Grand Rapids Reporter

The Ferris State University women's volleyball team concluded their season on Saturday, December 2, after a 3-1 defeat to Missouri-St. Louis in the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional Championship match held in St. Louis. The match marked the third consecutive appearance for Ferris State in the regional final and was a rematch of last year's final, also won by Missouri-St. Louis.

The Tritons began with a 25-20 win in the first set. Ferris State responded by taking the second set 25-19, leveling the match. However, Missouri-St. Louis secured victory with subsequent wins of 25-20 and 25-17 in the third and fourth sets respectively.

Ferris State ended their season with a record of 27-8 overall. Despite hitting .222 overall during the match, they struggled with service errors, recording 11 compared to just two aces. They finished with 51 kills against 15 attack errors on 162 attempts and recorded a total of 65 digs, along with six solo blocks and twelve block assists.

Junior Olivia Henneman-Dallape led Ferris State with 13 kills while middle hitter Syann Fairfield added another twelve kills. Freshman Emily May contributed nine kills overall and setter Kaylee Maat provided 47 assists. Defensively, junior libero Leah Bylut had seventeen digs supported by fourteen from junior Claire Nowicki and ten from senior Kenzy Corstange.

Missouri-St. Louis achieved a .255 attack figure with Lexie Rang leading them with a match-high of twenty-three kills as they improved their record to an impressive thirty-three wins against one loss this year.

Ferris State's path to the regional final included victories over seventh-seeded Hillsdale in the quarterfinals followed by a win against sixth-seeded Rockhurst (Mo.) in the semifinals.

At the tournament's conclusion, three Bulldogs were named to the NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament Team: Olivia Henneman-Dallape, Leah Bylut, and Kaylee Maat.

This year marked Ferris State's twenty-seventh appearance at the NCAA Tournament and their twelfth consecutive national tournament bid. Additionally, they claimed victory as GLIAC Tournament Champions while finishing as regular-season runners-up in their league.