NMU to face SVSU in GLIAC quarterfinals

MARQUETTE – The Northern Michigan University volleyball team is the No. 4 seed in the GLIAC Tournament. The Wildcats will host the No. 5 seed, Saginaw Valley State in the quarterfinal round Wednesday night at Vandament Arena.

The two teams just played each other in Marquette back on Nov. 1. That day, the Cardinals came away with a five set win.

“The middle three- Findlay, us, and Saginaw Valley are all about the same,” said NMU head coach Dominic Yoder. “We all matchup very well against each other. Saginaw Valley plays extremely good defense- they play almost the same style of defense that we play.”

“It’s going to come down to our freshmen understanding that they are going to have to take a lot of swings on the volleyball to get one kill. Saginaw Valley really showed us their hand the last time they were here, so there’s going to be nothing new for them to understand how to play at a high level,” Yoder went on to say.

“When we played them the first time, their defense was phenomenal,” said NMU left side hitter Lisa Studnicka. “We’ve been working on our offense and our blocking, so we’re really excited to get another try at them.”

“We were in a tough spot, dropping to fifth place (In the GLIAC standings)  and we knew we had to win both of our games in order to get our home spot back. We took care of business this weekend, so we’re real excited to play in front of our home crowd,” added Studnicka.

“It’s super awesome to be able to be at home for the first round,” said NMU libero Alex Berger. “That home crowd support gives you not an upper hand, but a little more energy and drive when you’re playing because you have people that are supporting you. You’re at home, in your own bed, the little things like that are super great and we love playing at Vandament.”

The game begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday.