ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Lawrence Technological (Mich.) University women's volleyball team finished day one 1-1 at the Siena Heights Tournament. The Blue Devils opened the afternoon with a 3-2 win over Spring Arbor (Mich.) University and closed the night with a 3-1 loss to Saint Ambrose (Iowa) University.
Lawrence Tech (5-2) dropped its second match of the season following a thrilling comeback to beat Spring Arbor in five sets. The Blue Devils dropped the opening set to Spring Arbor 25-21 as SAU closed the set on a 5-1 run to take a 1-0 lead. In set two, the Blue Devils opened up a 17-11 lead following a 10-4 start to the set. The Cougars battled back to make it 24-23, but Zakia Hunt (SO/Livonia, Mich.)'s kill gave LTU the set, tying the match at one set apiece.
In the third set it was all Spring Arbor as they opened with a 10-6 lead and built it to 17-11 before winning the set 25-17 to retake the lead at 2-1. The fourth set went back-and-forth as both teams traded points for entire set until LTU closed it out with three straight points to tie the match back up at 2-2. Briana Reum (SR/South Elgin, IL) had two of those points while an error from SAU closed the set.
In the final set, Lawrence Tech took a 6-3 lead following four straight kills - two from Varvara Gromakova (SO/Moscow, Russia) and two from Alisha Stidam (SR/Barrie, Ontario CAN) - as they won the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.
Stidam led the way for LTU with 15 kills followed by Reum with 14, Gromakova with 11, and Hunt with 10.
In the second match of the day, Lawrence Tech fell to Saint Ambrose 3-1 with the Blue Devils dropping the first two sets 25-15 and 25-20. LTU won the third set 25-21 before falling in the fourth set 25-23. Reum added 16 kills to her day while Gromakova finished the match with 15 kills. Kristi Doherty (SO/Davison, Mich.) recorded 42 assists in the loss.
Lawrence Tech is back on the court Saturday, September 2 when they face Siena Heights (Mich.) Unviersity at 10 a.m. They face Lindenwood (Ill.) University - Belleville at 2 p.m. All games are played at Siena Heights in Adrian, Mich.
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