CANYON, Texas – Northern Michigan University ran its volleyball record to 2-0 in the young season with a hard-fought five-set victory over Eastern New Mexico on Friday morning to open the Lady Buff Classic at West Texas A&M.

The Wildcats twice trailed before prevailing 18-25, 29-27, 19-25, 25-15, 15-12.

“This was a gutsy win for our team,” said NMU head coach Dominic Yoder, who a night earlier won his 200th collegiate match and 175th at NMU in a sweep at Southwestern Oklahoma. “It was a fast turnaround from last night, but we weathered the storm.”

In the marathon second set Friday, the Wildcats fell behind 22-18 before going on a run to tie the score 24-24, fighting off three set points in the process.

The last tie of 27-27 was broken by a kill from Northern’s Marta Fraga Guntin and a bad set by the Greyhounds.

In the fourth set with the match on the line, Northern raced to a 14-8 lead and kept a distance of at least six points the rest of the way.

The fifth set was similar, NMU racing to a 10-4 lead after six straight service points from Rachel Braunschweig. Though the Greyhounds pulled within one point late, a kill by the Wildcats’ Madison Whitehead ended the match.

Bridget Bussell led the Northern attack for the second straight match, recording 12 kills. Whitehead added 11.

“We had another strong performance from Bridget and Madison,” Yoder said. “They definitely kept us in the match.”

Megan Dahl set a personal record in digs for the second straight day, getting 23 on Friday. Teammate Jami Hogeboom posted a match-high 47 assists and tied Bussell for the team lead with five blocks.

The Wildcats had a Friday evening match against the tourney hosts before finishing the event with two matches today against McKendree at noon EDT and Adams State at 4:30 p.m.

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