On Tuesday, September 6, the Pioneers took on UW Marinette. The Pioneers
found themselves down 0-2 in sets and came back to even it 2-2.They fell behind
12-14 in set five, but some unforced hitting errors by the UW Marinette hitters helped
Northland win. Beth Leeds, Ellie Hodak and Marissa Hawley contributed fourteen, thirteen,
and fifteen kills respectively. Melissa Moisant had fourteen digs on the defensive side. This close win (21-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-10, and 16-14) was the last for awhile.
The Lady
Pioneers entertained four teams on campus over Friday and Saturday, September 9 and 10. Four matches
played and four losses were recorded for the Northland women's volleyball ledger. “There was
some success in play, and we were very competitive at times, but not enough for
a consistent effort,” commented Coach Herron. On Friday,
September 9, the Northland women’s team welcomed state community college champion UW Marathon and Midwest Regional
opponent Maranatha Baptist Bible College (MBBC) to the Pioneer Activity Center. This was the first home
match for the Pioneers after two weeks on the road. The Pioneers lost in four sets to UW Marathon, 16-25, 25-18, 25-27, and 17-25.
The Lady Pioneers played aggressively after starting slow, almost gaining the
solid 2-1 lead after the third set, but faltered in the end.
Next up on Friday evening was interstate NCCAA foe MBBC. This match was lost in four as well. “We
really competed well for the first two sets and then hit a wall again,” Coach Herron explained. The offensive leaders are under a lot of pressure in games like this one; their errors make scoring and holding the momentum more difficult. Coach Herron feels that this
team has potential, but mistakes must be eliminated. He added, “Points are given away
because of careless errors when a player doesn’t concentrate on what needs to be
done or the next positive play. Points are also lost because of selfish errors
when a player concentrates too much on what just happened with them and the
last error committed. It is a hard lesson but it must be learned.”
On Saturday,
the Eagles from Dayspring College (DC) came to campus for the first time. Dayspring has an
independent team that has won two previous matches this season. Northland was
ready to battle and extended the match to five sets. On the court switch in the
fifth match, Northland had an 8-5 lead; however, as the final match progressed, DC outscored the Pioneers 10-3 and
won in the end (25-22, 17-25, 21-25, 25-22, and 11-15). Ellie Hodak had twelve kills, and
Marissa Hawley had fifteen. Alyse Sugimoto dished out fifty assists. The last
match of the weekend was against another Midwest Regional team—Moody Bible
Institute. Coach Herron commented, “I tried to get the team to understand the
long-term implications in competing against these regional opponents. Match
results weigh into seeding. We have three teams in the national top ten in our
region, and we want to battle and get a good seed for our regional tournament.”
The weight of the demand proved hard to carry, and Northland lost in four, with scores of
23-25, 25-20, 11-25, and 18-25. Freshmen Marissa Hawley and Valerie
Stauff led the attack with twelve and eight kills respectively.
Coach Herron
knows the road has been tough but still believes that this team can be strong
at the end. “Nothing of any value comes easy. Anybody can quit when face
with adversity; winners find a way. God has blessed them with talent—they
just need to keep working!” Northland travels to Gogebic College on Tuesday, September 13, then welcomes Mt. Mary on Friday, September 16, at 7:30 p.m in the Pioneer Activity Center.