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Eye-opening opener

MARQUETTE -For an athletic – but young – team playing its first fall match together, Thursday night was an eye opener for the Northern Michigan University volleyball squad.

As the No. 3 preseason team in the country, Minnesota-Duluth, showed what elite play looked like with a 25-16, 25-12, 25-15 victory in the season opener for any and all NCAA Division II teams nationwide.

“We have an extremely young team, but it’s about playing the game and executing,” NMU eighth-year head coach Dominic Yoder said. “I think we have as much athleticism as Duluth, but we’re still learning.

“We made mistakes you’d expect from a team this young.”

The Bulldogs, No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association Preseason Top 25 Poll in D2, featured several good hitters. UMD totaled 40 kills with four players accounting for 36 of them.

The Wildcats didn’t take their first lead of the evening until 7-6 in the third set, but it wasn’t for lack of defensive effort.

Time and again, though more consistently as the match wore on, Northern defenders dug out balls inches above the court off big booming Bulldog hits.

“We have a new setter this year (junior Stacy Kalsbeek), and she hasn’t played at this level in a few years,” Yoder said. “She’s still learning and we’re going to have to rely on our defense.”

Junior Alex Berger led the way with 12 digs, more than twice as many as any of her teammates.

Duluth seemed to have the most trouble when NMU placed its hits rather than the big booming slams that can get the crowd, listed at 367 on Thursday, oohing and aahing.

“We’re used to defending the big hits,” 13th-year UMD coach Jim Boos said. “With all the digs Northern was making, it was a good test for us. We had to keep coming at them.”

Yoder alluded to some youthful mistakes by his team, and some came from leaving Bulldogs hitters a wide-open look at the court and the choice of hard hits or well-placed softer taps.

Northern fell into 3-0 and 8-4 holes in the first set before narrowing the gap to 11-9. Duluth then reeled off a 6-1 run to take control at 17-10 and coasted from there, getting cross-court hits inbounds when the Wildcats would go wide.

The second set was all Bulldogs when a 6-0 start quickly ballooned to 15-4.

Following a short break, Northern caught its collective breath in the third set as super sub and freshman Jamie Maus served five points as the ‘Cats took a 7-6 lead to raucous cheering, especially from fellow students.

But their 11-9 lead dissolved when junior libero Ashley Hinsch put up six straight points to effectively end Northern’s threat.

Both teams head to Houghton for the Keweenaw Classic, with NMU facing Upper Iowa at 1 p.m. today, and Minnesota schools Bemidji State and Winona State on Saturday afternoon.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 246. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal. net.

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