The NMU volleyball team went undefeated again last weekend in the UW-Green Bay Spring Fling, winning all five matches at 2-0.

NMU beat Michigan Tech (25-19, 25-18), UW-Oshkosh (25-21, 25-13), UW-Green Bay (25-19, 25-13), UW-Parkside (25-12, 25-14) and the UW-Green Bay alumni team (25-13, 25-11).

The ‘Cats now have a spring season record of 11-0. Head coach Dominic Yoder said he was taken aback by how his team had been playing.

“It was surprising, but not out of the realm,” he said. “We knew we were going to be good – just how good were we going to be?”

Yoder said one of the main reasons for the success is the players on the team are finally playing in the positions they were brought into to play.

“The whole (spring) season is about being successful with those people in those positions, and this weekend was another extension of that,” he said.

Two players who have found their spots, and have been comfortable playing and attacking in them are junior Mandie Meyer at outside hitter, and freshman Emma Wolfe at middle hitter, Yoder said.

“It is an outstanding adjustment compared to the fall when (Meyer) was in a different position, and the emergence of Emma Wolfe in the middle has been another great addition,” he said.

Yoder also said Madeline Ogden, a freshman setter, has stepped into her role on the team nicely.

“She is taking steps in the right direction and learning how to run a collegiate offense,” he said.

Yoder said the fact his team is playing well this early has instilled confidence in the younger players.

“To the young players, it really built their confidence, and I could really see it in their eyes that, ‘Wow, this was good,'” he said. “And it is going to be important to them to get that information to the new freshmen coming, so they build on that confidence.”

Yoder added that he hopes that confidence stays intact for the fall.

“We need to start developing that confidence and use this as a leap forward into next fall – use that confidence we are putting together from these spring successes,” he said.

NMU played GLIAC teams, such as Northwood, Michigan Tech and Saginaw Valley in this spring season. Yoder said these were solid teams that didn’t lose many players.

“The teams we played were about the same as they were in the fall, if not better, and we just were that much better on that given day,” Yoder said.

The season for the ‘Cats is still four months away and Yoder said he knows a lot will change before then, but he hopes that this spring season will lead to more victories.

“We built so much confidence in the things that we worked on and that will just leap frog into more success so I hope that obtains into the fall season,” he said.

The Wildcats final scheduled meet against the University of Minnesota-Duluth has been cancelled.