NMU Volleyball ends 5 game skid; sweep Lake State

Courtesy NMU Athletics
MARQUETTE, Mich. -The Northern Michigan volleyball team got back on track tonight with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-19) sweep of Lake Superior State tonight (Oct. 28) at Vandament Arena.

With the win, the Wildcats snap a five-match losing streak and improve to 13-11 overall and 10-5 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference. The Lakers fall to 7-15 overall and 4-10 in the GLIAC.

NMU opened the first set in dominating fashion, jumping out to a 20-10,
thanks to a strong service performance from Abby Lovell. The junior setter served nine straight points for the Cats and closed out the set with an unassisted kill.

The Lakers put up a strong fight in the second set, staying toe-to-toe
with the Cats throughout. It wasn’t until the set was tied at 20-20
before NMU was able to break free from LSSU and win four of its next five points off of Laker attack errors.

Out of the break, the Cats were determined to finish the night off with a
sweep. NMU trailed only once, at 1-0, the entire third set, fighting off
a pesky LSSU offensive attack at the end. Senior Catherine Waybright
netted three consecutive service aces and four in all during the third
set, providing the ‘Cats with the confidence needed to take the set and the match.
This was a good win for us tonight, said head coach Dominic Yoder. We got some of our confidence back and hopefully it carriers over to
tomorrow’s match.

Senior defensive specialist Catherine Waybright started her first match of the season, contributing a career high six service aces. Catherine helped our service game rebound from the difficulty we had last
weekend, said Yoder. Our service game was an improvement tonight.”

The Cats were led offensively by junior middle hitter Sami Vierk, with 10 kills. Junior setter Abby Lovell established the offensive threat with 25 assists. Defensively junior libero Kalin Zimmerman led the defensive front with 17 digs.

NMU is back in action at 4 p.m. Saturday (10/29) against Northwood.
Tomorrow’s match against Northwood will be a test for us because they are just one spot behind us in the north division standings, said Yoder.