MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team bounced back in a big way from a tough defeat on Friday evening, posting an exciting 3-2 victory over GLIAC opponent Northern Michigan University on Saturday (Sep. 28). The Cardinals improve to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play.
After going point-for-point through the first five points the Cardinals took a six point advantage over the Wildcats by a count of 13-7. Saginaw Valley would go on to extend their lead from six to 12 as Cardinals went on a scoring spree to put them up, 22-10. The set closed out with a kill by Olivia Dean set up by Hannah Tabit to give the Cardinals the advantage, 1-0.
In the second set, NMU was able to get a hot streak scoring four unanswered points putting them up 9-4. SVSU was able to fight back scoring four unanswered points of their own putting them within one of the Wildcats. Northern Michigan was able to score a series of six points late in the set to put them up 21-15, a deficit the Cardinals could not come back from as NMU would take the set 25-20.
The Wildcats would control the action for the third set and go up on the Cardinals by a largest margin of eight points, 19-11. SVSU would fight back to within five but the early advantage was too much to overcome as NMU would take the third set, 25-20. Taking the third set put the Wildcats up 2-1 in the match.
The fourth set was evenly matched until the Cardinals went on a scoring frenzy of 6-0 to put them up 16-10. Northern Michigan rallied to come within three of SVSU, 21-18, but Saginaw Valley would drive the final four points home to win the set, 25-18, and tie the match, 2-2.
SVSU and NMU fought for every point of the fifth set coming up neutral at 5-5. The Cardinals would then go on to score five unanswered points to put SVSU up 10-6. The Wildcats answered by scoring six unanswered points of their own to go up 11-10 on the Cardinals. Saginaw Valley and Northern Michigan would knot the set 16-16. SVSU scored the final two points as Emily Friesl earned the first with a kill and the final point coming from Maria Vukaj on a service ace to give the Cardinals the win, 18-16.
Inside the Box Score
- Sarah Tabit was named the "Player of the Match" after leading the team in kills with 23 and held the highest hitting percentage of .321 while adding eight digs
- Emily Friesl earned 13 kills and led the team in blocks with five and added six digs and one service ace
- Hannah Tabit recorded a team high of 55 assists, one ace, five digs, and two blocks
- Maria Vukaj earned seven kills, two assists, one ace, led the team in digs with 19, and had three blocks
From Head Coach Will Stanton
"We came out strong in game one, which is not like us and played pretty solid, but Northern did a nice job of rebounding and played a much better set two and three and really picked up their serving and offensive pressure. We got a little tightand did not execute our offense very well again until set four. Sarah Tabit was a machine with her hitting and the rest of the team stepped up our serving and we were fortunate to come away with that in on the road."
Up Next...
The Cardinals hit the road agian Tuesday (Oct. 1) as they take on Lake Superior State University at 6:30 p.m. in the final leg of the annual trip to the Upper Peninsula. You can follow the action live at svsucardinals.com.
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