Ferris State Volleyball Opens Midwest Regional Crossover With Two Wins

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's volleyball squad opened action in the Midwest Region Crossover with a pair of wins on Friday (Oct. 8) at the Hammond SportsPlex in Hammond, Ind.

The Bulldogs recorded a 3-0 sweep over Cedarville (Ohio) in morning action before coming back to notch a 3-1 triumph over Rockhurst (Mo.) in an afternoon tilt.

FSU, which entered the nation's largest collegiate volleyball event as the GLIAC's top overall seed, beat Cedarville in the opener by scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-13 overall.

Sophomore Claire Nowicki paced the Bulldogs in the first win with 13 kills while Syann Fairfield added 10 kills. Libero Leah Bylut tallied 13 digs for FSU while setter Kaylee Maat totaled 36 assists in the win.

The Bulldogs hit .287 overall in the opener and posted 42 kills with only 13 attack errors on 101 attempts. FSU finished with 42 digs, eight block assists and a solo block in addition to 12 service aces, including four from Alina Anderson and three each by Maat and Nowicki.

In the second match, Ferris State dropped the opening set to Rockhurst 25-23, but rallied to take the next three by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-17.

A trio of Bulldogs all finished with a team-leading 16 kills in match two, including Olivia Henneman-Dallape along with Nowicki and Emma Bleecher. Defensively, Bylut had 22 digs, Maat finished with 15 digs and both Nowicki and Anderson totaled 12 digs. Bleecher added 10 digs for FSU and Maat totaled 57 assists for the Bulldogs.

Ferris State finished the victory with 63 kills and 19 attack errors on 160 tries for a .275 attack figure. FSU also had 77 digs while netting 11 service aces, four block assists and two solo blocks at the net.

The Bulldogs improved to 15-7 overall with the two regional victories and have won their last eight matches in a row.

FSU is slated to wrap up the Midwest Region Crossover on Saturday (Oct. 15) at 3 p.m. (ET) against an opponent to be announced.