By Karly Ratzenberger

Last weekend the Wildcats battled it out at Vandament Arena against Saginaw Valley State (1-3), Grand Valley State (3-2) and Ferris State (3-2). The team faced three days of tough competition but came out on top with a 2-1 overall record on the weekend.

Assistant coach Leonard Thomas attributes this weekend’s turn-around to the team’s preparation and hard work in practice.

“What we did in practice this week helped us quite a bit in the second two matches, and our passing looked better than it had in the first match,” Thomas said.

Head coach Dominic Yoder said he was very impressed with the team’s performance and described the matches against Saginaw and Grand Valley as “scrappy.” Yoder was particularly impressed with the team’s 19-17 finish in game five against Ferris State.

“The match against SVSU was not very energetic nor was our play,” Yoder said.

Although he was not impressed with the ’Cats’ match against Saginaw, Yoder said he knows there is much team potential.

“Overall, consistent team performances will help us win the big matches, but individual performances help raise the bar for our team. It is nice to see players pick each other up match to match,” Yoder said.

Senior outside hitter Emma Wolfe attributed greatly to the Wildcats’ wins. In the match against Saginaw Valley on Friday, Wolfe achieved her highest personal record of 22 kills.

This week, the ’Cats will travel to Ohio to play Ashland at 7 p.m. on Friday and Lake Erie at 2 p.m. Saturday. According to Thomas, the competition down south will be fairly tough, and the team will need to be mentally prepared to play in these matches.

“We are one of the top teams in the conference,” Thomas said. “But if we are not mentally ready, anyone can beat us.”