NMU Volleyball team ready for GLIAC tournament

Courtesy of NMU Athletics

MARQUETTE, Mich.- The No. 5 seed Northern Michigan University volleyball team travels to the No. 4 seed Ashland University on Wednesday (Nov. 14) at 7 p.m. to open up the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Volleyball Tournament.

The ‘Cats are 20-11 overall and finished 12-6 in the GLIAC, while the Eagles are 22-7 and 12-6 in conference play. Ashland defeated NMU in five sets on Sept. 22 to take the tiebreaker.

In the first meeting, junior Lina Lopes led NMU with 18 kills while junior Sarah Hamilton added 14. Freshman Lisa Studnicka and junior Kalli Herron each added nine kills. Junior Kellisha Harley setup the offense with 54 assists and led the team with 24 digs. Freshman Alex Berger added 23 digs while Lopes had 22.

For the Eagles, Brittany Snider led her team with 29 kills and added 14 digs as they snapped NMU’s six-match winning streak.

NMU and Ashland also met in the GLIAC Quarterfinal a season ago as the four and five seeds. Ashland defeated NMU in three straight sets in Ohio.

Northern finished the regular season, winning seven of its last nine, including two 3-1 victories over Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State last weekend.

Lopes leads the NMU offense with 357 kills on the season, Herron (335), Studnicka (247) and Hamilton (241) also have over 200 kills. The ‘Cats are out-blocking their opponents 328-295 the season. Hamilton leads with 88 total blocks, while Herron has 79 and senior Jasmine Calhoun with 73. On the defensive side of the ball, Zimmerman has 340 digs and Lopes with 290. Harley leads the GLIAC with 1,243 assists and is averaging 10.27 per set.

Ashland comes off of a split at home on the weekend, defeating Wayne State 3-1 on Friday (Nov. 9) and falling in five sets to Findlay on Saturday (Nov. 10).

Brittany Snider dominates the offense with 475 kills on the season, with Marci Zagarac leads the defense on 455 digs.

The winner advances to the GLIAC Semifinal on Saturday to play the winner of the No. 1 Northwood and 8 Findlay matchup at a site to be determined. The GLIAC Championship is at 2 p.m. on Sunday.