The women’s volleyball team of Northland International University entered
the first week of classes and the tougher part of their schedule. Coach Herron
commented, “I had some anxiety on how we would adjust to the daily academic
demands on top of match play. That is part of being a student-athlete, and we
must deal with it.” The Lady Pioneers traveled to Alverno College on Wednesday, September 8,
for a tri-match with the host and Lawrence University. Northland then hosted UW-Marathon in the first home match for the Pioneer campus.
In
the away match at Alverno, the Pioneers played well and won by scores of
25–17, 25–16, and 25–10. “The Inferno are going through another coaching change and
adjusting to a new system. We played points well and took care of our side of
the net,” Coach Herron summarized. Brittany Scott led the Northland effort at the net
with 9 kills and 3 blocks. Ellie Hodak contributed 12 kills and 11 digs. Beth
Leeds added 6 kills and 2 blocks to go along with 14 assists from Abi Walker.
The second match of the day was with Lawrence University, a strong NCAA III team from
Appleton, Wisconsin. “Coach Herron tried to exhort us to be ready to meet the
challenge. We were told this team would be the best team we have played yet,”
commented Brittany Scott. The first set had LU hammer the Pioneers 25–10.
Between sets Coach Herron challenged the Northland side to step up and use the
situation to be a “competitor.” Set two had LU take another win 25–20. In set three
with the score 10–13, LU ran off 8 straight points to increase the score 14–21,
and Northland lost 17–25. The Northland team won some hustle points but lost most of the
muscle points to a very skilled team! Coach Herron commented after the match,
“Self-confidence is not a skill I can instruct or an ability I can improve. I
can influence it some, but players must have that inner drive to meet the
adversities of athletic competition!”
On Friday, September10, the
Lady Pioneers enjoyed the first home contest on campus as they welcomed UW-Marathon—last year’s Wisconsin junior college champions. “Sometimes playing at
home is more of a challenge than playing on the road. Our fans are super
supportive, and it gets loud and crazy,” commented senior Abi Walker. The home
team was ready for the challenge and came out strong in the first set, taking a 14–11
and then 19–15 lead. Ellie Hodak increased it to 22–16 with a pair of kills.
Brittany Scott put a ball away to claim the first set, 25–17. Set two had the
visitors raise their level of play. Northland battled to stay in the match with the
score being tied at 13–3, 17–17, and 19–19. From the last tied score, Northland had
trouble scoring and lost 21–25. Coach Herron explained, “We get stuck in a rotation where we can’t or
won’t swing aggressively/intelligently, and the opponent ran points on us.” Set three had the Pioneers get caught in a rotation where no one could put the ball
away, and they found themselves down 4–17 and eventually lost 10–25. Before set four
Coach Herron challenged the home team to “show some character” and respond. “We
have a great home crowd, and they will decide if the effort is being made in how
we respond to the opponent,” Coach Herron challenged. The right side of the
offense was pointed out as needing to improve point production. Coach Herron
changed the rotation to get some more offense at the net. Set four had Northland playing
hard, and the score was tied four times until UWM squirted ahead at 15–13. Ellie
Hodak was playing great on defense and offense and was THE hitter for Northland,
gaining 4 kills up to this point of set four. A lack of defense by the Pioneer’s special defensive players put the home team down 15–18. After a time-out and some
encouragement, the Pioneers outscored UWM 6–4 to make it 21–22. Coach Herron
made a substitution that almost worked for the home team. Chelsea Behn went in
to play MB and got a kill to even the score at 23–23. “We wanted Brittany Scott
to get into the OH position and score.” A long rally ended though with the Northland
setter making a poor choice, and no attack was had for a 23–24 deficit. A service ace put the match away for the visitors. Ellie Hodak had 1 ace, 18
digs, and 9 kills. Brittany Scott had 1 ace, 14 kills, and 9 assists. Abi Walker
had 15 assists, 2 aces, and 9 digs.Coach
Herron again exhorted the team to return to practice and put the time in to
improve. “Ability to play becomes capability to compete through trial. We will
learn how to deal with the challenges of play through the repetitions in
practice. Players must want to get better, and there are some specific, leading
players who MUST get better!”
The Northland team is off for the weekend
before traveling locally to UW-Marinette. Northland will host North Central
University on Friday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m. Coach Herron and the team are appreciative of
the great, home-crowd support and invite all to participate.