The NI
men’s volleyball team hosted the Lakeland College Muskies just one week after
they traveled to Sheboygan. A week ago the Pioneers took a 3–1 match at
Lakeland. “I wasn’t sure which LC team would show up, but I knew Coach Schreiber
would have his team ready to play. They are a good program with some
competitive pride,” mentioned Coach Herron before the match. The Pioneers had
come off a long weekend with no play and three days to rest. It appeared that the
NI side had more energy for the night. The Pioneers hit an amazing .403 and had 5
aces and 6 solo blocks for the match. The match went to NI with scores of
25–12, 25–20, and 25–18.
In the first
set NI opened up a 14–5 lead on strong serving that dictated easy balls back
to the NI side, which were converted for points. The lead was pushed to 19–8 on
Muskie hitting errors. Steven Yates scored two consecutive “Red sets” for kills,
and set one was put away for the Pioneers. Set two had NI climb into the
driver seat with a 13–9 lead. The LC block and some unforced Pioneer errors
helped even the score at 15–15. A couple of strong serves, including an ace by
Micah Herron, gave a 20–18 lead to the home team. Another Herron ace followed by
consecutive Yates kills gave set two to NI. Set three had NI under control of
the momentum and a 13–9 lead. A series of poor attempts at serve receive let LC
back in at 13–12. A Pioneer timeout with a lead of 17–15 had a challenge issued
to the NI defense. “There are no options on defense; you either get the ball
or you don’t. If you don’t make the effort, we can find someone that will,”
Coach Herron stated during the timeout. The Pioneers only allowed two more
points as they outscored LC 8–2 on the way to a final set score 25–18.Coach
Herron summarized, “I know we had upperclassmen playing against an LC lineup
with freshmen and sophomores.”
Andrew
Schilling , a team captain noted after the match, “We have been working hard on
having a competitive attitude every time we step on the floor. A lot of us are
going to be done with our playing career in about three weeks. We must make every
play count and enjoy the competitive atmosphere!”NI will travel to Concordia University on Friday, March 12, for a tri-match with CUW and UWGB. They then return to campus for a
nonconference match before the team members leave for Spring Break. The last
home match for NI is on March 29 against Michigan Tech before the
WVC State Tournament at UW-Oshkosh on April 1-2.