Ferris State Volleyball Opens Midwest Region Crossover With Victory Over Walsh

Big Rapids, Mich. - The nation's #13-ranked Ferris State University women's volleyball squad opened action in the 2019 Midwest Region Crossover event with a 3-1 win over Walsh on Friday (Oct. 18) at The Academy Volleyball Club in Indianapolis, Ind.

In the nation's largest collegiate volleyball tournament, the Bulldogs earned a 25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17 triumph to move to 15-3 overall this year. WU fell to 10-5 with the setback.

Senior Courtney Brewer led a strong Bulldog showing with a match-high 19 kills and added nine digs while senior Allyson Cappel totaled 15 kills and 15 digs in a double-double effort. FSU's Morgan Ross contributed 12 kills while setter Maeve Grimes notched 43 assists and 13 digs for the Bulldogs.

FSU also got nine digs from Nina Gorgijevska and eight by Lauren Helsen with Kira Merkle adding six kills and Samantha Hermann totaling five kills in the win.

The Bulldogs hit .292 for the day and posted 61 kills with 60 digs, six block assists, three aces and two solo blocks. FSU also had 12 service errors.

Meanwhile, Walsh was paced by Alexis Gilland's 11 kills. Both Lauren Loucks and Hallie Schroeder notched 10 kills each with Natalie Brutscher recording a team-high 13 digs.

Ferris State held the Cavaliers to a .194 hitting figure and WU finished with 42 kills, 46 digs, 16 block assists, two aces and two solo blocks. They also had nine service mistakes and 17 hitting errors in the loss.

The Bulldogs will wrap up action in the Midwest Region Crossover with two matches on Saturday (Oct. 19) as FSU faces Rockhurst (Mo.) at 10 a.m. (ET) before concluding the event against Missouri-St. Louis at 4 p.m. (ET).

The regional volleyball event features 41 NCAA DII midwest region programs, including 16 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), 12 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), and 13 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) volleyball programs that are representing their respective conferences.

Overall, the two-day tournament features 63 matches conducted on 11 courts throughout six sessions at one of the top volleyball facilities in the country. The event, designed to increase competition between teams from the three leagues in the NCAA Division II Midwest Region, has previously been held in Indianapolis, Ind., Lansing, Mich., and Aurora, Ill.

Ferris State University is the GLIAC's No. 1 seed overall in the tournament.