Over the weekend, NMU volleyball hosted Parkside and Purdue Northwest resulting in the team falling short to Parkside with the final being 0-3 on Friday. However, on Saturday, the ‘Cats were able to bounce back with the win over Purdue Northwest — the end score being 3-1. Redshirt junior Jacqueline Smith and senior Evynn Layshock each earned double-digit kills in the win over Purdue-NW.
“We had to take a step back after that match and reflect, and unfortunately, I’ve been doing that a little bit more often than we would like this season. But I do think our team does a nice job after losses and we try to learn from them. As coaches, we do the same,” Assistant Coach Sarah Kuehn said. “And then on Saturday, I was really happy with our bounce back … bounced back well and pulled through. Obviously went to four, so faced a little bit of adversity during the set, but I was happy with our girls’ response to that adversity.”
This weekend the Wildcats are traveling to Hammond, Indiana for the Midwest Crossover where the team will face off against three teams playing outside of the GLIAC. The Cats will first face Trevecca Nazarene University on Friday Oct. 13 at 12:30 p.m. Saturday the 14 will be a doubleheader for the Wildcats as they take on Cedarville followed by Missouri S&T.
“It’s just fun. It’s a really unique event that we do the crossover in our region. It’s a great opportunity to see the competition from the different conferences in our area, and really comes into play when we’re looking for large bids at the end of the year. But for us, I think it’s just an awesome opportunity to get back up on the floor and compete. So, we’re excited to see what those teams have for us.” Kuehn said.
For the next seven games the ‘Cats are traveling on the road without hosting a game until the very end of the month. However, the team is putting all of their focus into this weekend’s crossover games and not on the long road trips coming in the near future.
“A lot of road games here are coming up, but I think it’s really just about taking it one weekend at a time, and each weekend is a business trip. But honestly being on the road in some ways, it’s less distractions than being at home,” Kuehn said. “Our girls get more time to get schoolwork done, things like that. And it sounds like a little thing, but it makes a difference. So, I don’t know, I think you can spin it into a positive.”
