SL volleyball defeats Fremont, WMC at quad

Fri, Oct 30, 2009    to del.icio.us

Spring Lake scored two solid wins over Lakes Eight Conference rival Fremont and non-confernece foe Western Michigan Christian on Thursday, but fell to host Whitehall at the Vikings' quad.

The Lakers (28-15-1) opened with an impressive sweep of the Packers, 25-19, 25-19, a squad that defeated Spring Lake in a conference dual meet earlier this season. Whitehall followed and prevailed in two games over the Lakers, 27-25, 25-15, then Spring Lake survived in an exciting three games over the Warriors, 23-25, 29-27, 15-13.

"The entire match was close all the time," Spring Lake coach Sarah Bulthuis said of the win over WMC. "There was not a big spread either way. But we stayed focused and we were able to finish it off with our inner drive."

The Warriors went 0-3, with losses to Whitehall (25-18, 25-16) and Fremont (25-18, 25-14), in addition to Spring Lake.

Anne VanRees had 46 assists, two aces, 25 digs and four blocks for the Warriors. Lauren Merz added a pair of aces, 24 kills, 27 digs and nine blocks, while Erin Knochenhauer finished with two aces, 12 kills and 22 digs.

Spring Lake was paced by Kaitlyn Mulder's 16 points, three aces, and 17 kills. Hayley Schram also had a solid evening with 15 points, 14 kills, 28 digs and six blocks.

Kelsey Bekius totaled team-highs with six aces and 40 digs, while Taylor Keyser distributed 48 assists.

Spring Lake opens with host Ludington in the first-round of the Lakes Eight Conference Tournament Saturday.