ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Quincy University women's volleyball team faced Grand Valley State in opening round NCAA Midwest Regional action on Friday evening (Nov. 30) at host, Missouri-St. Louis. The Hawks season was brought to a close, dropping the match to the Lakers in three sets (18-25, 10-25, 12-25). 

Set One

GVSU took the first four points to start the match and seven of the first nine to lead it 7-2. QU claimed four of the next six points, taking advantage of three Lakers errors and a kill from Emma Wijnbergen to make it 9-6. 

Later in the set, down 16-8, Quincy took seven of the next nine points to cut the deficit to three at 18-15. Kills from Susanna Beretti and Wijnbergen, along with an ace from Brianna Merkel and three Grand Valley errors fueled the run. 

Following two Lakers points the Hawks used an error and a block from Sydney Clark to stay within three 21-18. GVSU took the final four points of the set to take the first set 25-18. 

Set Two

Grand Valley jumped out to an early advantage taking eight of 10 to open the set with an 8-2 lead. A kill from Wijnbergen paired with an error drew the Hawks to 8-4 before GVSU used a seven-point run to open a 15-4 lead. 

Quincy answered with four straight points of it's own to trail 15-8. The Lakers took 10 of the final 12 points of the set for a 25-10 victory. 

Set Three

The Hawks used a block from Erin Matzke, along with a service ace for Merkel and an error to lead it 3-0 to open the third set. Grand Valley took seven of the next eight points to regain the advantage 7-4. 

Two kills from Beretti, sandwiched around a GVSU point, pulled the Hawks within two at 8-6 before a three-point run from the Lakers replenished the advantage to 11-6. 

Shortly after at 12-8, a nine-point run from Grand Valley proved to be the deciding factor in the set and leading the Lakers to an eventual 25-12 winner and 3-0 victory in the match. 

The Hawks end the season at 24-6, with a second consecutive NCAA Midwest Regional appearance and 20-win campaign. In addition, the 2023 team set a program record with 20 straight victories spanning over two calender months without a loss.