The Northern Michigan University Volleyball team dropped another pair of GLIAC matches this past weekend, losing on Friday to the Ashland University Eagles 3-0 before again being shut out 3-0 by the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday.
On Friday, the Wildcats and the Eagles were close through the opening set, but Ashland was able to edge NMU 25-23. The hosts were more noticeably the better team in set number two, taking a fairly comfortable 25-13 win. The third set saw both teams trade the lead back and forth, but Ashland outplayed the Wildcats near the end and claimed a 25-22 set victory and a 3-0 match win.
Sophomore outside hitter Leticia Antunes led Northern offensively with 8 kills, while senior setter Lynzi Svoboda had 24 assists. Senior defensive specialist Rachel Braunschweig was the strong point on defense for NMU, tallying 11 digs.
On Saturday, Braunschweig became just the 16th player in NMU volleyball history to reach 1,000 career digs, despite the Wildcats being on the losing end of another 3-0 result. The first set clearly belonged to Wayne State, as the hosts grabbed a 25-11 win. Set two was closer, but the Warriors still came away with the 25-19 victory to go up two sets to none. The Wildcats kept the third set closer than the previous two, but in the end, Wayne State won the set 25-22 and swept NMU 3-0.
Senior outside hitter Maggie Liebeck recorded eight kills, which was enough to lead Northern on offense. Defensively, Braunschweig had 12 digs, topping the backline for the Wildcats, while Antunes had 9 of her own.
The Wildcats will be on the road for both of their games this weekend, traveling to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside on Friday before heading to Purdue Northwest on Saturday.
After beginning the season with a 9-1 record and entering the NCAA Division II national rankings, the Wildcat’s have spiraled downwards. In the last seven games the Cats’ have dropped six of seven matches and are winless since mid-September. The Wildcats’ sit in 9th place in the conference with only nine games remaining in the season.
