Grand Rapids, Mich. – The second day of the Panther Invite brought mixed feelings as the Lady Panthers opened with a 3-0 sweep of Cardinal Stritch and then fell in five sets to eventual champion Trinity Christian. After the match, Kassie Graves was voted on to the All-Tournament Team. The Panthers record after all matches stands at 17-11 overall and 7-5 in conference.
The Panthers started the day with a 3-0 win over Cardinal Stritch as the Wolves played the Panthers tough in the first two sets. The Panthers built a lead in the first and hung on to win by four 25-21. In the second, Cardinal Stritch had a late lead before Davenport rallied to win 25-23.
Davenport used their strong offense to close out Cardinal Stritch in the third. The Panthers had a combined 47 kills in the match as Kelse Moon (Fremont, Mich.)posted 12, Brittany Bott (Hudsonville, Mich.) 11, and Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) 10. Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.)led the team in assists with 36.
In the championship, the Panthers fell behind 7-13 early in the first against Trinity Christian but strong serving got them back into a tie at 14 and DU went on to win the opening set 25-22.
A kill by Nicole Chase (Caledonia, Mich.) early in the second broke a three point run that gave Trinity an 8-7 lead and DU tried to keep it close but a late run gave Trinity a 23-17 lead that they wouldn't give up.
The Panthers came out on fire in the third, winning eight straight points on Sami Hausmann's (Marne, Mich.)serve to give Davenport an 11-3 lead. Another kill by Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.)gave the Panthers the lopsided third set 25-11 and a 2-1 lead in the match.
It looked like the Panthers were on their way to a victory when Trinity called a timeout in the fourth set trailing 9-4. A tap over by Kayla Vandermolen (Cedar Springs, Mich.) gave the Panthers a 20-14 late in the fourth and a kill by Kelse Moon (Fremont, Mich.) moved the Panthers closer to a win at 23-18. But Trinity rallied and survived a few match points to take the set 28-26.
With the momentum fully on the side of the Troll's DU was unable to close the gap in the fifth as they eventually fell 15-9.
Kassie Graves (White Cloud, Mich.) led the Panthers with 22 kills, two short of tying the single match record at DU and Kayla Vandermolen led the team in assists with 52 and Nicole Chase led the team in blocks with three.
Davenport will next be in action Tuesday, October 19 when they travel to Madonna for a conference match up that starts at 7:00PM. The Panthers will then return home on Thursday, October 21 for Senior Night when they take on another conference opponent Concordia at 7:00PM.
