GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State volleyball team suffered a 3-1 (25-21, 24-26, 20-25, 22-25) defeat at Davenport on Saturday evening. The Cardinals (15-9, 7-5 GLIAC) took set one and held a 19-12 lead in the second before the Panthers (15-7, 7-5 GLIAC) roared back to tie the match before pulling away.
Davenport hopped out to an early 4-1 lead in the first set, but SVSU battled back to knot things up at 6-6 after a Panther service error. The teams traded leads throughout the opening set until the Cardinals moved in front 19-14 for the biggest lead at that point in the match.
Two kills by
Chloe Vanwinkle (Clio, Mich., Clio High School) gave SVSU set point (24-20) before the Cardinals were granted the last point to take a 1-0 lead.
Both teams hit over .300 in the first set with SVSU hitting a match-best .379 compared to the Panther's .341.
Set two start all SVSU with
Taylor Smith (Pewamo, Mich., Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools) earning the first point with a kill.
Kendall Ihm (Owosso, Mich., Owosso HS) and Scheiber recorded a block to extend the advantage to 2-0 before the lead grew to 4-0 off two errors by the home team. From there, the Cardinals maintained a cushion up to the 19-12 lead. Errors plagued SVSU for the next few points and allowed DU to trim the lead to four (20-16). Vanwinkle tallied a kill to hold set point at 24-22, but the Panthers scored the next four points to steal the win and tie the match at one game apiece.
Despite the loss in set two, SVSU still had the better hitting percentage at .255. Untimely errors by the Cardinals and a late run by the Panthers proved to be the difference.
The third set was similar to the first with neither team being able to build more than a three-point lead. The Panthers locked things down with three-straight points to hold a 24-18 advantage before grabbing the final point and the 2-1 lead two plays later.
SVSU would rally early in the fourth with a 7-2 lead that was sparked by a Townsend kill to start things off. Townsend would extend things to 4-2 with a service ace and Scheiber would add to it with a kill of her own to push things to 6-2. Davenport would again keep things just close enough before scoring five out six points to tie things up at 18. The teams traded points to 20 before the Panthers earned five of the next seven points to seal the win.
Townsend led the Cardinals with 14 kills and was one dig short of a double-double. Scheiber collected 13 kills and tied
Ava Decker (Elkhart, Ind., Elkhart HS) for the team-high in blocks with three, Decker also added eight kills to her totals. Vanwinkle had the second-most digs at 16 while also contributing nine kills.
Taylor Smith finished with 26 assists, eight digs, and two blocks.
Kendall White (DeWitt, Mich., St. John's HS) led the defensive effort with 22 digs.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals return home for back-to-back GLIAC home matches over the holiday weekend. First, SVSU will host Purdue Northwest on Friday, October 30 at 5 p.m., before Lake Superior State comes to the Hamilton Gym on Saturday for a 4 p.m., start.
