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#18 Grand Valley State saw its terrific season come to an end on Friday afternoon (Dec. 5) at Knights Hall in Louisville, Ky., as the Lakers dropped a 3-0 decision to #4 Southwest Minnesota State in the NCAA Final Four. The Mustangs were just the second team all season to sweep GVSU, doing so by scores of 25-19, 25-23, and 25-18.
 
The Lakers advanced to the sixth Final Four in program history with a 3-0 win over #12 Wingate on Thursday afternoon. Up until Friday's contest with Southwest Minnesota State, GVSU had not lost a single set in its previous four NCAA Tournament matches this year.
 
Grand Valley State's season ends with a 27-6 overall record. Southwest Minnesota State improves to 26-9 on the season. The Mustangs' claim to fame this season is not only winning the Central Region championship, but doing so by defeating Concordia-St. Paul, the winner of the last seven Division II National Championships.
 
Southwest Minnesota State put forth a tremendous offensive effort on Friday, hitting .288 with 48 kills and only 14 errors. That .288 attack percentage is the top figure that the Laker defense (ranked fifth in Division II entering the tournament) allowed all season.
 
GVSU did record more blocks (8-5) and service aces (5-3), while staying close in the dig column (SWMS led 52-48). It was the Mustangs' 48-32 edge in kills that made the difference in a match with three close sets.
 
The Lakers found themselves trailing in the opening set, which did not happen to GVSU in the team's opening round sweep of Wingate. Back-to-back-to-back kills from Junior Betsy Ronda and seniors Kaitlyn Wolters and Abby Aiken gave the Lakers an early 7-6 advantage. Southwest Minnesota State rattled off the next four points to open a 10-7 lead.
 
SWMS' advantage grew to 17-12 before a combined block from senior Kourtney Wolters and freshman Sydney Doby, followed by a Ronda kill. That made the score 17-14. Consecutive Mustang kills put SWMS ahead, 19-14. The Lakers were able to get within four points twice (22-18, 23-19) on kills from Aiken, but the Mustangs closed out the set with a final kill.
 
Southwest Minnesota State hit .316 in the opening frame, with 16 kills and only four errors. GVSU hit .167, tallying 11 kills and five miscues.
 
Junior middle blocker Kaleigh Lound helped the Lakers get off to a good start in set two. She recorded a kill, a solo block, and combined with Kourtney Wolters for a block assist in the first few points. GVSU jumped out to a 7-3 lead after back-to-back kills from Ronda and Aiken.
 
The Laker advantage increased to 13-7 after another Ronda kill and a Kaitlyn Wolters service ace. Two more Ronda kills upped the GVSU lead to 18-11 before Southwest Minnesota State responded with a 7-0 run to tie the score, 18-18. A Lound kill stopped the SWMS surge, but the Mustangs ran off the next four points to take a 22-19 advantage.
 
Senior Ally Simmons notched a kill and a solo block to bring the Lakers within a point, 22-21. Simmons added another putaway to keep GVSU close at 23-22, but the Mustangs would tally a kill on set point to win and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Set two saw Southwest Minnesota State again hit well (.233, 15 kills, five errors), while GVSU came in with an .082 mark (13 kills, nine errors).
 
The Lakers were on top 6-5 in the beginning of the third set until SWMS rattled off the next five points and took a 10-6 advantage. Ronda and Kourtney Wolters supplied consecutive kills to bring GVSU close at 12-10. Southwest Minnesota State followed by scoring eight of the next 11 points and widening the gap to 20-13.
 
Grand Valley State pulled back within four points at 20-16 after a combined block by Simmons and Kourtney Wolters and a service ace from Kaitlyn Wolters. The Mustangs responded once more by scoring five of the final seven points to end the contest.
 
Aiken paced GVSU with a team-best nine kills, while adding eight digs. Ronda supplied eight kills and eight digs and Lound notched six kills and three blocks.
 
Kaitlyn Wolters, the 2014 GLIAC Player of the Year, recorded 23 assists, seven digs, three aces, and three kills. Simmons led all players with four blocks (two of which were solo rejections) and a pair of aces. GLIAC Libero of the Year Christina Canepa picked up 11 digs in her final collegiate contest.

The Laker senior class of Aiken, Canepa, Clair Ruhenkamp, Simmons, and the Wolters twins finished their careers with an overall record of 97-31 for a .758 winning percentage. The six-member group won a pair of regular season conference championships, a GLIAC Tournament title, made appearances in the Midwest Region championship match, and became the sixth GVSU team to reach the NCAA Final Four.

Laker Notes
- Grand Valley State's overall NCAA Tournament record is now 37-14 in 15 total appearances in the postseason
- The Lakers are 8-8 all-time at the Elite Eight (or higher) level
- GVSU's six Final Four appearances are 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2014
- Abby Aiken finished her career with 4,015 total attacks, the third-most ever in GVSU history
- Aiken's 8.94 attacks per set over her career is the sixth-highest ever by a Laker
- Aiken also ranks eighth in Laker history with 1,326 career kills and 10th with 1,065 career digs
- Aiken is just one of seven GVSU players ever to have at least 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs
- Christina Canepa finished her career with 1,738 digs, the second-highest total in Grand Valley State history
- Canepa's 4.14 career digs per set is also second-best in Laker history
- Canepa's 4.86 digs per set this season were the fourth-most in a single season in GVSU history
- Canepa picked up 540 digs this season after 544 digs last year. She is one of just two Lakers (along with all-time record holder Allyson Riley) to tally 500+ digs twice in a career
- Kaitlyn Wolters dished out 2,319 assists in just two seasons, which places her eighth on the all-time Laker list
- Wolters' 9.95 career assists per set is the fifth-best figure by a GVSU player
- Wolters .424 hitting percentage this season was the best single-season mark ever by a GVSU player
- Betsy Ronda will enter her senior season with 1,085 career digs, the ninth-most in Laker history
- Ronda also has recorded 999 kills in three seasons. With her first kill next season, she joins Aiken as one of only eight players ever at GVSU to reach the 1,000 kill/1,000 dig club
- Clair Ruhenkamp handed out 2,056 career assists, the ninth-most in GVSU history
- Ruhenkamp's career 7.56 assists per set the eighth-highest figure ever by a Laker