Oct. 13, 2009

Box Score

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport posted late rallies in each of the first two sets, but it was not enough as Aquinas posted their second straight 3-set win over the Panthers. The loss drops DU to 12-13 on the year and 3-5 in the WHAC.

After finishing off a successful weekend at Indiana Wesleyan, the Panthers entered Tuesday's critical WHAC contest with confidence. Aquinas however dominated the Panthers from the opening serve in the first set and raced out to a 9-5 lead.

DU got a kill from Autumn Williams (Fruitport, Mich.) to end the Saints run, but AQ then ran off 12 of the sets next 17 points to take their largest lead at 21-11. The Panthers crawled back with a rally of their own and got to within six at 24-18 on an attack error from the Saints, but Aquinas closed DU out 25-19.

The second set started out even worse for the Panthers as the host Saints led 7-1 forcing Head Coach Rick Rykse into a timeout. Again DU would fight back and after a service ace from Heather Deal (Ravenna, Mich.) the Panthers trailed by only four at 10-6.

The lead would hover around 4-5 points for most of the set until DU got to within two at 20-18, but four straight points by the Saints gave them a six point lead which would lead to the 25-20 win.

Trailing 2-0, DU again came out flat in the third set and fell behind AQ 3-0 and eventually 8-4. The Panthers then got kills from Amy VanEns (Lowell, Mich.) and Joyce Larioza (Fowlerville, Mich.) to bring the score to 9-7.

After getting to within one at 11-10, the passing started to hurt the Panthers as the Saints used a 10-4 run to take control of the set at 21-14 and then they finished DU off 25-18.

Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) led a very balanced offense with 9 kills and Autumn Williams finished with 6.  Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.) dished out 30 assists on the night while Courtney DePriest (Grand Rapids, Mich.) led the defense with 16 digs.