MARQUETTE, Mich. - A pair of streaks remained intact this Saturday (Sept. 16) as Lake Superior State University and Northern Michigan University squared off in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Women's Volleyball action as the Lakers' woes continued while NMU won its fourth consecutive match with a 3-0 triumph (28-26, 25-15, 25-21) at NMU's Vandament Arena in Marquette, Mich.
Lake Superior State, which now stands at 1-7 overall and 0-2 in the conference, will seek to snap a seven-match skid this Tuesday, Sept. 19, when the Lakers host Saginaw Valley State in their 2017 season home opener at LSSU's Cooper Gymnasium in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. A 7 p.m. (EDT) start time is scheduled for the conference match.
Brooke Williams paced Lake State with a match-high 11 kills as the senior outside hitter extended her present double-figure kills match streak to four straight. Joining Williams in double digits was sophomore outside hitter Amanda Reid, who totaled 10 kills and has now reached double figure in kills three out of her last five outings to date. Senior middle blocker Karlee Weissend chipped in with a team-leading .250 hitting percentage for the Lakers, who were outhit .194 to .079. LSSU would claim a 38-34 edge in kills and trailed 47-42 in digs. At the net, NMU turned in a dominating effort as the Wildcats outblocked LSSU 11-4.
Kayla Chosa was the lone player to attain double-figure kills with 10 for Northern Michigan, which improved its overall record to 8-2 on the season and 2-0 in the conference. She also produced three block assists and one block solo for the Wildcats in the three-set match. Leticia Antunes and Autumn Monsma were NMU's top performers in digs with 14 and 10, respectively. For Lake State, senior libero Paige Gotham managed to keep her season-long double-digit digs string alive to eight straight with a 14-digs performance. Senior libero-defensive specialist Justin Kjolhede provided nine digs and Amanda Reid supplied six for Lake Superior State.
A total of 10 ties and six lead changes highlighted the opening set with Northern Michigan prevailing 28-26. Tied at nine apiece, Lake Superior State went on a 9-4 scoring run to take an 18-13 lead on a Amanda Reid kill. However, NMU erased the deficit to knot the set at 19-19 and six more ties would follow as a Reid kill made it 26-all. A block assist by Northern put the hosts up by one and a kill from Autumn Monsma sealed the Lakers' fate.
In set two, the score remained tight early before Northern Michigan went on scoring spurts of 8-4 and 7-3 to take a 22-14 advantage . NMU, which posted a .400 hit efficiency rate with 11 kills in 25 attempts, would account for five of the set's final six points to go up 2-0 in the match.
Lake Superior State regrouped in the third set which consisted of eight ties and three lead changes. Trailing 14-11 at one juncture, the Lakers pulled into a 17-all deadlock as a result of Karlee Weissend and junior outside hitter Morgan Kelly blocking a Northern hitting attack. A kill from Brooke Williams put the visitors back into a tie with the Wildcats at 19 piece, but NMU would outscore the Lakers 6-2 the rest of the way to pick up the conference decision.