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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After 11 road matches to start the 2022 season, the Davenport University women's volleyball team (8-3, 1-1 GLIAC) will play at home for the first time this season on Friday and Saturday. The Panthers will host Saginaw Valley State (6-4, 2-0 GLIAC) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Wayne State (7-3, 1-1 GLIAC) on Saturday at 5 p.m. inside the Student Center.

Starting with Saginaw Valley State, the Cardinals are off to a 2-0 start in GLIAC play for the first time since 2011. SVSU went just 1-4 to begin this season, but has since won five matches in a row and lost just one one set in that span. The all-time series between the Cardinals and Panthers is tied 3-3, but they've faced off in Grand Rapids just once, a five-set victory by DU back in 2017. SVSU has won three of its last four matches between the two teams since DU was victorious in the first two meetings of the series.

Offensively, Saginaw Valley State is one of just three GLIAC teams (Northern Michigan and Davenport) with a pair of hitters that have at least 100 kills and is the only squad to have three attackers with at least 98. Those three players are sophomore outside hitter, Madison Thompson (122 kills - fifth in the GLIAC), sophomore outside hitter, Sarah Veale (100 kills - tied for ninth), and junior middle hitter, Rylee Zimmer (98 kills - 11th). The Cardinals have been running their offense primarily through senior setter, Peyton Gerstacker, who's third in the league in assists with 362. Thompson is also SVSU's leader in service aces with 16, which is tied for sixth in the conference.

Switching over to defense, a pair of Cardinals are pacing the digs category including Zimmer (132 digs) and sophomore libero, Kelsey Vittitow (128 digs), totals that rank sixth and ninth in the GLIAC, respectively. Above the net, Zimmer and sophomore middle hitter, Makaylah Roberts, share the team lead in blocks with 32, a number that's tied for sixth in the league. Zimmer has eight solo blocks by herself, tied for third in the conference, and Roberts has assisted on 30 blocks, fourth in the conference.

As for Wayne State, neither team has won more than two matches in a row for the all-time series, just like the series between Davenport and Saginaw Valley State. The Warriors lead it, 5-4, but the Panthers have won three-straight meetings in Grand Rapids. WSU comes in 7-3 overall and 1-1 in GLIAC play after losing to Ferris State in five sets this past Sunday, a defeat that snapped the Warriors' three-match winning streak.

Statistically, Wayne State boasts the second-best attacker and second-best setter in the GLIAC in graduate outside hitter, Lauren VanderWal, and graduate setter, Kamryn Duffield. VanderWal is second in the league in kills with 161 while Duffield is second in the conference in assists with 379. The Warriors have been led by Maddy Benoit's 16 aces at the service line, tied for sixth in the GLIAC.

With that being said, Benot leads the league in digs with 206 and is the only player in the conference with at least 200 of them. The GLIAC's leader in blocks also comes from the Warriors and it's graduate middle blocker, Halle Shell, with 45 of them to her name. Shell is tied for fifth in the league in solo blocks with seven and leads the way in block assists with 38.i

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler