The Wildcats volleyball team had an eventful weekend downstate, ending their games with a split. The team traveled to Grand Rapids and Big Rapids to face off against Ferris State and Davenport. The team lost to Ferris State, however they were victorious against Davenport.
On Friday, the Wildcats faced off against Ferris State, who is currently ranked 1st in the nation. Ferris State is currently undefeated, with them winning all three sets against NMU. The team put up three solid sets, with the scores being 15-25, 24-26, and 22-25. Jacquline Smith recorded 13 kills during her time on the court.
In the first set, the team managed to put up 15 points, with seven kills and six errors. The second set was tied at the beginning, and then the Wildcats finally took the lead for the first time in the two sets. After a timeout from Ferris, NMU lost the lead and Ferris began to take control of the set, going 8-1, to make the set 19-16.
To end the match, both teams rallied until the end, with Ferris making the final points to make the match 24-26. The third set of this game was a difficult one, with Ferris coming out on top again. NMU had the lead for the start of the set, leading 7-2. After a series of back and forth from both sides of the court, Ferris ended up taking the last set and won 22-25.
In the second set of matches in this past weekend’s matches, the Wildcats struggled within the first two sets of the match, however they were able to come together and win the last three sets of the game. The set scores included 18-25, 18-25, 25-12, 25-19, and 16-14. This win clinched the team a top-four seed going into the GLIAC tournaments in the next few weeks. Smith was on fire again, and clocked in a total of 21 kills. A few of her teammates, including Kaysie Bakke added 12 kills, and Meghan Meyer added 10. These contributed to a .409 hitting percentage, and a .267 for digs.
Even though the Wildcats did not have the strongest start to their game, they came back strong. Meyer said at the end of the game, “Davenport came out hot and we weren’t ready to play. It took us longer than we wanted to get going, but we leaned on each other and battled through and pulled out a win.” Liesl Haugen led the team in digs, with 23 in this set of matches alone.
The team rounds out their regular season with two final matches against Lake Superior State University and Saginaw Valley State University. Following those matches, the team goes into the GLIAC tournament finals. The team will play in the quarter finals on Nov. 20. A time and location for the tournament is yet to be determined, but will be announced soon.
