Sept. 24, 2009

Box Score | Photo Gallery

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Davenport dropped set one on Thursday night to Siena Heights but came back strong for a convincing four set win. The Panthers fell 25-23 in the opening set but rebounded with a 25-15, 25-11, 25-18 win to improve to 8-8 on the year and 2-2 in the WHAC.

The opening set was a slow one for both sides but the Saints came back strong after trailing by two points late in the game and ran off four straight to take a 1-0 lead with the 25-23 win.

The Panthers quickly regrouped and got a huge boost from Ashley Penny (New Hudson, Mich.) and Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) as the host team dominated winning 25-15 to tie the match.

The offense got even stronger in the third set as DU posted 13 kills on 22 attempts while committing only two errors for a .500 hitting percentage. Davenport then put the Saints away early in the fourth set and cruised to a 25-18 victory.

Kassie Graves led the offense as the freshman finished with 16 kills and got support from Penny with 9 kills, and Joyce Larioza (Fowlerville, Mich.) and Amy VanEns (Lowell, Mich.) who posted 8 kills each.

Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.) ran an efficient offense for the Panthers as she dished out 36 assists and helped the Panthers hit .236 for the match compared to just .051 for the Saints.

The win improves DU to 8-8 on the year and 2-2 in WHAC play. DU will have the weekend off before hosting Concordia on Tuesday and Goshen College on Friday of next week. Game time against CUAA is set for 7:00 PM in the Student Center.

Post-Game Notes

The win improves DU to 5-2 all-time against Siena Heights

DU has now defeated the Saints five straight times after losing both matches in 2006

Kassie Graves has now posted double-digit kills in 8 straight matches