UNIVERSITY CITY, Mich. — Despite getting a match-high 18 kills from Madison Thompson and a strong block game by the Cardinals, the Saginaw Valley State University volleyball suffered a heartbreaking five-set match to visiting Michigan Technological University on SVSU Senior Day Saturday at Hamilton Gymnasium.
The Huskies rallied from two-sets-to-one down to win the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup 26-24, 21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-9. Saginaw Valley falls to 10-17 overall and 5-11 in the GLIAC, and Michigan Tech improves to 17-9 on the season and 9-7 in the conference.
Saginaw Valley seniors Peyton Gerstacker and Patricia Pratt were honored as part of the celebration, saluting their contributions to the program on and off the court. Gerstacker went over 2,000 career assists and is on pace to set a career high for assists in a single season (883) with two regular-season matches left. Pratt is having a career-year across the statistical board, including 85 total blocks to lead the team in that category.
Thompson also had six total blocks and Pratt had a match-best 10 to set the tone for the Cardinals, who racked up 21 team blocks to tie the NCAA Division II high-water mark in a five-set match this season. Gerstacker added nine and Sage Schumacher contributed seven to SVSU's block party.
Gerstacker finished with seven kills on a .400 attack percentage, dished 38 assists and made 15 digs. Rylee Zimmer added 13 kills, 23 digs and five blocks. Kelsey Vittitow ended up with 25 digs and
Sarah Veale chipped in with nine kills and 11 digs.
Jillian Kuizenga led four MTU attackers in double-digit kills with 15, followed by Lindy Oujiri with 12, Meg Raabe had 11 and Makena Wesol, 10. Lina Espejo-Ramirez directed the offense with 56 assists.
In the decisive fifth set, the Huskies hit .256 while the Cardinals were held to minus-.048. As a team, Michigan Tech had 99 digs with Carissa Beyer (31) and Meg Raabe (22) leading the way.
Saginaw Valley will be on the road to the end the regular season next Friday (7 p.m.) and Saturday (4 p.m.) against Ferris State University and Grand Valley State University, respectively.
