Nov. 11, 2009

Allendale, Mich. - For the third time this season and second time in less than a week, Grand Valley State and Northern Michigan will meet on the court, as the Lakers and Wildcats face each other in the opening round of the 2009 GLIAC Tournament on Wednesday night (Nov. 11). The teams split the first two meetings of the season and the winner of the 7:00 match moves on to the GLIAC Final Four this weekend (Nov. 14-15) at a site to be determined.

Grand Valley State enters the match with a 16-11 overall record, while Northern Michigan is 18-10 overall. Both teams have matching 11-5 records in GLIAC play. On. Sept. 18 in Marquette, GVSU knocked off the Wildcats on their home court with a 3-1 victory. Grand Valley State had six players total six or more kills, including juniors Rebeccah Rapin and Krysta Kornack, who each tallied 11 kills. Defensively, the Lakers were rock solid, holding NMU to a .101 hitting percentage and notching 69 digs and 10 blocks.

Northern Michigan returned the favor last Friday night (Nov. 6) in Allendale with a 3-1 win over the Lakers. While the Wildcats hit just .162 for the match, they did record 56 kills and 10 service aces. Senior Whitney Tremain supplied a team-best 11 kills and added 12 digs, while Rapin tallied 10 kills and five blocks.

Here are the four quarterfinal matches being played on Wednesday (all matches start at 7:00 p.m.):

Northern Michigan (18-10, 11-5 GLIAC) at Grand Valley State (16-11, 11-5 GLIAC)

Ferris State (19-10, 10-6 GLIAC) at Hillsdale (20-7, 12-4 GLIAC)

Michigan Tech (14-13, 10-6 GLIAC) at Saginaw Valley State (19-8, 12-4 GLIAC)

Wayne State (19-8, 8-8 GLIAC) at Ashland (15-13, 9-7 GLIAC)