The volleyball ’Cats gear up to host GLIAC teams Lake Erie College and Ashland University this weekend before facing Michigan Tech on Tuesday.
The ’Cats weathered a 3-1 loss to the Timberwolves at home last Friday, starting their conference record off with a loss.
Sophomore defensive specialist Meghan Seymour said the team didn’t let the loss get to them going into their second game of the weekend.
“We just really focused on staying together as a team on Saturday against Lake State,” Seymour says. “We just focused on forgetting what happened but also learning from it.”
Head coach Dominic Yoder felt the team had a good recovery coming out of the loss to the Timberwolves.
“I think we did a good job on Saturday with the way we came back and managed our errors,” Yoder said. “That’s gonna be a key for us moving forward, is just manage our errors a little better and continue to do what we were doing well at: scoring points.”
NMU was able to turn the weekend around with a 3-0 win over the Lakers, bringing the ’Cats’ overall record to 9-2 and beginning the conference record 1-1.
Sophomore setter Jami Hogeboom said the team needs to work hard to come back from their loss this weekend.
“This week in practice is definitely going to be big for us to learn from the mistakes we made,” Hogeboom said. “Controlling our errors and controlling our focus.”
NMU will begin their weekend Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. playing Lake Erie College Storm, a team with a losing record of 3-4.
The Storm started their conference play last weekend, falling to the Hillsdale Chargers and the Findlay Oilers.
The Wildcats will continue their home matches Saturday at 4 p.m. on Sept. 26. against the (6-4) Ashland University Eagles.
In GLIAC matches the Eagles opened with a win over the Oilers before falling to the Chargers in the following match.
On Tuesday, at 7 p.m. on Sept. 29 the Wildcats play their first match of the season against U.P. rivals the Michigan Tech Huskies.
Both times the Wildcats and Huskies met on the court last season the ’Cats were able to come out victorious.
Yoder said he enjoys the excitement the crowd brings to these matches and the relationship the team has with the Huskies.
“It’s the analogy of cats and dogs, and they just don’t mix,” Yoder says. “I think we’re very supportive of each other because we want to be the best U.P. teams but when it comes down to playing each other we’re very competitive.”
The Huskies have gone undefeated this season, with a record of 10-0 overall and 2-0 in GLIAC matchups.
The Huskies were able to topple the Northwood University Timberwolves and the Lake Superior State Lakers this past weekend as they started their conference play.
The ’Cats are eager to prove dominance over the Huskies this weekend according to Hogeboom.
“Since it is so competitive it’s so much fun,” said Hogeboom. “Everybody just gets so into it; the fans, our coaches obviously, and us girls, just because we want to be the queens of the U.P.”
