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Split down the middle: NMU volleyball gets win, loss to open season at UP North tourney

NMU volleyball gets win, loss to open season at UP North tourney

By Steve Brownlee 5 min read

MARQUETTE -- The volleyball team at Northern Michigan University got its season off to a solid start on Thursday, splitting a pair of matches to open its run at the UP North Volleyball Tournament the Wildcats are hosting at Vandament Arena.

That's not so bad considering Northern pulled off a four-set victory over Winona State to start in the afternoon, then lost in three sets to national No. 5 St. Cloud State in the evening.

Following a Friday night encounter with Minnesota-Duluth, NMU completes its four-match weekend with a matchup against Tiffin at 4:30 p.m. today back at Vandament, which is also the event's overall final match.

In all, seven teams are playing a total of a dozen matches in the event, which includes Michigan Tech and a number of other Midwest schools, along with California State East Bay.

There are four matches today, starting with MTU playing Cal State East Bay at 9 a.m. Following is an 11:30 a.m. match between Tiffin and Minnesota-Duluth, then a 2 p.m. one pitting MTU vs. Winona State.

After this weekend, the Wildcats return the favor with their West Coasts guests, playing in the Cal State East Bay Tournament next week, again playing four matches in three days, starting off with a 5 p.m. EDT match on Thursday vs. the hosts.

Here are details from NMU's Thursday play:

NMU 3, Winona 1

On Thursday afternoon, the Wildcats prevailed 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19 as freshman Anna O'Keefe got everyone's attention by making a match-high 20 kills in her collegiate debut.

Overall, Northern made 61 kills as teammates Kaylie McIntosh and KC Fortune each had 12 and Laynie Russell added 10.

Allie Barlow recorded 55 assists, nearly double of what Winona had as a team, and finished with 75 for the day. She also had a match-high three service aces.

Russell and O'Keefe each made three blocks, while the Wildcats' Liesl Haugen easily led all players with 28 digs as Fortune added 16 and teammate Cece Huizengh 11.

O'Keefe got things going right away, making a block on the opening point, then adding kills on two of the next three as NMU raced out to a 3-1 advantage in the first set.

But the teams traded the lead several times with short scoring spurts until Fortune made a kill to tie the score 22-22. It began three points in a row for the home team, O'Keefe getting the next two on her own kills, with O'Keefe getting one more to end the set.

O'Keefe again had two quick kills as the Wildcats took a 4-1 lead to open the second set, keeping the lead until Winona tied it 9-9. NMU never trailed and finally shook the Warriors, when with the score tied 16-16, went on a 7-1 run to go ahead 23-17. That spurt included kills by Russell, Fortune and Larsen Bonnstetter, along with an ace by Lauren Cardwell.

A Winona attack error ended the set.

The guests took control in Set 3, going up 7-3, before a 6-1 run put NMU ahead 9-8. That run included two kills by Russell and one each by O'Keefe and Fortune.

Winona wrested back control with a 5-0 run to make it 16-12 Warriors as they stayed ahead by a narrow margin the rest of the set.

The final set started with a series of runs, Winona leading 3-0, Northern up 4-3, and finally the Warriors jumping ahead 11-5.

The Wildcats finally caught up at 16-16 after back-to-back kills by Fortune and Bonnstetter, then took control with a late 6-0 run that made it 24-18 after a pair of kills by Kaylie McIntosh and one by O'Keefe.

The match ended on another O'Keefe kill.

St. Cloud 3, NMU 0

On Thursday evening, the nationally ranked Huskies prevailed 25-19, 25-17, 25-8.

O'Keefe led the Wildcats with seven kills as McIntosh and Bonnstetter had five apiece. Bonnstetter also led all players with three blocks as Haugen had a team-high 10 digs.

St. Cloud had nearly twice as many kills, 48-25, along with assists 47-25, while holding a robust advantage in digs as well, 53-35.

In the opening set, O'Keefe again began it with a kill, but the Huskies answered with the next four points.

After tying it 5-5 on a Fortune kill, NMU could never catch St. Cloud the rest of this set even while pulling within a a couple points several times, including 21-19 after a 4-0 run that included Barlow and Bonnstetter kills and a Bonnstetter block.

The Huskies again took control to start Set 2, going up 4-0 and 11-5. The Wildcats were never able to string together more than two consecutive points the rest of the set.

St. Cloud put an emphatic end to the match, racing to an 8-2 lead in Set 3, pushing it to 14-3 as NMU never scored consecutive points this set.

Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the matches. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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