Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.—The Lake Superior State volleyball team took Northern Michigan, the No.23-ranked team in the country, to a decisive fifth set Friday evening but came up just short of the upset falling 2-3 inside the Bud Cooper Gymnasium.

With the loss, the Lakers slip to 1-8 overall on the season and 0-1 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. NMU improves to 9-0, 1-0.

Lake State put Northern on notice in the first set pushing the Wildcats to a set point, 24-21, before NMU rallied back to take the set, 29-27.

LSSU dropped set two 25-22 before responding with consecutive wins in sets three and four (25-21, 25-20).

The Laker attack was led by junior outside hitter Amanda Reid who posted 12 kills on the night. Sophomore Sarah Bailey finished with 11 and freshman Camdyn Odykirk tallied a season-best nine kills to go along with a team-high .261 hitting percentage.

Senior setter Lauren Lukasik facilitated the offense with a team-high 20 assists. Freshman Halle Grulke was second with nine.

Senior libero Paige Gotham led the way defensively bringing up a team-high 23 digs on the night. Reid was second with 15 while Mikala Williams finished with 10.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Leticia Antunes who posted a team-best 18 kills. Autumn Monsma finished with 17 and Lynzi Svoboda led the team with 38 assists.

The Lakers will return to the court tomorrow as they host Michigan Tech at 2 p.m. in another GLIAC tilt.

For ticket information, visit lssulakers.com or calls the ticket office at 906-635-2601.