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Bay City, Mich. -- Northern Michigan University senior middle hitter Caryn VanBeckum (DePere, Wis.) and University of Findlay freshman setter Jessica VonIns (Ashville, Ohio/Teays Valley) have been chosen as the GLIAC Volleyball North and South Division Players of the Week, respectively it was announced by the league office.
North Division Player of the Week:
Caryn VanBeckum - Northern Michigan
(SR, MH, DePere, Wis.)
Senior middle hitter Caryn VanBeckum led her team to victories over Northwood and Wayne State this past weekend. Against NU, Caryn had 17 kills on 31 attempts with just two attack errors, as well as one ace and three blocks. In the match with Wayne State, she recorded 13 kills on 20 attempts with 2 errors and three blocks. VanBeckum had 30 kills on the week for a .510 hitting percentage. She has 178 kills on the season, while averaging 3.18 kills/game and 4.18 points/game with a hitting percentate of .292.
North Division Weekly Honor Roll: Arielle Goodson- FS; Rebeccah Rapin- GV; Ali Jones- LS; Veronica Armstrong- MT; Sarah Redoute- SV
South Division Player of the Week:
Jessica VonIns - Findlay
(FR, S, Ashville, Ohio/Teays Valley)
Freshman setter Jessica VonIns turned in a good all around performance this past weekend, leading the Oilers as they broke their 10 match losing streak in a victory over Lake Superior State on Saturday, after a loss to Saginaw Valley State on Sunday. Jessica recorded seven kills on 17 attempts with one error, 18 assists, one ace, six digs, and 2 blocks in the loss to Saginaw Valley State. In the victory over Lake Superior State, she had eight kills on 12 attempts with 11 assists, two aces, nine digs, and one block .
South Division Weekly Honor Roll: Kitt Smith- HC; Gordana Barac- NU; Sarha Gosselin- WS
-- GLIAC Volleyball Weekly Notes --
Ashland - Ashland dropped both of its matches this past weekend. The Eagles played a five-set thriller against Ferris State on Friday (Oct. 10). AU took a two set lead in the match but the Bulldogs fought back to win three straight sets to take the match. Junior Marina Santos tallied 24 kills and 20 digs. Freshman Arian Martin racked up 24 digs. Against Grand Valley on Saturday (Oct. 11), Ashland was competitive in the first set, losing, 25-23. The Lakers took over from there, winning the next two sets and the match, 3-0. The Eagles will compete in the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover Classic this weekend. AU will play Saint Joseph's, Quincy, Missouri S&T, and Wisconsin-Parkside.
Ferris State - During Ferris State's current six-match winning streak, the Bulldogs are averaging 11.7 kills per set (280 total) on .198 hitting while compiling a 1.7 blocks per set average (41.0 total blocks) and a 13.2 digs per set average (318 total digs)...Sophomore middle hitter Arielle Goodson's (Grand Rapids/Central) 16 kills at Tiffin last Saturday (10/11) marked a career match high, eclipsing her 14 kills at Tampa earlier this season (9/6)...Junior middle hitter Kristy Gilchrist (Macomb/Anchor Bay) became the 28th player in Ferris State history to attain at least 700 career kills. Gilchrist currently ranks 28th on the program's all-time charts with a 704 career total in 80 matches and is averaging 2.44 kills a set during her career. She's one kill shy of tying Kris Johnson's (1982-85) 27th-place 705 career kills output and five away from moving into a 25th-place tie with Tracie Henne (1990-93) and Gretchen Galloway (1992-94), who both accumulated 709 career kills...Senior setter-outside hitter Candice Marut (Pinconning) is currently 62 assists shy of registering her 2,000th career helper. Marut, who has presently produced 236 assists in 15 matches this season, is also 196 helpers away from tying Tricia Metz (1995-96; 2,134 career assists total) for seventh-place honors.
