The NMU Women’s Volleyball team seems to be unstoppable this season, making quick work of this past weekend’s competition not only moving their season record to 9-0 (5-0 GLIAC) but also moving themselves up to 19th in this week’s AVCA Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll.
The first opponent that the Wildcats met was Lake Erie College. The team would make short work of Lake Erie with three straight sets (25-10, 25-12, ad 25-15).
The final match was against the Ashland Eagles on Sept. 18. The ’Cats took an early advantage with wins in the first two sets (25-21, and 25-14), but the team slipped slightly by losing the third set (14-25). In the fourth set, the ’Cats got their focus back to where it needed to be, securing the win 25-19.
Head coach Dominic Yoder said the only thing that was really different last weekend compared to others is that the kills were surprisingly lower than usual and spread out immensely amongst the Wildcat team.
“Our offense was a little bit less than normal,” Yoder said. “But it’s good to see this sometimes because it proves that we can win games with solid defense, blocking and serving.”
Yoder said that the spread of scoring is not necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s also good to get everyone involved and even though our kills were low, they were consistent all across the board for both matches,” he said.
The Wildcats really credit the fact that they work as a team and everyone from the freshman to the seniors know how to be multi-dimensional and stay focused in their practices in order to give 100 percent during game time.
Freshman hitter Kalli Herron said the team chemistry has been improving as the season progresses, which helps them stay strong.
“We really have a great advantage to be able to spread out our hitters and always keep our opponents on their toes, not knowing who will get the ball,” Herron said. “After winning our first game, we have this huge strive to want to keep on winning and that helps us to no end.”
Between both games, Sami Vierk led total kills with 16, Emma Wolfe 14 kills, Kalli Herron 11 kills, Ana Lopes 10 kills and Katie Twardzik 10 kills. Abby Lovell between both games also had over 57 assists, 5 digs, and 5 blocks.
This week the Wildcats set their sights on the games at home on Friday, Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. against Northwood and on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m. against Lake Superior State.
Senior captain Katie Twardzik said that the upcoming games will be a challenge but with a victory against Michigan Tech, the Wildcats can look forward to the upcoming home games.
“We take all of our opponents very seriously,” Twardzik said. “We just try and take them on one at a time. As long as we take our matches point by point, match by match and play consistently through sets, nothing is going to stand in our way.”
Yoder also said that both match-ups will be very tough but the coaches are doing everything they can to prepare the team for what’s to come.
“We don’t let anyone get comfortable in practice,” Yoder said. “We want to see everyone improve and move forward.”
Yoder also said with the Wildcats 10 games into the season, he feels they have a lot of potential to be great.
“As long as we stay consistent with serving, force teams to deal with our serves, score the points we need to score, and stay focused, we will be a force to be reckoned with,” Yoder said.
