Bulldogs Sweep Rangers - Advance To Host GLIAC Championship Weekend For Fifth Consecutive Season

Postgame Highlights & Interview 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) regular season champion and nationally 17th-ranked Ferris State University women's volleyball team dispatched the Wisconsin Parkside Rangers 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-20) on Wednesday (Nov. 20) inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena in the GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinals.

The five-time defending GLIAC Champion Bulldogs have advanced to host GLIAC Championship Weekend for the fifth consecutive season as they move on to the GLIAC Tournament Semifinals on Satutrday (Nov. 23).

For Ferris State, senior outside hitter Allyson Cappel picked up 11 kills to pass her 2018 total of 417 overall. Cappel now has 422 kills on the season, which is just 12 shy of her career-high 434 during the fall of 2016. Cappel now has three 400-plus kill seasons in her career.

Fellow Ferris State senior outside hitter Courtney Brewer and junior outside hitter Katie O'Connell each added nine kills while freshman middle hitter Kira Merkle had seven. 

Defensively, O'Connell led the match with 16 digs, closely follwed by FSU junior libero Nina Gorgijevska (15) and Brewer (14). Ferris State finished with eight total blocks, led by O'Connell's four total blocks. Sophomore Middle hitter Samantha Hermann had a match-high two solo blocks for the Bulldogs as well.

Ferris State took off and hit for a .361 attack percentage in the opening set to go with 17 kills. Ferris State had double-digit kills in each set. The Bulldogs held the Rangers to a -.050 attack percentage in the middle frame.

The Rangers were led by Reese Rossnagel and Lexi Packard, who each had eight kills in the match for Wisconsin Parkside. Jazmine Neal and Rachel Hedman added six kills apiece. The Rangers finished with 10 total blocks for the match.

The Bulldogs will advance to the GLIAC Semifinals on Saturday (Nov. 22) inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena. Ferris State will face fifth-seeded Wayne State in the first semifinal at 3 p.m. (ET) on Saturday with second-seeded Michigan Tech facing sixth-seeded Northern Michigan at 5:30 p.m. (ET). The title match on Sunday is slated for 4 p.m. (ET).