The NMU volleyball team earned two important conference victories last weekend that put them atop the GLIAC North Division. This weekend, the Wildcats will play one non-conference game at home and one conference game away.
If the regular season were to end now, the ‘Cats would be hosting a first round tournament game, which NMU head coach Dominic Yoder said was the team’s goal from day one. There are still three conference games left, however, and the team has to take things one game at a time.
“Our goal every year is to host first round and give ourselves a chance to win that first round and potentially host the semi-finals and finals,” Yoder said.
On Oct. 23, the Wildcats (16-8 overall, 10-3 GLIAC) bested Saginaw Valley (16-8 overall, 9-4 GLIAC) in a hard-fought 5 set game with scores of 25-22, 25-22, 18-25, 14-25, and 15-9. The defense was led by NMU senior libero Cassie Osiecki, who tied with her career-high of 29 digs.
The ‘Cats stumbled mid-game against Lake Superior State (3-21 overall, 2-11 GLIAC) on Oct. 24, but were able to redeem themselves with a win in set 5. The set scores were 25-23, 26-28, 23-25, 25-16, and 15-11. NMU senior captain Mandie Meyer had two match-highs with 20 kills and 14 digs.
Yoder said the ‘Cats focused more on Saginaw than on LSSU which adversely affected their play, but fortunately the team was able to pull through in the end.
“I think we had an emotional win on Friday which took a lot out of us. We prepared all week for Saginaw Valley and the coaching staff is going to have to take responsibility for not preparing as much for Lake State. We weren’t necessarily overlooking them, but we didn’t prepare enough and they caught us by surprise.”
For her performance last weekend, Mandie Meyer was named the GLIAC North Division player of the week for the second time this season. She leads the team in season kills with 313.
Meyer said she set high expectations for herself this season.
“One of my goals was to make it [player of the week] at least once, so twice is pretty exciting,” she said. Meyer also said the team is elated to be first in the division.
“It’s what we’ve been striving for as a team ever since I’ve been here, so to finally peak when I’m a senior feels really great,” she said.
On Oct. 30 at 5:30 p.m., the ‘Cats will play a non-conference match against the Finlandia University Lions (9-9 overall) at the Vandament Arena.
Yoder said while the team hasn’t played Finlandia in a regular season game, they have scrimmaged against the team before.
“They’re a bit of a smaller team but they play a really good defense so it’s going to be interesting to see how our team fares against them,” Yoder said.
The ‘Cats will then travel to Houghton on Oct. 31 to play a conference match against the Michigan Technological University Huskies (12-12 overall, 8-5 GLIAC)
Yoder said the ‘Cats will be prepared for Tech, just as they were last time.
“Tech’s a left-side dominant team, so we have to slow down their left side. I think just playing on our side of the net and playing our style of volleyball will put a lot of pressure on them to perform,” he said.
Senior outside hitter Katt Garvick said the seniors become more anxious with every passing practice and game.
“We are really focusing hard on this season because for me and the other four seniors, this is our last chance. There’s no day but today. We have to live with no regrets and go out every single time and play hard,” Garvick said.
She also said the team is excited to be doing well and that their hard work has really paid off.
The game against Finlandia is the last regular season home game for the ‘Cats. After this weekend, the ‘Cats will play Grand Valley State on Nov. 6 and Ferris State on Nov. 7 in the last week of regular season play.
The GLIAC tournament begins Nov. 11.
