Saturday morning's victory at the Thomas More Tournament looked like a copy-paste of Friday's results for Lake Superior State. The Lakers (3-5, 0-0 GLIAC) swept Salem 25-16, 25-22, 25-16 in Crestview Hills, KY, crushing the Tigers with a .252 hitting percentage and nine blocks at the net. The Lakers dropped the second match of the day to host Thomas More, 25-18, 25-21, 25-15.

Amilia Ashcroft scored five services aces against Salem, tied for the most in a match in the GLIAC this season. Elisa Rizzoli led the Lakers in kills in both matches, scoring eight in the early contest against the Tigers (4-3, 0-0 PBC) and another 13 in the late morning contest against the Saints (3-3 0-0 GMAC).

"Eli just hits the stuffing out of the ball," said Head Coach Chelsea Cooke-Tripp. "She's very strong and can be very dynamic. When I give her feedback, she's quick to adjust. You need to have that outside on the pin. You have to be able to do everything well. She takes that feedback and makes adjustments quickly."

Rizzoli also tallied 15 digs in each match, leading LSSU in kills and digs. She's led LSSU in kills six times, paced the team in digs four times and topped the stat sheet in both columns three times this season. She's seventh in the GLIAC in kills per set and points, while holding ninth for digs per set.

The Lakers dominated from the opening serve against Salem, scoring the first eight points. Azra Bilgiçer's service put the Tigers under heavy pressure, and they committed two attacking errors and two setting errors in the opening rallies. LSSU held Salem to a .119 hitting percentage, and the Lakers hit over .260 in the first and third sets.

"I'm super proud of the players," Cooke-Tripp said. "We went through some ups and downs but learned how to push through a lot of tougher moments. That helped us in our matches yesterday and our match this morning. Those teams were aggressive, but we came together as a unit. The Thomas More game was very competitive, they're a solid team. We feel good going into conference play."

Morgan Deming scored a solo block and two assists for LSSU against Thomas More. She's 10th in the GLIAC in blocks per set with eight matches completed.

Bilgiçer impressed from the service line, scoring two aces for the Lakers. It was a short turnaround for the team, with matches scheduled for 9:00 AM and 11:30 AM after competing in the 6:00 PM match on Friday.

"This morning, we were a little nervous because we had to turn around quickly and play again," said Cooke-Tripp. "We were gassed, a bit tired, but we put up a really good fight. Thomas More is a really strong team. They were hard to defend against. But our players stayed very present, took great feedback and followed our scout report."

The Lakers now turn their attention to conference play, which begins Friday against Grand Valley State in Allendale, MI. Lake Superior State then heads to Wisconsin Parkside the next day.

LSSU welcomes Saginaw Valley State to the Bud Cooper Gym on September 18th, with opening serve at 6:00 PM. Get your tickets now at lssulakers.com. Download the new Lake Superior State Lakers app on Google Play and the App Store to get the latest notifications on Laker Athletics events.