NMU volleyball wins at Lake Erie

PAINESVILLE, Ohio — Northern Michigan University (3-5, 3-0 GLIAC) made quick work of the Lake Erie Storm winning in straight sets with scores of 25-16, 25-12, 25-20. The Wildcats hit .300 over the match as they only committed 12 attacking errors. NMU also had four blocks at the net and had six service aces in the victory.

The night started out a tight affair as NMU and Lake Erie went back and forth in the first set. The first started out to a 15-15 tie with the two teams being tied 11 different times up to that point. The end of the set would be all Wildcats, however, as NMU took advantage of three Storm miscues to go on a 10-1 run to end the set 25-16. Freshman middle hitter Kayla Chosa would record three kills during the run to lead NMU.

An early 3-3 draw started the second set, but the Wildcats would take over and run away with the set from there. NMU was able to take advantage of four Lake Erie errors to go on a 7-0 run and take a 10-3 lead. That lead was able to hold up as the back row for NMU did a great job by not allowing the Storm to go on any runs to get back into the game. The second set finished with a 25-12 tally.

In what proved to be the final set, NMU jumped out to a 9-6 lead. The Wildcats were then able to go on a 5-0 run to take a 14-6 lead with freshman Madison Whitehead recording three kills during the streak. NMU was unable to close out the set as Lake Erie continually chipped away at the Wildcat lead and eventually cut the lead down to two at 22-20. The Wildcats were able to stay composed, though and closed out the match with a 3-0 run ending the set at 25-20.

Freshmen setters Meghan Seymour and Jami Hogeboom did a good job spreading the ball around as four different Wildcats recorded five or more kills on the night led by Whitehead’s game high 10. Junior libero Alex Berger led the back row once again with 15 digs on the night. Freshman left side hitter Jami Maus followed Berger with double digit digs at 12. Berger also had a game high three service aces on the night.

“The offense really perked up tonight behind career nights for Chosa and Whitehead,” commented Head Coach Dominic Yoder after the victory. “Berger passed and played very good defense for us in the win.”

NMU finishes the weekend tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 20 when they travel to take on Ashland University with first serve scheduled for 2 p.m.

(Information Courtesy of NMU Athletics)