In their
only home match of the first semester, the Northland MVB hosted the Michigan Tech (MTU)
Huskies on Monday, December 5, at the Pioneer Athletic Center. The
Huskies were coming off a good finish of a preseason tournament, and the Pioneer
men had played one tournament as well. “MTU has four solid starters and some really
good new players for them. We have two starters back and a lot of inexperience,
so I knew it would be a challenge,” commented Coach Herron. The coaching staff of both teams agreed to
play the ‘B’ teams in the second set. MTU brought nine players, and Northland had sixteen on
their sideline. “Our B group needed to play, and I had committed to them the
second game. They did a very good job and it was evident they were well-coached
by my assistant. They won their game 25-19. My group was 0-3, so I guess we need
a coaching change,” said Coach Herron, tongue-in-cheek.
The scores
of the match were 18-25, 25-19, 16-25, and 19-25. Northland had some trouble with
serve-receive and defense at the net. The attackers were a bit more effective
this match, hitting .158. Andrew Summers had nine kills for the match followed by
Bryce Guerrero and Cory Jones with six each. The middle of the Northland net continues
to be a bit unproductive with only seven kills total. Josh Netz was the best
defender with seventeen digs and a 2.15 pass average. Byron Aynes continues to improve
at the setter position, gaining twenty-six assists for the match.
“We didn’t
serve tough enough against MTU’s side. It was too easy to score points for
them. We didn’t block or dig well enough to have a chance,” said captain Andrew
Summers. The Pioneers found themselves down by 4-6 points early in every set
they lost. The Pioneers have a couple of week rotations where the OH cannot
side-out; consequently, the opponent has an easy time of increasing the lead.
The team will go on their winter break and then return to action on January 23
in preparation for acting as host of the WVC play date on January 28 at the
PAC on campus. Coach Herron summed up the semester effort: “I know we are
dealing with a learning curve. It has been difficult, but anybody can quit and
get frustrated. The harder thing to do is to bear down and improve. God would
have us to work hard and work together!”