The spring season is officially complete for the women’s volleyball team, following a tournament at the Vandament Arena this past weekend.
The ’Cats hosted the tournament, resulting in two match wins in games against both LSSU and an NMU alumni team. NMU played three sets in both matches for the wins.
Andree Ring, a current senior who was ineligible for the spring tournament season, played as left side hitter for the ’Cats in the fall. She said playing for the alumni team took a bit to get back into the flow of the game.
“I thought it went well,” Ring said. “We started rough but I’ve played with almost all of the girls on the alumni team, so it was like a little reunion. Fitting everybody into the game was different, but we all got to play a bunch of different positions that way.”
The Wildcats won their first match of the tournament against the NMU alumni team. The alumni team was able to take one win against the ’Cats during the tournament.
The first set against the alumni team brought a victory for the ’Cats with a score of 25- 9.
However, the alumni team pulled ahead in the final two sets, giving the Wildcats a run. In the second set, the NMU Wildcats won against the Alumni with a score of 25-22. The alumni team pulled ahead with the win in the final game, leaving the Wildcats with a loss that went into extra points, 28-30.
The alumni team consisted of several players from past NMU teams, including a few graduating seniors that played in the 2012 season. The graduating seniors were ineligible for the spring tournaments as student athletes.
Alumna Kalin Zimmerman, who played as a defensive specialist for the ’Cats in the fall 2012 semester, said she plans to continue playing in volleyball tournaments now that she has completed her college career.
She said she will also be playing in a Badger Region Premier League Volleyball tournament in the Wisconsin area following graduation.
“The tournament was fun, I liked it,” Zimmerman said. “It was fun to meet the alumni and see what the program used to be. It started off rough but at the end we did a good job working as a team.”
Head coach Dominic Yoder said it was good to see the alumni team in the tournament, having coached all of the girls in past seasons at NMU.
“It was really good playing against the alumni,” Yoder said. “They played competitive, and they still look the same as they did in college. They look like they could come in and play with NMU and that was nice to see.”
The alumni team players said the tournament was a great chance for a reunion for past team members, and were excited to play competitively.
Alumna Mandie Meyer, a 2010 graduate who finished in the 2009 volleyball season, played as a left side hitter for NMU. Meyer said it was nice to be back to play in the tournament.
“It was fun to get everyone together from all different years, and with the older alumni,” Meyer said. “It was fun to reminisce. Now we’re all a little older and move a bit slower, but we played well I thought.”
In the second round of play, NMU beat LSSU in a match by a large advantage in the first game, finishing with a victory, 25-15. The second game proved to be more of a challenge when NMU finished with a 25-21 win, and then the Wildcats pushed ahead for the last game to complete the match with a win, 25-13.
In the fall 2012 season, Lake Superior State University (LSSU) finished at the bottom half of conference with a 1-17 GLIAC record. NMU finished above the fellow conference team with a 12-6 conference record.
The women’s volleyball team is done until the fall 2013 season, where the Wildcats will bring out a new team to compete for a top spot in the conference.
Yoder said the Wildcats will be ready come the fall season, after the hard work and preparation from the spring season. He said the team had been working hard and coming together by the end of the tournaments, and are now looking forward to conference play with the new semester.
“We had a really good spring,” Yoder said. “We challenged the players to improve individually and as a team.”
