Ferris State volleyball’s season ended with the Bulldogs losing to the University of Missouri-St. Louis in the NCAA DII midwest regional championship in St. Louis, MO on Saturday, Dec. 2.
The Bulldogs reached the midwest regional championship by defeating Hillsdale in the quarterfinal and then Rockhurst in the semifinals.
The Bulldogs defeated Hillsdale in a five-set thriller, winning sets one and three the Bulldogs found themselves split at two sets apiece going into the final set. The team rallied to win the final set 15-12 and advanced to the semifinal match against Rockhurst.
It was a match where junior libero Leah Bylut set a school record of 42 digs in a single match and head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm raved about Bylut’s record-setting performance.
“I just want to highlight one thing real quick,” Brandel-Wilhelm said. “Our libero, Leah Bylut, set a career record here by 10 digs with 42 digs tonight. I thought she was really key because Hillsdale has a very potent offense. I thought her making some of those really big digs was a big deal for us so I just want to highlight that superstar.”
Leading the way for assists was junior setter Kaylee Maat with 57, and junior middle hitter Olivia Henneman-Dallape led the way with 25 kills.
Junior middle hitter Syann Fairfield feels that the bond that the team has as a whole helps the team win.
“It was a battle and it was hard to like find things to work for us,” Fairfield said. “I think us believing in each other and being so close on and off the court helps out. I can look at Henneman-Dallape and she can tell me do this and do that … that’s something that helps everyone on the court.”
In the semifinal match against Rockhurst, the Bulldogs lost the first set (26-24) they would go on to win the next three sets to win the match and advance to the regional championship. Fairfield led the team in kills with 14, Maat led the team with 45 assists and Bylut led with 28 digs for the Bulldogs.
Maat believes the Bulldog offense is built upon the trust between the positions.
“We have a lot of time that goes into scouting,” Maat said. “I trust my hitters. What they’re seeing and whenever they tell me anything, I take that information and try and put that out there so I can put them in the best situations. It all goes back to them.”
In their match against the hosting and no. 1 ranked team in Midwest region, the Missouri St. Louis Tritons, the Bulldogs were able to take the second set to go into the half 1-1. Out of the half, the Bulldogs did not get it going and lost sets three and four to end their season. Leading the way in kills was Henneman-Dallape with 13, Maat led with 47 assists and Bylut led with 17 digs.
The Bulldogs finished the season (27-8, 15-3 in conference) and won the GLIAC Championship for the second year in a row. Henneman-Dallape was named the offensive player of the year in the GLIAC, and her teammate, Maat, was named setter of the year in the GLIAC. The Bulldogs had three players named to the first team all-GLIAC in Henneman-Dallape, Maat, and junior outside hitter Claire Nowicki. Both Fairfield and Bylut were named to the all-GLIAC second team.
After a successful season, the Bulldogs will now look to next year to go even further.