UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) volleyball team (6-18, 3-10 GLIAC) fell on the road to the Saginaw Valley State (SVSU) Cardinals (4-19, 1-11 GLIAC) by a final score of 3-0 with each set decided by three points or less on Friday.

The Lakers got off to a quick 5-2 lead in the opening set behind back-to-back aces from Ally Lasley (Birch Run, Mich.), but the Cardinals were able to answer with a 7-1 run of their own to take the lead. Both teams would continue to battle throughout the set, and despite being able to get back to within one after a kill from Emilee McDaniel (Manistique, Mich.), SVSU would ultimately hold on to narrowly take the opening set by a score of 25-23.

In the second set, it was the Cardinals that took the early advantage, leading by as many as nine, but the Lakers would not go down so easily, rallying with a 9-1 run to come all the way back and take the lead. Both teams continued to go back and forth, sending the set to several extra points to decide a victor with both sides always seeming to have an answer for one another. However, SVSU would eventually steal the set by a final score of 30-28 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Lakers would open the third set strong with a 5-0 run that featured two more aces from Lasley. The Cardinals fought back to tie up the score, but LSSU responded with a pair of kills from Valeriya Varnakova (Ufa, Russia) to go back up by four. SVSU would once again rally back, but a kill from Hannah Callaway (Portage, Mich.) had the score knotted up at 22-22. However, after a Cardinal timeout, SVSU would score the final three points to claim the set and the match by respective scores of 25-22 and 3-0. 

Varnakova led the way offensively for the Lakers with 13 kills, and Mariana Velasque (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) would have double-digit kills of her own with 12. Meanwhile, Emily Kalinowski (South Lyon, Mich.), who recently became the fourth Laker to eclipse 2,000 career assists, added 38 more on the day. Defensively, Sydney Briney (St. Joseph, Mich.) notched 14 digs while Lasley led the team in that category with 15 digs of her own while also serving a game-high five aces.

The Lakers return to action on Saturday, Oct. 28 when they host the Purdue Northwest Pride inside Bud Cooper Gymnasium with the first serve scheduled for 3 p.m.