ALLENDALE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University volleyball program (7-5 overall, 2-2 GLIAC) continued its three-match GLIAC road trip at Grand Valley State (5-7 overall, 1-3 GLIAC) on Friday night and the Warriors won in five sets, 3-2.  WSU used wins in set two (25-18), set three (25-14) and set five (15-13) to secure its second league win of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lakers led the first set 10-4 and 15-6.  GVSU continued to control the tempo and led 19-9.  Wayne State used two home errors to trim deficit to eight at 19-11 but Grand Valley State would go on to win 25-16.

A Lauren VanderWal (Caledonia, Mich.) kill early in the second set gave the Green & Gold a 7-5 advantage.  Kamryn Duffield (Romeo, Mich.) served an ace to push the visitors' lead to 12-8 and another ace by VanderWal made it 16-10.  Taylor Wagner (St. Joseph, Mich. / Lakeshore) put WSU on top 20-12 with a kill before Summer Farris (Farmington Hills, Mich. / North Farmington) used a kill and a block to extend the WSU advantage to 22-13.  The Warriors won 25-18 powered late by back-to-back kills from Olivia Fike (North Branch, Mich.).

The momentum stayed with Wayne State to begin the third set as the visitors captured seven of the first eight points, including a pair of kills from Madelyn Krenz (Chenoa, Ill. / Prairie Central).  Consecutive aces from Wagner pushed the lead to 15-5 and WSU led 20-9 on a point by VanderWal.  Wagner sealed the win and a 2-1 match lead with a kill for the 25th point.

GVSU led the fourth set 5-2 and eventually 10-5.  A 6-2 WSU run cut the margin to one at, 14-13.  However, the Lakers would regain control and lead 18-13.  Wayne State would not go away quietly and trailed by two, 20-18 after a GVSU error.  The Lakers would force a fifth set by winning 25-21.

The Green & Gold set the tone early in the deciding set by jumping out to a 6-1 lead.  Wagner collected another kill to make it 9-3.  A combo block from VanderWal and Fike gave the Warriors a 12-5 advantage.  GVSU cut the margin to three, 12-9, after a 4-0 rally.  WSU led 13-11, 14-12 and 14-13 before a kill by Krenz ended the match.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
A tro of Warriors finished with at least 10 kills led by VanderWal's 18.  Joining her in double-digits were Wagner (14) and Krenz (10), while Duffield distributed 47 assists.  Maddy Benoit (Farmington, Mich. / Mercy) led the team with 17 digs, while Wagner posted 16 digs and Julia Malewicz (Macomb, Mich. / Utica Academy for International Studies / Henry Ford II) tallied 15.

ONE BIG THING
It was a very evenly played match but the difference may have come at the service stripe as WSU collected six aces to GVSU's four.

THOUGHTS FROM COACH KOTH
"This was a nice win for the Warriors on the road against a tough GVSU squad.  We competed really well tonight.  Our defense was solid and senior Madelyn Krenz really stepped up at some key moments."

UP NEXT
The Warriors will conclude the road trip at Davenport on Saturday evening with first serve set for 5:00 p.m.