Memorable Ferris State Volleyball Season Ends In NCAA Midwest Regional Final

Postgame Press Conference 

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball squad had its season come to a close on Saturday (Dec. 2) evening as FSU fell to host Missouri-St. Louis by a 3-1 score in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championship match in St. Louis.

The Tritons claimed a 25-20 win in the opening set, but FSU answered with a 25-19 margin in the second to even the match back up. However, from there UMSL battled for a 25-20 decision in the third and then won the fourth frame 25-17 to seal the victory.

The trip to the Midwest Regional Championship match was Ferris State's third in a row and it was also rematch of last year's regional final won by Missouri-St. Louis. The Bulldogs closed the year with a 27-8 overall record.

The Bulldogs hit .222 overall for the match, but had 11 service errors in the setback compared to only two aces. Overall, FSU finished with 51 kills and 15 attack errors on 162 attempts. Ferris State netted 65 digs and came up with 12 block assists along with six solo blocks.

Ferris State was led by junior Olivia Henneman-Dallape with 13 kills. Middle hitter Syann Fairfield added 12 kills and freshman Emily May contributed nine kills overall. Setter Kaylee Maat posted 47 assists.

Defensively, the Bulldogs got 17 digs from junior libero Leah Bylut to go with 14 from junior Claire Nowicki. Senior Kenzy Corstange contributed 10 digs.

UMSL tallied 65 kills compared to 23 attack errors on 165 attempts, finishing with a .255 attack figure. The Tritons recorded 86 digs and posted six block assists and three solo blocks to go with three service aces and six service mistakes.

Lexie Rang paced the Tritons, who improved to 33-1 overall this year with the win, by notching a match-high 23 kills. Delaney Humm added 17 kills while Kylie Adams recorded 25 digs.

The second-seeded Bulldogs reached the regional final by topping seventh-seeded Hillsdale on Thursday in the regional quarterfinals followed by a 3-1 win over sixth-seeded Rockhurst (Mo.) in the regional semifinals on Friday.

Three Bulldog standouts made the NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the tournament, including Henneman-Dallape along with Bylut and Maat.

This year marked FSU's 27th all-time trip to the NCAA Tournament and the program's 12th consecutive national tournament bid. Ferris State also finished as the GLIAC Tournament Champion this year and was the league regular-season runner-up.