The NMU volleyball team lost both of their games last weekend, losing on Friday, Sept. 28 against the Wayne State Warriors and on Saturday, Sept. 29 against the Findlay Oilers.
The Wildcats experienced losses at home in the Vandament Arena, finishing the weekend 11-5 overall and 4-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
NMU head coach Dominic Yoder said a lot of things that happened for the team could have happened differently over the weekend.
“We just weren’t focused out there,” Yoder said. “We weren’t motivated enough going into the first match, and we are going to fix that in the future. We just have to work on our discipline and our drive a little bit more, and you’ll see a different team next time.”
On Friday, the Warriors started the match by winning the first two sets 25-18 and 25-16.
The ‘Cats returned to the court to win the third set 25-19. Wayne State answered, finishing the game in the fourth set 25-14.
Junior left-side Lina Lopes led the offense with a match-high of 15 kills, a service ace and a contribution of seven digs. Junior middle-hitter Sarah Hamilton and junior left-side middle Kalli Herron contributed to the match, with Hamilton bringing 12 digs and a solo block and Herron notching 11 kills.
Hamilton said the team knew what Wayne State would bring to the court but could have performed differently.
“They were a very good blocking team, and we knew that coming into the game,” Hamilton said. “We needed to hit around them. At some points we did, but at others we didn’t. In the future, we’ll just have to focus on following the game plan more and keep to how we are supposed to be every step of the way.”
Senior left-side Andree Ring also brought offense to the team, scoring three kills, contributing a block assist and another service ace.
Defensively, junior setter Kellisha Harley setup the ‘Cats’ with 42 assists, while freshman defensive specialist Alex Berger led the team with 10 digs. Senior middle-hitter Jasmine Calhoun contributed three more block assists.
Going over to Saturday, the ‘Cats held their own against Findlay during the first two sets of the game, beating them 25-16 and 25-22 after trailing their opponents by more than five points each set.
The Oilers returned the wins in the third set, winning 25-19, and held onto the lead for the last two sets (25-22 and 15-12).
Herron said the ‘Cats start against Findlay was what they were looking for during the weekend.
“The first two sets against Findlay were very good,” Herron said. “We played very well and kept them out of the system by serving aggressively, which helped up a lot with both our offense and defense. For the other three games, we started very slow and after those slow starts, it was difficult to catch back up and take the lead.”
Lopes once again led the offense with 21 kills and 14 digs. Herron contributed to the offense, bringing three service aces in one set and 14 more kills.
Freshman left-side Lisa Studnicka added eight kills, 14 digs and a service ace. Defensively, Harley setup the offense once again with 46 assists.
The Wildcats ended the match at a kill percentage of .163, with 59 kills overall.
Yoder said while the team is disappointed with the losses, several players played well over the course of the weekend.
“Three or four players that came out and played extremely hard were Sarah, Lina, Kellisha, and Kalli,” Yoder said. “We put Kalli in a different position and she did well there. We just need to keep making some changes, bring in different combinations of athletes, and re-motivate ourselves for the future.”
NMU hits the road again to play on Friday, Oct. 5 against Malone and on Saturday, Oct. 6 against Walsh, both matches in Ohio.
