Volleyball Drops 3-1 Contest At No. 13 GVSU In GLIAC Semifinals

The Northwood University volleyball team dropped a 3-1 contest at No. 13 Grand Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals Saturday night (November 23). Set scores were 22-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-21.

Northwood is now 21-10 with the loss. GVSU, the top seed in the event, now stands at 28-3.

The Timberwolves got off to a good start in the opening set.  NU went up 4-1 early and would go on to lead almost the whole way.  Northwood scored three of the final four points of the set to take the 1-0 lead.  The Timberwolves hit .208 (17-6-53) while GVSU finished at .200 (15-5-50).

Grand Valley State came up with the big finish to level the match in the second set.  With the score tied at 22-22, GVSU claimed the final three points to make the score 1-1.  Neither team hit well in the second – the Lakers finished at .044 (8-6-45) while Northwood finished at .106 (13-8-47).

GVSU's offense was the story of their win in the third set.  The Lakers hit .500 in the frame, totaling 15 kills and zero errors in 30 attempts. NU trailed just 13-12 when GVSU took 12 of the final 16 points to go up 2-1.

Much like many of the previous sets between the two teams this season, the fourth set was tight throughout until the Lakers took control late. Northwood was serving trailing 22-21, only to see the Lakers score the final three points to earn the win.

For the match, Northwood hit .176 (59-28-176) while GVSU ended at .212 (50-15-165). NU finished with a 92-78 edge in digs, while GVSU held a 12-6 advantage in blocks.

Juliia Pakhomenko (Domestk, Ukraine) led all players with 27 kills in the match.  She also added 15 digs and four blocks. Krysta Kramer (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) had 10 kills and match-high 24 digs.  Jordan Dunn (Bowling Green, Ohio) had 52 assists and 12 digs.

At the end of the match, the All-GLIAC teams were announced.  Pakhomenko was named First Team All-GLIAC, while Dunn claimed Second Team All-GLIAC. Kramer claimed Honorable Mention honors.

Northwood will now wait for the NCAA Tournament announcement to see when they play next. The announcement is Monday night (November 25) at 7:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.