00 p.m. in the Bud Cooper Gymnasium.
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Due to State of Michigan, GLIAC and Lake Superior State University mandates, fans are not currently permitted to attend any Laker sporting events. Even though spectators cannot currently attend Laker home games, there are still a number of ways that fans will be able to follow the game action. All Laker home games during the 2021 season will be available to watch live on Stretch TV. For more information or to sign up for a subscription, visit https://portal.stretchinternet.com/lssu/. Fans can also access live stats on lssulakers.com
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