After 1-9 start, Wildcats conclude campaign 15-14
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan volleyball team hosted the Parkside Rangers in the opening round of the GLIAC Tournament on Wednesday night, falling 3-1 to end the season at 15-14.
The Wildcats came out strong out of the gates, scoring nine of the match’s first 10 points. NMU hung on to take set one 25-23, but the Rangers answered with tight 25-19, 25-23, and 25-22 victories over the following three sets to secure the upset in the 3 vs. 6 matchup.
Northern hit .114 in the match, the lowest total over the last 12 matches. The Rangers attacked at a .194 percentage and recorded 66 kills to NMU’s 42. McKenzie Gruner closed her senior campaign with a team-high 12 kills and 3.5 blocks. Avary Polavin and Sierra Kilbourn co-led the Rangers with 17 kills apiece.
Despite the loss, Northern showed perseverance this season. From a team that started 1-9 and lost 26 straight sets, the team stuck together, going 14-4 over the final 18 matches to secure a winning record and finish third in the conference.
How it Happened
Northern came out firing, forcing a quick Parkside timeout with a 7-1 lead. NMU added two more points out of the stoppage, pushing its edge to 9-1. The Rangers battled back, cutting their deficit to two at 15-13 and again at 19-17. The Wildcats pushed back ahead 21-18, but UWP answered again and held its first lead at 23-22. This time, NMU answered, as a Gruner kill set up a set point and an overturned challenge secured the tight 25-23 win for the ‘Cats.
Both teams had their lowest hitting frame in the first, with the Wildcats hitting .024 and Parkside managing a .103 clip.
Just like the first, the Green and Gold pushed ahead in the second, 6-2, and later 11-6. Parkside would score six of the next seven to even the set at 12-12 at the halfway point. Soon after, they scored five straight to lead 20-16 and did not look back, evening the match with a 25-19 victory over the ‘Cats in the second.
Once again, Northern built an advantage in the third. Extending the advantage to 12-7 and then 16-10, the Rangers responded with a 9-1 run to lead 19-17. A kill from Emilia Gulock evened the score at 21-21, but Parkside scored four of the final six to take set three 25-23, and lead the match 2-1.
Aces from Allie Barlow and Sydney Bartels powered the Wildcats to a 4-1 lead in a must-win set four. Parkside rattled off five straight to lead. The set followed with back-and-forth action, with Northern briefly regaining the edge at 16-15. That’d be the only lead they would see, as Parkside scored the next three and closed the set with two kills from Kilbourn and the match-winning kill from Sam Fisch.
