Sept. 15, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Panthers opened up league play today with a tough 3-0 loss to cross-town rival Aquinas College (25-14, 25-21, 26-24). The loss, which is the third straight for DU, drops the Panthers to 4-6 on the year with their second league match of the year set for Thursday at UM Dearborn.

Set one started off as an offensive show as each team was able to put away the first ball over but the Saints quickly seized control of the match with a 13-6 run to lead 14-7 that featured six kills along the way for the visitors as the Panthers struggled to put together any offense.

DU did manage to stop the bleeding with a kill from freshman Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) but Aquinas continued to put the pressure on as they took set one 25-14.

The second set started out much better for the host Panthers as they quickly jumped out to a 9-4 lead on a kill from freshman Kelse Moon (Fremont, Mich.). The difference would hover around 4-5 points until another run by the Saints got them to within two at 16-14.

After an error by Aquinas made the score 17-14, the Panthers again struggled to pass and the Saints ran off 11 of the final 15 points to take a 2-0 lead with the 25-21 win.

With the match on the line and needing a win, DU came out fired up with a new lineup in set three and again raced out to an early lead at 6-3 on a kill from sophomore Ashley Penny (New Hudson, Mich.). DU would increase its lead to four at 16-12 on a kill from sophomore Megan Vanderhyde (Sparta, Mich.) only to see the Saints rally once again to tie the game at 16 all.

After a kill from Lindsey Hooker (Caledonia, Mich.) put DU up 23-22, the Saints rallied to finish the match off 26-24 and send DU to its third straight loss.

Kassie Graves led DU with 10 kills while hitting at a .300 clip and Megan Vanderhyde chipped in with 9 kills.  Kelse Moon came in and ran the offense in the final set and finished with 11 assists to go along with Kayla Vandermolen's 16.

DU did block really well as a team as they finished with 16 block assists and one block solo.

Davenport will return to the court on Thursday when they travel to UM Dearborn for a WHAC contest with the Wolves.

Post-Game Notes

With the loss, DU is now 2-5 against Aquinas all-time

The loss is just the third ever at the Student Center

Davenport has now lost all four of its WHAC Openers