Findlay - The University of Findlay broke its losing streak of 10 matches (after a Friday night loss to Saginaw) with a 3-0 win over Lake Superior State. The Oiler offense was led by a strong hitting performance from sophomore Courtney Niemeyer, as well as a solid all around performance from freshman Jessica VonIns.
Grand Valley State - The Lakers won a pair of road GLIAC matches at Tiffin and Ashland over the weekend. It was the first-ever meeting between Tiffin and GVSU, which has now won 14 straight conference matches...Grand Valley State has won 15 consecutive matches and recorded five straight shutouts. GVSU has recorded 11 victories of the 3-0 variety. The Lakers have not dropped a set since Sept. 26, when they lost the third set at Saginaw Valley State...GVSU heads to Indianapolis, Ind. for the inaugural GLVC-GLIAC Challenge on Friday-Saturday (Oct. 17-18). The Lakers' two losses this year have come on neutral courts. Grand Valley State hasn't lost since Sept. 5 against Augustana in Denver, Colo...sophomore Rebeccah Rapin (Saginaw, Mich./Nouvel Catholic Central) paced the Laker offense with 16 kills, only one attack error, a .556 hitting percentage, and seven blocks over the weekend. Rapin is now first on the team with a .320 hitting percentage and is second in blocks (60)...senior middle blocker Danielle Alexander (Newport, Mich./Airport) is 49 kills shy of 1,000 for her career. She leads GVSU with 218 kills this season and is second with a .315 hitting percentage...senior setter Jamie Ashmore is fourth in Laker history in career assists (4,426) and eighth in service aces (182). Ashmore added 51 assists and four service aces to her total in the wins over Tiffin and Ashland.
Hillsdale - The Chargers split home matches against North Division foes over the weekend...This season, the North Division has dominated the South Division, but Hillsdale has two wins against teams from the North, over Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State...The Chargers haven't lost to LSSU since 2002...Hillsdale's loss to Saginaw Valley State Saturday was its first vs. the Cardinals since 1998...All three of Hillsdale's sets in Saturday's loss had two-point margins...Hillsdale has played 16 sets that have been decided by two points this season, and have won eight and lost eight of those sets...Junior Kitt Smith had her first back-to-back double-digit kill matches of the season this weekend, picking up 12 vs. Lake Superior State and a season-high 14 against Saginaw Valley State...She averaged 4.83 kills per set, her highest figure in a two-match span this season...Freshman Apryl Schmucker made her first career starts in conference matches in the two matches over the weekend...Hillsdale head coach Chris Gravel won his 250th career match in Friday's win over Lake Superior State...The win comes a little over two full years since his 200th win, which was notched on Sept. 30, 2006 against Northern Michigan...The Chargers will head to Indianapolis this weekend to play in the GLIAC/GLVC Challenge.
Lake Superior State - Last weekend at Hillsdale and Findlay, close first-set losses set the tone in both matches. The Lakers dropped Set 1 in both matches, 26-24, and went on to lose 3-0 to the Chargers and Oilers... Junior outside hitter Ali Jones (Fruitport, Mich.) tied her season high for most kills in a match with 12 against Findlay and tied the team's season high for most kills in a three-set match. For the weekend, she had a .265 attack percentage and averaged 3.17 kills per game. For the season, she is hitting .108 and averages 2.43 kills per game...Junior middle hitter Sara Hess (Owosso, Mich.) also averaged 3.17 kills per game and led in service points with 22.5...Senior setter Ashley Purvis (Lapeer, Mich.) totaled 34 assists against Findlay, which was her second-best total of the season and a team-high in a three-set match.
Michigan Tech - Michigan Tech is currently riding a seven match winning streak and currently sits in second place in the GLIAC North Division with a 14-5, 9-2 record. The Huskies are a perfect 6-0 against the South Division this year. The team continues to dominate in blocking averaging at a league best 2.71 blocks per set. Junior Veronica Armstrong turned in a solid performance over the weekend, combining for 33 kills and 37 digs in Tech's two wins. The Huskies will take part in the GLVC/GLIAC Challenge this weekend in Indianapolis. Tech will open up against Missouri-St. Louis before taking on Lewis (Ill.). The Huskies fell to the Flyers 3-1 earlier this season. Tech will close the weekend against Rockhurst (Pa.).
