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The 2014 GLIAC Volleyball Tournament championship match came down to the top two seeds, a pair of West Michigan rivals that were facing each other for the sixth time in the past two seasons. On Sunday afternoon (Nov. 16) in Allendale, #18 Ferris State got the best of #16 Grand Valley State, as the Bulldogs won the league championship, 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22).

Both teams arrived in Sunday's title match by winning their opening two contests of the tournament by 3-0 scores. GVSU and Ferris State tied for the GLIAC regular season championship, but the Lakers won a coin toss to earn the #1 seed this week, while FSU was the #2 seed. The teams - both ranked in the top-20 nationally - are so even that after Sunday's match, they have identical 23-5 records. And both teams will head to the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament next weekend (and both are expected to be high seeds), likely to be hosted by Truman State in Kirksville, Mo.

However, on Sunday, Ferris State was the better all-around team. The Bulldogs owned slight edges in kills (56-54), assists (54-50), digs (96-92), and aces (4-3). Each team recorded six blocks. There were 18 tie scores and six lead changes. But at the end of the day, FSU handed Grand Valley State its only home loss of the 2014 season and prevented GVSU from repeating as GLIAC Tournament champions.

Ferris State burst out to a 10-2 lead in the first set, eventually extending that to a 15-4 cushion. The Lakers played FSU even from that point, but the Bulldog lead was too much to overcome. In the opening frame, FSU hit .263 with 12 kills and only two errors.

GVSU was able to even the match by winning set two. The set was extremely competitive, as the score was tied on 13 different occasions. Ferris State was on top, 18-16, but senior Abby Aiken smashed a kill and classmate Kourtney Wolters served an ace to tie the score at 18-18. FSU was up 20-19 before a solo block from junior Betsy Ronda, which was followed by a Bulldog hitting error. Ronda put away a kill and FSU committed another error to give the Lakers a 23-20 advantage. Ferris State made it 24-23 before Wolters tallied a set-ending kill.

Set three saw FSU score the first three points - and that was the margin the visitors kept for a majority of the set. GVSU did pull even at 5-5, but the Bulldogs used a 7-2 run to jump ahead 12-7. From there, the Lakers kept chipping away but could not tie the score again. There was a remarkable stretch of 18 consecutive points where Ferris State and GVSU alternated points. The Lakers got within 23-22 after two kills from senior Ally Simmons, a Ronda ace, and a kill from sophomore Carley Gross. However, the Bulldogs scored the final two points to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set opened up much like the first frame, with FSU leading 10-2 in the early portion. Three consecutive kills from junior Kaleigh Lound brought the Lakers back to 13-9. GVSU continued to peck away at the deficit, eventually using kills from Aiken and Lound and a Bulldog error to trail 21-20. Ferris State, though, scored four of the next six points to clinch the victory.

Lound was terrific on Sunday, collecting a team-high 14 kills and hitting at a .480 clip. Aiken supplied 10 kills and added 17 digs, two blocks, and an ace. With that defensive effort, she reached 1,000 digs for her career and became just the seventh player in Laker history to reach 1,000 career kills and digs.

Senior Kaitlyn Wolters, the 2014 GLIAC Player of the Year, notched 42 assists, 11 digs, and seven kills without an error for a .467 percentage. Christina Canepa, named the GLIAC Libero of the Year on Saturday, picked up 21 digs, while Ronda added 13 digs. Simmons put down seven kills in 12 swings for a .583 hitting percentage, while Doby recorded eight kills and a pair of blocks.

After the match, Canepa and Lound were named to the All-Tournament Team and joined by Ferris State's Courtney Rehm (the most valuable player), Caroline Heitzman, and Megan Vander Meer. Findlay's Amanda Calhoun and Saginaw Valley State's Kelsey Ferla also made the team.

The Lakers will await their NCAA Tournament fate, which will be released late Sunday night.

Laker Notes
- GVSU is now 6-6 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament championship, having won titles in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2013
- Abby Aiken joins Wendy Lesch (1987-88, 90-91), Carrie Baker (1991-94), Jodi Sprick (1992-94), Cindy Corstange (1995, 98-88), Chara Fehsenfeld (1999-2002), and Megan Helsen (2003-06) as the only Lakers to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career
- With her final kill on Sunday, Aiken surpassed Helsen for eighth-place on the GVSU career list with 1,268 kills. Helsen had 1,267 during her stellar four-year career
- The Lakers and Bulldogs had not met in the GLIAC Tournament since 2008. GVSU is now 3-2 all-time against Ferris State in the conference tournament
- Grand Valley State was looking for its fifth perfect home season, but Sunday's loss dropped the team to 11-1 at the Fieldhouse Arena in 2014. The Lakers went undefeated in 2000 (14-0), 2002 (20-0), 2007 (16-0), and 2008 (15-0)
- GVSU will likely make its 15th appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Lakers own a 33-13 all-time record in NCAA postseason play, having won eight regional championships, the last of which came in 2010