Over the weekend, the NMU volleyball team headed out to Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State to compete in two very strong matches.
First, the Wildcats traveled down to Saginaw Valley, looking to add to the win column after coming off wins in their last two games.
“We knew going into the weekend, we had a chance to maybe sweep the weekend, we were going to have to play well in order to do so,” Head Coach Mike Lozier said.
The Cats went through all five sets with the Cardinals, winning the first 25-19, third 25-18, and fifth 15-9 to secure the overall win against the GLIAC rival.
“That first set we were able to pull that out. The second set was miserable. We’re down 14-1 at one point…in the fourth set, we kind of let the lead get away from us. And, you know, you can kind of feel the energy shifting in favor of Saginaw…But our team did a really nice job of coming together before that fifth set. And, just really, how you win fifth sets is just take care of the ball, make the other team press, and that’s what we kind of did,” Lozier said.
Junior libero Lauren Cardwell helped the Cats with 10 digs throughout the sets. Along with fellow libero freshman Taylor Smaka, who had four digs in the win.
Middleback sophomore Emilia Gulock came away with one dig, one assist, two blocks, and 14 kills to help lead the Cats to victory. Sophomore right-side hitter Madison York had one assist, two blocks, two digs, and ten kills. Junior setter Allie Barlow came away with a recorded 56 assists, two kills, and 15 digs. All helped the Wildcats earn the win over Saginaw before focusing on Lake State.
Now moving into the game against Lake Superior State. The team was looking to add to the win column on this weekend’s trip.
This time the Wildcats fought hard early, shutting out Lake Superior State 3-0. Taking the first set 25-20, followed by 25-19, and 25-11.
Leading the Cats in this game, as well as the Saginaw game, was senior middleback McKenzie Gruner. Gruner in the sets against Lake Superior had two of each: blocks, digs, and assists, as well as recording 16 kills to lead the team.
“Kenzie Gruner in particular, was unbelievable in the middle, and the only way Kenzie can be unbelievable is if we’re passing the ball well. So a lot of credit goes to our passers getting us in system, which was great. So to win that match was awesome,” Coach Lozier said.
Junior outside hitter Kaysie Bakke had nine kills with one dig in the win. Junior Liesl Haugen earned GLIAC defensive player of the week with her performance over the weekend, recording 25 digs and three assists against Saginaw and 16 digs with three assists against Lake Superior.
“(Haugen) is in only her second week back coming off a concussion, and you know, to have her holding down her defense I think gives a lot of confidence to those people around her when we were struggling, I think a lot of it was just the absence of her personality…so to have her back on the court I think was really instrumental in our success this weekend,” Lozier said.
This weekend the Wildcats are back on the road. First the team will stop to play against Rival Michigan Tech on Thursday before the team heads South to compete against Purdue Northwest on Saturday. The team will be back in Hammond, IN where Purdue Northwest is located, next weekend when the Cats take part in the Midwest Regional Volleyball Crossover.
“We’re gonna be ready for that at Michigan Tech. So the hope is that that was kind of a learning experience and the best way to quiet a crowd obviously is to to do it on the scoreboard,” Lozier said.