Northern Michigan - The Northern Michigan University women's volleyball team will head to the GLVC-GLIAC Crossover Tournament this weekend in Indianapolis, Ind...Last week the Wildcats added to their win streak by picking up two straight set wins over Northwood and Wayne State...NMU has now won five straight matches with the last three of the three set variety...NMU is 7-3 in its past 10 matches...Caryn VanBeckum had 30 kills over the weekend in 51 total attempts for a hitting percentage of .510...For the season, VanBeckum has 178 kills...Mandie Meyer leads the team with 243 kills...Cassie Osiecki had three of the seven service aces over the weekend and currently leads the team with 29...Osiecki also led the ‘Cats over the weekend in digs with 21 and has a team-high315 for the season...Madeline Ogden with her team-leading 600 assists had 78 in the two matches against Northwood and Wayne State...VanBeckum leads the ‘Cats in block solos (28) and total blocks (58)...Emma Wolfe leads the team with 38 block assists...VanBeckum over the weekend had five of the eight block solos.
Northwood - Northwood headed north for its annual trip to Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech...The Timberwolves lost both matches 3-0,3-1...Gordana Barac (Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina) led the team in kills with 8 against Northern Michigan and 13 against Michigan Tech...Sarah Pollard (Naperville, Ill.) added a match-high 16 digs against Northern Michigan and 19 digs against Michigan Tech...NU will travel to Indianapolis for the GLIAC/GLVC tournament where they will face Bellarmine in the first round...The Timberwolves will also be facing Indianapolis and Southern Indiana on the trip.
Saginaw Valley State - Saginaw Valley State University won both matches versus Findlay (10/10) and Hillsdale (10/11) this weekend. Both matches were won in straight sets, with the Cardinals pulling out a nail-biter (25-23, 36-34, 27-25) against Hillsdale. In the match against Findlay, the Cardinals had 32 kills, led by Allison Schlinkert (Marysville, Mich./Marysville HS). In the match against Hillsdale, SVSU had 54 kills, led by Sarah Redoute, who had 16 kills. Over the weekend, junior Kait Harris (Essexville, Mich./Garber HS) contributed 74 assists over the two-match stretch. Carmen Schacher (Flint, Mich./Kearsley HS) had 29 digs on defense for the Cardinals during the weekend.
Tiffin - Brooke Bernabei and Beth Willenbrink led the Dragons hitters with 14 kills apiece for the week, averaging 2.00 kills per game while Willenbrink hit .257...Katie Luker hit .455 for the week over 2 matches with 10 kills...Katie Luker also blocked well for the week, averaging 1.00 per game with 7 total blocks.
Wayne State - Despite losses at Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan this past weekend, Wayne State remains in a three-way tie for first place in the GLIAC South Division with four weeks remaining in the regular season ... Sarha Gosselin (Harrison Twp., Mich./Warren Lincoln) registered 26 kills and 20 digs on the U.P. trip, including her sixth double-double of the season Friday against the Huskies (17 kills, 12 digs) ... she ranks fifth in the conference with a 3.19 kills/set average ... in Friday's matchup featuring the top two blocking teams in the GLIAC, Michigan Tech came away with a 14-10 advantage in team blocks over WSU ... Lauren Mallast (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay), despite being held to just four blocks over the weekend, remains the top blocker in the conference (1.49 B/S) ... Mayssa Bazzi (Dearborn, Mich.), who collected a team-high 23 digs in the two matches, has the fourth-best digs average (3.95) in the GLIAC ... Saturday's 3-0 loss at NMU was only the second time this season Wayne State has been shut out ... the Warriors will face Lewis, Rockhurst, and Drury in this weekend's GLIAC/GLVC Crossover in Indianapolis.