On
Wednesday, September 15, Northland International University traveled across town to the UW Marinette gym for a contest
with the Lady Bucs. “We have been at it for about a month and our opponent is
in the early stages of their schedule. We should be consistently executing
certain aspects of the game,” noted Coach Herron. Set one of this contest had
the Pioneers control play from the beginning and hold leads of 18–10 and 22–16
on the way to a 25–16 win. Set two had the host Lady Bucs play with more
passion and execution themselves. Set two saw scores that were tied at 12, 16 and
18. The Lady Pioneers seemed content to play on “auto-pilot” while the
opponent was stepping on the gas. Northland did not respond to the coaching staff’s
exhortation and handed set two to UWM with a foot-fault for set point, losing
22–25. Set three had UWM continue to play unhindered, making enough plays to
keep it close at 13–11 in favor of Northland. Coach Herron realized that the team
was having trouble with rhythm. “We had a RS/S that was not playing well, so our
offense was not clicking. Our best MH was our worst at the moment. I made some
changes to reconnect our players, forcing them to focus on their teammates, and
it worked out,” Coach Herron stated. The Pioneers regained the momentum and
pushed a lead of 18–12. Some missed serves and an inability to attack let the
home team back in at 18–18. Rachel Swangim came in to serve, and the Pioneers
converted defensive plays to get the lead back at 22–19. Northland went on to win
set three by a score of 25–19. Set four started with some strong play at the net by
Brittany Scott, Beth Leads, and Ellie Hodak, and the lead was 19–10. With a
couple of more kills by Beth Leads, the lead went to 23–10. Abi Walker put away match
point with a kill, and the Pioneers won, 25–14.
On Friday, September 17, Northland hosted North Central
University. They are a leader in the North Central Region of the NCCAA and also
play as an NCAA III team in the strong UMAC. Brittany Scott said, “Coach Herron
tried to encourage us to come out aggressively. We were told that they would have
size on us, but bigger does not always mean that they are better. We had to serve
well and outwork them.”Northland controlled
the first set, winning 25–16. Set two had the home team playing great in front
of a great, home-crowd atmosphere and winning 25–14. Set three had play continue in
favor of the home team with a 13–6 lead. Coach Herron began to
substitute players that needed to experience the pressure of competition. The
lead dwindled to 16–13. The visiting Rams made a 21–23 deficit disappear to
tie the score at 23–23 and then to go ahead at 24–23. Strong defense and a will to
win helped the Pioneers to outscore the visitors by 3–2 in order to take set three with a 27–25
win. Abi Walker commented, “I think Coach Herron was trying to create some
adversity for us to work out of, and it made the seniors and experienced players
step up and lead!” The Pioneers go on the road at the end of next week to the
Archer Invite at MBI.