By Journal Sports Staff

FAYETTE, Iowa – Northern Michigan University completed a two-day, four-match sweep at the Peacock Open hosted by Upper Iowa with a pair of three-set victories on Saturday.

The Wildcats opened with a 25-22, 25-16, 25-15 win over South Dakota Mines on Saturday, then dropped Minot State (North Dakota), 25-21, 25-20, 25-17, to improve to 7-1 this season.

Northern matched Michigan Tech for having perfect 4-0 records at the event.

Against SD Mines, NMU’s Madison Whitehead had a strong performance, posting match highs of 11 kills and a .450 hitting percentage. Teammate Bridget Bussell came off the bench to add seven kills and .538 hitting percentage.

Jami Hogeboom added 37 assists and 13 digs, while Alex Berger made a match high 18 digs.

“SDMT is a good young team that has a very good system and players,” NMU head coach Dominic Yoder said. “Our Wildcats were stronger offensively and defensively as the match progressed, which was key to our win.”

Against Minot, Whitehead posted a match-high 15 kills and .462 hitting percentage, while teammate Kayla Chosa added 10 kills and a .438 percentage. In addition, Lisa Studnicka had 10 kills, Hogeboom a match-high 36 points and Alex Berger 20 digs, double the number of digs of any other player.

“I thought we really became consistent with team defense, serve receiving, serving and setting, and that helped us gain the advantage over our opponents,” Yoder said.

Back-to-back 3-1 wins

On Friday, the Wildcats posted a pair of four-set victories over St. Cloud State (Minnesota) and Upper Iowa.

“The team played unbelievable floor defense,” Yoder said that evening.

In a 28-26, 17-25, 25-22, 25-23 victory over St. Cloud, Whitehead posted a match-high 12 kills and NMU-best .346 hitting percentage with two block assists.

Defensively, teammates Chosa and Anna Aycock thwarted St. Cloud with five solo blocks and seven block assists.

“Madison had a breakout performance,” Yoder said. “Our middle defense, particularly Kayla and Anna, was also very good.”

NMU downed Upper Iowa 25-17, 29-27, 18-25, 25-14, avenging a five-set loss to UI at the Wildcat Open on Sept. 5, their only loss in that event.

The ‘Cats were led by Hogeboom, who posted a career-high 52 assists as Chosa had 17 kills and a .371 hitting percentage.

“Kayla and Jami had outstanding performances,” Yoder said. “I’m also very proud of our defenders.”

Berger had 20 kills to lead five Wildcats in double digits in that category as Studnicka added 18, Meghan Seymour 15, Autumn Monsma 12 and Hogeboom 10.

In addition, Northern averaged nearly 20 digs per set and had 14 blocks.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.