The
Northland women’s volleyball team has progressed along with hard work and
diligence to learn. For the first week in a long season, the team stood at the
brink of winning all their matches. The past week began with a three-set victory
over UW Fond du Lac at home with most of the reserves playing. A match with UW
Marinette on October 11 was cancelled because of a power outage. Over the weekend, the Lady Pioneers played North Central University (NCU), from Minnesota, and Midwest Regional opponent Kuyper College (KC), from Michigan. Coach Herron summed up the week: “We have been gradually improving and
playing well. The teams this weekend would be a good measure of our success.
North Central is a leading candidate to win the North Central NCCAA region and
Kuyper will be our first round opponent in the Midwest Region tournament in a
couple of weeks. The players are making automatic responses in competitive
situations. We learned a valuable lesson at the end of the weekend!”
On Friday,
October 14, Northland played their opening match against NCU. Northland gained some easy points with good serves. The Lady Pioneer defense converted well, and the team won by scores of 25-19, 25-10, and 25-15. Marissa Hawley was
the leading attacker with nine kills. Alyse Sugimoto had twenty-six assists, and Ellie Hodak
had thirteen digs. The second team of the evening was a regional opponent that was contending for the #4 seed for the Midwest Regional Tournament coming up in two weeks.
The team knew the importance of winning this match. In the first set, Northland served and defended excellently, and won 25-14. In set two, KC played hard and gained a 22-19 lead. The Lady
Pioneers battled and won several side-outs, catching up to KC at 27-27. Beth
Leeds put a ball away at the net, then Alyse Sugimoto served an ace, and set
two went to NI 29-27. Northland kept up the momentum in set three and won 25-20.
On Saturday, October 15, the same teams came back to the PAC for rematch games. Northland
challenged Kuyper again and won the the first two sets 25-12 and 25-19. The Lady Pioneers took a 23-18 lead in the third set. However, a series of hitting errors
and misplayed balls gave the advantage to KC, who won the set at 23-25. Northland battled
back in set four and gained a 22-14 lead, which they used to push to a 25-14 win. Ellie Hodak
led the way offensively with twelve kills. Valerie Stauff followed with seven kills.
Alyse Sugimoto had three aces to go along with thirty-four assists. Melissa Moisant added
sixteen digs defensively. NCU returned in the last match of the weekend with a
very determined attitude. Coach Herron tried to warn against a letdown. “We had
a couple of starters who were physically not ready to perform. I had another
couple of freshman starters who seemed distracted. I had a setter who was
nearing the empty mark on her tank.” The Rams from Minnesota, on the other hand, were well-rested and ready to play. Set one was close with only a 1-2 point lead up to a 20-20 tie
score. Northland pushed to a 24-22 lead, and then got outscored 4-0 and lost
24-26. Coach Herron commented, “That alone told me that NCU was not going to just give up.” Set two was close as well, with the teams tying at 15 and at
19. Northland's weak serve
receive contributed to their loss with a score of 19-25. Coach Herron urged the
team to stand up and show some competitive character. Set three was won by the Lady Pioneers with a score
of 25-19. Four aces and good defense by Moisant led the way. In set four, Northland controlled the game up to a 21-19 lead. NCU came back to take a 23-21 lead, but
the Pioneer defense stiffened, and Northland outscored the Rams 5-1 to pull out
a 26-24 win.
Coach Herron described set five as a situation that “we wanted to be in. This is something
we need to experience. We don’t need to win easy—we need to know how to battle
and make pressure plays!”
NCU gained a 10-4 lead early on in set five through Northland's hitting and digging errors. With strong serves and excellent defense, Junior Melissa Moisant, a captain, brought Northland within an 9-13 margin. However, a wide serve gave the match point to NCU at 14-9. NCU was ready to attack and won 15-9 to take the match.
Marissa
Hawley led Northland's attacks with eleven kills, followed by Stauff and Hodak with eight each. Hodak had three aces and thirty-four digs. Sugimoto had forty-three assists along with a few aces. Coach Herron summarized, “Of all the
losses this season, this one was the easiest to take because I saw the team
stand up and battle. We should not have put ourselves in the situation, but our
opponent had some competitive pride and refused to quit. That is what we needed
to experience. Our Midwest Regional Tournament is extremely tough, and we need to be
ready!”
The
Pioneers host Finlandia on Tuesday, October 18, then Gogebic and Cardinal
Stritch on Friday, October 21 in a tri-match. The Midwest Regional NCCAA Tournament
is at Maranatha in Watertown, Wisconsin on Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29.