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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Getting set to play their final home matches for the month of September, the Davenport University women's volleyball team will host Ferris State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Lake Superior State on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Panthers come in having won two matches in a row to get to 10-4 overall and 3-2 in GLIAC play.

Starting with Ferris State (7-6, 5-0 GLIAC), the Bulldogs have rattled off seven wins in a row and sit alone in first place in the league standings after starting the season 0-6. Ferris State leads the all-time series with Davenport, 8-0, but the two teams battled to five sets last November in Grand Rapids, a match the Panthers were up two sets to one. The Bulldogs are coached by 27th year head coach, Tia Brandel-Wilhelm, and will come to Grand Rapids in the midst of a six-match road trip.

Individually, FSU is paced by one of the best setters in all of Division II, not just the GLIAC, in sophomore, Kaylee Maat. Maat is eighth in the country in total service aces (33), 10th in service aces per set (0.69), 20th in total assists (489), and 37th in assists per set (10.19). The Hudsonville native is first in the conference for each of those categories as well.

Hitter wise, Maat has set for a quartet of players with at least 96 kills including sophomore middle, Olivia Henneman-Dallape (145 kills), sophomore outside, Claire Nowicki (133 kills), sophomore middle, Syann Fairfield (107 kills), and freshman outside, Emma Bleecher (96 kills). As a team, the Bulldogs are third in the GLIAC for both kills per set (12.17) and hitting percentage (.210), but rank 20th nationally in total aces (108).

Defensively, three different Bulldogs have at least 100 digs including sophomore libero, Leah Bylut (177), Nowicki (108) and Maat (108) while Bleecher and freshman libero, Alina Anderson, have added 96 and 88, respectively. Above the net, Fairfield is responsible for 38 total blocks, a mark that is good for a tie for sixth in the conference.

Switching over to Saturday's opponent, Lake Superior State (1-12, 0-5 GLIAC), the Lakers have been on the wrong end in 10-straight matches and enter this week's slate last in the GLIAC standings. The Panthers lead the all-time series, 7-2, and have won seven in a row between the two teams. LSSU is led by first-year head coach, Zac Rambo, the former head coach at Pratt Community College in Pratt, Kansas. So far this fall, Rambo's team leaders include junior middle, Emilee McDaniel (136 kills and 31 blocks), junior setter, Emily Kalinowski (412 assists), junior libero, Sydney Briney (24 aces), and sophomore libero, Ally Lasley (156 digs).

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler