UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The 2021 Winter/Spring Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference volleyball season closed for Saginaw Valley State University in the semifinals of the consolation bracket of the GLIAC Tournament Saturday at the James E. O'Neill Jr. Arena.
The Cardinals opened the day with a thrilling five-set win (25-19, 27-29, 25-17, 30-32, 21-19) over Purdue University Northwest but SVSU dropped its consolation semifinal match to Davenport in three (25-17, 25-13, 25-18).
SVSU finishes the season with a record of 5-12 overall.
In the win over PNW, SVSU was led by Rylee Zimmer with a career-high 21 kills, adding 19 digs and five total blocks. Maria Vukaj also finished with 21 kills, along with 16 digs and three total blocks, while Madison Thompson added a career-high 14 kills.
Peyton Gerstacker smashed her career-high in assists with 66, the most by a Cardinal since Kelly Vellucci (69) on Nov. 16, 2016. She added 26 digs for SVSU. Libero Kelsey Vittitow had a team-high 27 digs in the win.
On her final day in a Cardinal uniform, Emily Friesl had seven kills and three total blocks against PNW.
Kenzie Duggan led the Pride with 16 kills and 22 digs.
Against the Panthers, Thompson was the leader in kills for the Cardinals with six. Vittitow finished with 11 digs and Juliana Dunning recorded 13 assists.
The 2021 GLIAC Tournament will conclude with the championship match between No. 1 seed Michigan Tech and No. 2 seed Northern Michigan University at 1 pm Sunday at the James E. O'Neill Arena.
