NMU Volleyball Finishes Home Season With Split

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RRN Interviews with Coach Mike Rozier from both matches.

SATURDAY'S MATCH RECAP

MARQUETTE---Northern Michigan University Volleyball honored their three seniors prior to Saturday's match with #20 Ferris State University and captured the third set, but the Wildcats fell to the league's top team in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup.

The first set saw both teams trade points until a 13-13 tie. FSU broke the tie with three points but NMU quickly made it 18-17. The Bulldogs made it 21-18 but sophomore Lizzy Stark (Minneapolis, Minn.) answered with two kills from freshman Lauren Van Remortel (Carmel, Ind.) to make it 21-20. However, FSU was able to finish the set on a 4-1 run to win 25-21.

The guests opened the second set continuing their run but NMU rallied back to pull within 22-19. FSU was then able to score three points and made an error to win the second set 25-20.

NMU recovered in the third set to take an early 8-2 lead. Ferris State narrowed the lead to 12-8 but the Wildcats answered with four points, getting kills from Stark, Van Remortel and freshman Abigail Durecki (South Lyon, Mich.), and an ace by sophomore Alli Yacko (Oak Lawn, Mich.) to move the NMU lead up to 16-8.

FSU rallied back with four points then the teams traded points with blocks before Durecki and sophomore Hailey Wickstrom (Calumet, Mich.) notched kills to make it 20-13. Wickstrom then answered a three-point run from the Bulldogs with a kill and Durecki added an ace before an FSU error moved the lead up to 23-16.

A Wickstrom kill soon made it 24-18 then an error from the guests gave NMU a 25-21 third set victory.

Both teams traded points to a 13-13 tie but the Bulldogs then went on a 6-2 run to make it 19-15 with NMU taking advantage of a service error and a block by the pair of Durecki and Wickstrom. Durecki then added a kill to make it 19-16.

Errors from both teams would make it 21-17 before sophomore Alyssa Milski (Oregon, Wis.) moved the score to a 23-19 Bulldog lead. Van Remortel and Stark notched kills but it wasn't enough as FSU captured the set 25-21 and win the match 3-1.

Stark paced the offense with 18 kills. Durecki added 15 kills with three errors and Kuehn tallied 12 with just two errors. Van Remortel posted 46 assists.

Durecki also notched two aces and Yacko had one.

Defensively, Yacko led the way with 15 digs. Van Remortel had 14 and freshman Madeline Crowley (Green Bay, Wis.) finished with 12.

Durecki led the net protection with six blocks. Wickstrom had four blocks as did Kuehn.

The Wildcats will return to action next weekend and conclude their regular season by taking to the road to visit Saginaw Valley State University Friday night then Lake Superior State University Saturday afternoon.

NMU is currently tied with Wayne State University for the sixth seed in the GLIAC Tournament and are a game back of Grand Valley State University for the fifth seed. The Wildcats hold the tiebreaker over both the Warriors and the Lakers.

FRIDAY'S MATCH RECAP

MARQUETTE---Northern Michigan University Volleyball clinched a spot in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament after they swept Northwood University 3-0 in a GLIAC matchup Friday afternoon.

The match started at a 2-2 tie but the Wildcats went on a 12-4 run, capped by an ace by freshman Madeline Crowley (Green Bay, Wis.) to make it 14-6. The Timberwolves were able to rally and narrowed the gap to a 20-15 NMU lead but after an NU error, senior Sarah Kuehn (Green Bay, Wis.) smashed two kills around an error from the visitors to make it 24-16.

NU was able to score another point but freshman Lauren Van Remortel (Carmel, Ind.) found Kuehn for another kill to give the Wildcats a 25-17 first set win.
The Wildcats posted 16 kills in the first set on 42 attempts, hitting at a .381 clip and did not commit an error throughout the set.

The two teams played even to start the second set until an 8-8 tie. The Wildcats then went on a 6-1 run to make it 15-9. Northwood rebounded and eventually tied the set again at 21-21.

At this point, the Wildcats notched three straight kills as sophomore Lizzy Stark (Minneapolis, Minn.), freshman Abigail Durecki (South Lyon, Mich.) and redshirt freshman Hailey Wickstrom (Calumet, Mich.) all notched kills to give NMU a 24-21 lead. Durecki then got the set-winner after an NU point to make it 25-22 and give NMU the set victory.

NMU took an early lead in the third set and continued to cruise through the set, winning the set 25-19.

NMU was led by Kuehn and she led the way with 12 kills and just two errors. Wickstrom and Stark both added 11 kills wit Wickstrom committing zero errors on the day. As a team, NMU committed just 10 errors on 116 attempts to finish with a hitting percentage of .293.

Van Remortel tallied 37 assists and also had an ace. Sophomore Alli Yacko (Oak Lawn, Ill.) and Crowley also had an ace.

Yacko paced the defensive backline with 18 digs. Sophomore Lauren Caprini (St. Charles, Ill.) notched 10 digs with Van Remortel, Crowley and Stark all chipping in with eight.
At the net, Kuehn posted two solo blocks and two block assists to finish with four total blocks, tying Durecki's four for the team's lead.

Wickstrom aided the effort with three and Stark contributed two.