Volleyball Drops 3-1 Contest To No. 15 Grand Valley State

The Northwood University volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-1 contest to No. 15 Grand Valley State Friday night (November 15).  Set scores were 9-25, 25-15, 25-22, 31-29.

The loss snaps the Timberwolves' 20-match home winning streak.  NU's last loss at home came over two years ago – November 5, 2011 against Saginaw Valley State.

Northwood got off to a huge start in the match, scoring the first eight points of the match en route to dominating the first set 25-9. The Timberwolves hit .423 (14-3-26) while GVSU finished with a -.192 mark (3-8-26).

The Lakers settled down after the rough start to take the second set.  GVSU got out to an 8-4 lead and would never trail from that point on.  Northwood got no closer than three points after that.  Grand Valley State finished the second set at .346 (10-1-26) while the Timberwolves hit .026 (13-12-39).

The third set appeared to be Northwood's to win, thanks to the Timberwolves going up 20-17 after a 5-0 run.  But GVSU responded with a 4-0 run of their own to go back up 21-20. The score was tied 21-21 when the Lakers claimed four of the final five points to go up 2-1.  It was a tight set overall – there were 12 ties and six lead changes.

In the fourth set, Northwood led the majority of the way.  The Timberwolves were up 15-10 when the Lakers fought back, eventually tying the match 18-18. Northwood eventually earned set three points but were unable to claim the set.  GVSU then had three match points of their own before claiming the match on the fourth attempt.  Grand Valley put home an impressive 23 kills in the set to finish with a .250 attack percentage (23-8-60) while Northwood finished at .190 (18-7-58).

For the match, Northwood hit .180 (61-31-167) while GVSU finished at .166 (45-21-145).  The Timberwolves had more digs (68-65) as well, but the Lakers finished with a 15-7 edge in blocks.

Three Timberwolves finished with double-figure kill totals, led by Juliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine). She finished with match-high totals in kills (17) and digs (18). Kristin Pershon (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant) hit .344, totaling 14 kills on 32 attempts while registering four blocks. Krysta Kramer (Lansing, Mich./Grand Ledge) finished with 13 kills, 15 digs and three blocks.

Northwood will finish the regular season with a match against Ferris State Saturday afternoon (November 16). Match time is set for 3 p.m.