Box Score The Pride opened GLIAC play against Wayne State University Friday night. Playing at the Westville campus, it was a match to remember as Purdue Northwest gave the Warriors everything they could handle. The Pride started off the night playing back and forth with Wayne State but couldn't quite contain Lauren Vander Wal as the Warriors won set one 21-25. PNW made some adjustments and started getting their offense rolling with 17 kills in the second set, winning set two 25-21. Set three had the Pride in complete control taking a commanding 24-20 lead. But the Warriors started dominating the net and made a comeback rattling off five straight points to take a 25-24 lead. But this Pride team has some toughness in them and showed it by winning the next 3 straight points to take a 2 sets to 1 lead winning the third set 27-25. Set four saw Wayne State dominating with an 18-25 win setting up the winner take all set five. Wayne State jumped out to 8-4 lead, but the Pride came back to within 2 points at 11-13. The Warriors won the next two points leading Wayne State to the 5^th set win 12-15. 

There were many standouts tonight for the Pride as Lauren Sanders (Indianapolis, Ind./Avon HS) led PNW with a game high 21 kills. Summer Clark (Chicago, Ill./Chicago Christian HS) and Alyson Dees (Tehachapi, Calif./Tehachapi (Bakersfield College)) were right behind her with 13 kills apiece as Amanda Hasse (Peotone, Ill./Peotone) made her season debut in the middle and played outstanding all night. Hasse had 6 kills, hitting an amazing .455 and 3 blocks. Marina Gronkiewicz (Munster, Ind./Munster) set a new career high with 29 assists and 13 digs. Kylie Martin (Crown Point, Ind./Illiana Christian) had a game high 18 digs with Livia Thomsen (Bettendorf, Iowa/Pleasant Valley) having 12 digs as both freshman did an excellent job patrolling the back court.  

Coach Sean Douglas: "The girls played an excellent match tonight and for every run Wayne State had, we had an answer. We got stuck in a couple of rotations tonight and made it hard for us to keep coming back but I love the toughness we showed and the girls proved they are not afraid of the big moment. There are some areas where we need to get better but tonight also showed our depth as multiple people came into the game and made a huge impact like Bryanna Moonen (Franklin, Wis./Franklin HS). We need to be more consistent to win matches like this, but I really like the progress we've shown in a short time and I expect to see more out of this group as the season progresses with how hard they have been working." 

Next match is home on Saturday, September 10th against Lake Superior State at 2:00pm.