KENOSHA, Wis. — Parkside fell 3-2 to No. 17 Grand Valley State on Saturday at De Simone Arena. The Rangers battled back to even the match after dropping the first set 25-22, winning the second 25-18, but Grand Valley State responded by taking the third set 25-15. Parkside forced a fifth set with a 25-22 fourth-set victory before falling 15-8 in the deciding set.
The Rangers erased Kennedy Arp's opening kill with a
Sierra Kilbourn kill and moved in front 5-2 on
Natalie Harris' ace and
Emily Zaper's kill from
Lucy Russ. After the Rangers led 9-5 on Zaper's ace, Grand Valley St. scored the next four points to tie the set at 9-9, and after ties at 12-12, 14-14 and 15-15, kills by Brianna Stawski and Sara Pahl put the visitors ahead 17-15. A Zaper kill brought the Rangers within 17-16, but Grand Valley St. followed with kills by Paige Sanders, Sara Pahl and Sanders again plus a Rangers attack error to move ahead 21-16. Trailing 24-18, the Rangers stayed alive with a Grand Valley St. attack error, Russ' ace and consecutive Kilbourn kills, but Grand Valley St. closed the set 25-22 on a block by Gabby Orlet and Kennedy Arp.
The Rangers started the second set with a 4-0 burst, getting an
Avary Polavin kill from Russ before three Grand Valley St. setting errors during
Lauren Peters' serve, and later pushed the lead to 9-3 behind kills from
Maia Olson,
Monica Lukasiewicz, Zaper and
Dani Kopacz plus a Lukasiewicz block. Grand Valley St. cut the gap to 15-12, but Zaper and Kilbourn answered with back-to-back kills, and the Rangers still led 20-17 after Kopacz finished a Harris assist. After Grand Valley St. got within 21-18, Kilbourn put down a kill from Russ, Peters served an ace, and kills by Zaper and Kilbourn closed the set 25-18.
Grand Valley St. put the Rangers in an early 7-0 hole, with Finley Arp and Brianna Stawski each recording two kills during Gabby Orlet's service run before Polavin and Olson got the Rangers on the board. The visitors kept the separation at 10-2 and later pushed the set to 15-4, using kills from Kennedy Arp, Stawski, Sara Pahl and Paige Sanders along with a block by Orlet and Sanders. The Rangers made their best push from there, scoring six of the next eight points with kills from Zaper,
Dani Kopacz, Polavin and Kilbourn to get within 17-10, but Grand Valley St. answered after an 18-12 score and closed the set 25-15 on Olivia Behen's service ace.
Grand Valley St. built an 8-4 lead in the fourth set before the Rangers tied it at 8-8 behind a Polavin kill and an Olson-
Dani Kopacz block. After Grand Valley St. moved back ahead 9-8, the Rangers scored six straight, taking the lead on Polavin's kill and pushing the margin to 14-9 with kills from Kilbourn, Polavin and Olson plus Polavin-Olson block. Grand Valley St. trimmed the deficit to 16-13 and later stayed within 20-18, but the Rangers reached set point at 24-19 on a Grand Valley St. attack error. Grand Valley St. scored the next three points before Polavin finished the set with a kill from Russ for a 25-22 Rangers win.
After Grand Valley St. scored the first three points, the Rangers got on the board with Zaper's kill from Russ and pulled within 3-2 on a block by Zaper. Grand Valley St. moved ahead 7-4, but a
Dani Kopacz kill and a Harris service ace helped the Rangers close the gap to 7-6. Grand Valley St. answered with six straight points, getting three kills from Sara Pahl and two from Paige Sanders during the stretch to build a 13-6 lead. Polavin added two late kills for the Rangers, but Grand Valley St. finished the set with Finley Arp's kill for a 15-8 result.
Avary Polavin led the Rangers with 17 kills and 18.0 points, while adding two block assists.
Emily Zaper recorded 13 kills, 12 digs and two service aces.
Lucy Russ tallied 31 assists, 15 digs and one service ace, with her 15 digs marking a season high.
Natalie Harris contributed 21 digs, 10 assists and two service aces, recording a season-high 10 assists.
Sierra Kilbourn added 14 kills and two digs.
Zaper has recorded at least 2 serve aces in 4 consecutive games. The Rangers have achieved at least 6 serve aces in 3 consecutive games, extending the streak during the current season.
The Rangers are 8-3 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play. Grand Valley St. is 10-2 overall and 4-0 in GLIAC play.
Up Next
Parkside volleyball will begin a GLIAC road trip weekend, facing Lake Superior State on Friday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. before taking on Saginaw Valley State on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.
For all things Parkside Volleyball, including links to live coverage, visit ParksideRangers.com/coverage.
