Grand Rapids, Mich. --
Thursday's match features the third ranked Raiders and the Lake Michigan College Red Hawks. It's not only Sophomore night, celebrating the careers of Lauren Helsen, Peyton Helsen, Hannah Stearns, Lena Thompson and Hailey DeKorte, but also our Homecoming Match! In the Chip Will era, the Raiders have a 21-1 record against LMC including winning the last 17 matches, dating back to 2008. Let's take a closer look at both teams.
LMC – The visitors come into tomorrow's match with a 3-22 overall record and 1-13 record in the conference. Sophomore Middle, Bailee May, is leading the Red Hawks in many different categories, including 202 kills, 2.43/set, 18 aces, and 91 blocks. She also leads the team with 270.5 points, averaging 3.4/set. Megan Sollman and Nola Wallace each average about 1.7 kills/set and have racked up a total of 274 on the year so far. Wallace is the teams second best blocker with 71 while Sollman is third in aces and digs. Freshman Libero, Taylor Strauss, is the team's leader in digs with 315, averaging 3.84/set. She is also second on the team with 10 aces.
Grand Rapids CC – The 3rd ranked Raiders, 21-1 overall & 14-0 in the conference, are looking to extend their win streak to 16, and 41st straight in the conference. They are coming off a sweep over Ancilla in which Kendra DeJonge racked up a Raider record eight aces in the match to go along with her match high 13 kills. Jenna Smaby and Hannah Stearns each added eight kills for the Raiders who hit .377 for the match. Last time against the Red Hawks, GR hit a season high .436 with Stearns leading the way with 10 kills. DeJonge, Lena Thompson, and Ally German each added seven kills in the quick 3-0 win… Sophomore Libero, Peyton Helsen, is just seven digs away from 300 and DeJonge is just seven kills away from 300. Freshman Setter, Autumn Severn, needs just 10 assists to give her 200. Freshman DS, Megan DeGlopper is nearing the 100 dig plateau.
WHATS NEXT: On Tuesday, the Raiders clinched their seventh conference title in the past nine years, which means a few things. First off, they earned the right to host this year's MCCAA/State Tournament on Saturday, October 28th. It will feature the top two teams in the East (Mott & Oakland), Muskegon CC, and themselves. Match play begins at noon, and the championship match will follow that. Also, the Raiders will be the Michigan one seed in regionals and get a first round bye, meaning a 6 pm match on Thursday, November 2nd.
