The NI
men’s volleyball team played their last regular season match before the WVC
State Tournament in a home match at the Pioneer Athletic Center on Tuesday
night, March 29. They hosted the Huskies from Michigan Tech who had
just come off their conference tournament this past weekend. Coach Herron
commented, “I can only judge and encourage our commitment to play. I am
concerned with a concentrated effort from my group, and that is all I can
control!” The Pioneer men took the match by scores of 25–21, 25–23, and 25–17. Prior
to the feature game between the Varsity teams, the “B” groups played. Coach Barb
Herron took her team to a victorious 23–25, 25–18, and 15–9 win. This was the
programs Aloha Match where Coach Herron and the school said goodbye to the
seniors and graduating players. Those that will not be playing again at NI are
Isaac Cummins, Justin Delizo, Travis Jacobs, Andrew Schilling, Stephen Yates,
Stephen Jesperson, and Micah Herron. As a side note, Micah appears to be the last
relative of Coach Herron to be in the NI line-up. For the past fourteen years, Coach
Herron has had a son, daughter, nephew, or niece in the lineup. Coach Herron
encouraged the departing players with a word from the Scriptures: 1 Samuel
12:24 “But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your
heart; consider what great things He has done for you.”
Set one had
the Huskies serving tough, and the score was close with ties at 11–11, 15–15, 17–17,
and 20–20. Strong serving by NI forced some MTU errors, and a 25–21 win was gained.
Micah Herron stated, “We made a lot of careless errors early. Coach told us to
stay off the jump-spin serve. They were used to this and were making easy
passes. We started serving float serves, and we controlled play better.” Set two
was close up to a 16–13 lead for NI. Some strong net play by the Pioneers
pushed the lead to 20–17. A Herron “bic” was nicely executed, and the offense
rolled to a 24–19 lead. Then the NI serve receive went bad with a couple of
personnel changes. A Steven Yates kill followed by a Justin Delizo kill got the
match under NI control at 25–23. Set three had MTU struggling to connect
offensively, and Husky hitting errors gave a 13–9 lead to NI. Micah Herron
served tough, and the lead was increased to 20–13. A series of side-outs were
exchanged, and the Pioneers finally took the set and match with a 25–17 score.
Micah Herron led the attack with 13 kills followed by Steven Yates with 8
kills. Josh Netz was the best passer with an .89% efficiency. Andrew Schilling
had 32 assists. Herron also had 10 digs followed by Netz with 9.
Coach Herron
commented that he was happy for a couple of players who accepted their role and
produced on this night. Travis Jacobs came into the second set and served very
well. He also passed serve and played good defense. Justin Delizo is a great
team player who has had his role changed and has accepted that, doing
whatever is asked of him. Coach Herron summarized. “We know who can put balls
away for us. We know who has to make plays when it counts. IF we are going to
do well this weekend, I need players who stand ready to contribute and who will
just execute the right play! It is sometimes the small contributions that make
a big difference.”
The
Pioneers have two days of practice and then will travel to Oshkosh for the WVC State
Tournament at UW-Oshkosh on Friday and Saturday, April 1–2. NI enters as the #3
seeded team. They will begin play at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 1, in Pool B with UWGB and
Marquette.