This past weekend the Northern Michigan women’s volleyball team celebrated their four seniors Lauren Van Remortel, Evynn Layshock, Angelina Negron and Ania Hyatt with victory. The Wildcats hosted GLIAC opponents, the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on Friday, Nov. 3 and the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday, Nov. 4, ending the weekend 2-0.
On Friday night against the Cardinals, the ‘Cats had a 3-0 sweep. Fifth-year senior captain Lauren Van Remortel had 31 assists. Redshirt juniors Jacqueline Smith and Meghan Meyer lead the team with kills. Smith with 10 kills and Meyer with nine kills. NMU held control of the match with 41 kills to 28 overall. Junior Caylie Barlage had four of seven aces for the Wildcats on Friday.
“We took care of business against Saginaw on Friday and then we had a lot of motivation going into the game against Wayne, just because we got swept by them earlier in the season and really underperformed in that game against them earlier,” said Assistant Coach Sarah Kuehn. “It was really great to see our team use that as motivation and come out and take our business on Saturday against them.”
In the match against the Warriors, Van Remortel was the difference maker with 52 assists for the ‘Cats. Smith and Meyer lead the team with kills again, Smith with 17 kills and Meyer with 16 kills. Despite Wayne State having more kills in the match, NMU was able to win three sets to one. Liesel Haugen had six of the 13 aces for the Wildcats.
Van Remortel was awarded with setter of the week honors for last weekend’s performance, her second honor of the season. She also holds the fourth spot in assists per set within the GLIAC. Smith currently leads the GLIAC with 3.78 kills per set.
“[Going to Lake State Friday] I’m excited. That is a hard gym to play … so we have to really take care of business. And, although they’re at the lower part of our conference, we know that they can compete,” Kuehn said.
NMU hits the road this weekend to close out the regular season against Lake Superior State on Friday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. and No. 21 Ferris State on Saturday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. When the ‘Cats played the Lakers earlier this season, Northern won in a 3-0 sweep. As for the game against Ferris State in the beginning of the season, the Wildcats lost in three sets.
The ‘Cats will start GLIAC play on Wednesday, Nov. 15 and are currently ranked fifth overall in the conference. The Wildcats hope to go into the tournament with momentum from the Lake State and Ferris State games.
“Mike [Lozier] always says that we compete all week during practice and our goal during the week is to be as competitive as we can be, and when we hit the weekend, we all need to be like the best versions of ourselves,” Layshock said. “We need to be great teammates, like, you need to accept the role you have on this team. And everyone’s just done that.”
