CHICAGO- The Saginaw Valley State volleyball team defeated Roosevelt in straight sets, 3-0, on Friday. The Cardinals (15-8, 7-4 GLIAC) held the Lakers (5-16, 2-9 GLIAC) to a .043 hitting percentage while hitting .338 themselves.
Jackie Scheiber (Wyandotte, Mich., Riverview Community HS) recorded the first kill of the night. Roosevelt scored the next two points to take a 2-1 lead. An attack error from the Lakers gave service back to the Cardinals. Rachel Townsend (Oxford, Mich., Oxford HS) got a kill and an ace before Chloe Vanwinkle (Clio, Mich., Clio High School) added another kill to put SVSU up 5-2. Saginaw Valley State never looked back in the first set. The dominance was spearheaded in the middle of the set when SVSU scored 10-of-11 points to grow their lead from 11-8 to 20-9. Kendall Ihm (Owosso, Mich., Owosso HS) recorded three kills during that run. The Cardinals won the first set, 25-12.
Saginaw Valley State earned the first point of the second set before falling behind, 3-1. The Cardinals scored six of the next seven points to take a 7-4 lead. Kelsey Foster (Oswego, Ill., Oswego HS) led the run with back-to-back aces. SVSU had a similar run later in the set, putting together two three-point runs that were separated by one point. Ihm and Finley Helm (Mount Pleasant, Mich., Mount Pleasant HS) picked up kills during those seven points. The Cardinals controlled the set, winning 25-16.
SVSU started off hot in set three. They scored the first point after Roosevelt committed an attack error. Helm and Scheiber each got a kill before an ace from Taylor Smith (Pewamo, Mich., Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools) put the Cardinals up 4-0. Scheiber and Ruby Earl (Howell, Mich., Howell HS) added two more kills shortly after to go up 6-1. SVSU eventually built a commanding lead, going up 20-9. Ihm and Ava Decker (Elkhart, Ind., Elkhart HS) both picked up multiple kills in the set before that point. Helm got the final kill for the Cardinals to give them match point, 24-15. The Lakers committed an attack error to end the set, 25-15, and give Saginaw Valley State the sweep.
Scheiber led the team with seven kills. Smith and Scheiber each had six digs. Decker had a team-high 8.5 points. She had a solo block and a block assist to go along with her five kills and a .625 hitting percentage. The Cardinals had nine service aces while Roosevelt had six.
Up Next: Saginaw Valley State will play on the road again on Saturday as they face the Davenport Panthers.
