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purdue northwest
November 1, 2024 | 4pm
Friday, November 1st / 4pm
purdue northwest
History Houghton, MI – On the eve of Halloween, fans at the SDC gym watched a gritty back-and-forth game between Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech volleyball, with the Wildcats defeating the Huskies in five sets. Thriller: 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 17-25, 20-18.
At match point, with Michigan Tech leading 14-13, Jacqueline Smith’s attempt in front of the MTU bench was initially ruled out of bounds, and it looked like the Huskies had won. The band played the fight song, the Huskies celebrated on the court, and the tech faithful rose to their feet.
Until Mike Rozier drew a challenge card.
After a lengthy review, the ball did indeed fall within the line, reversing the call and leveling the game at 14 minutes. Northern would face three more match points, but responded to each one and took a second chance to finish the match with a 19-18 lead.
So who do you go to? Of course, your program’s all-time kill leader, Jacqueline Smith.
Smith whistled the attack attempt over the net, but it was too hot for Tech to handle, resulting in the game-winner with his 28th kill of the match.
“There are really no words for what just happened,” Mike Rozier said after the win. “I’m so proud of this team. The first four sets were terrible, but that fifth set will go down as one of my all-time favorites. Obviously Jackie was great. But I would like to point out two bargains from Giulia.” Bouma improved and gave him a chance to score points in transition. It was a great day for the Wildcats! ”
Smith’s final 28 kills set a new career high, surpassing the 27 she recorded against Truman State earlier this season. She currently has 175 kills (14.6 kills per game) in 12 career games with the Huskies. But it wasn’t just Smith’s offense, as he had a career-high 19 digs, along with two aces and 1.5 blocks.
“Rivalry games are always great!” said Smith. “I’m so proud of my team and how we showed up ready to play today. For the seniors, it was even more special because it was their last time playing in the Tech Gym. It was great to go home with a win. It feels great!”
The night of Halloween Eve was almost the perfect setting for such a wild game, as the various milestones and career highs felt like the variety you could expect inside a trick-or-treater’s basket. .
In addition to Smith’s two career highs, the game also saw Megan Meyer reach her 1,000th career kill and Kaylee Ballage reach her 1,000th career dig. Allie Barlow had a career-high 62 assists, the highest score in the GLIAC this season, and was handing out life-sized candy bars for everyone to pick up on Halloween night. Two other Wildcats had career performances on the final line, with Liesl Haugen racking up 31 goals and Julia Bouma with 15 goals. NMU’s 97 team dig is a new high point for the conference this season.
NMU’s 73 kills also set a new conference record. Meyer reached double digit kills with 11 kills at a .524 hitting clip, while Casey Bakke, Mackenzie Gruner and Helen Behring also had eight or more kills.
The night began with Smith’s murder. This was strange, but a sign of things to come, as the team that won the first point in each set would eventually lose it. Tech scored four straight points midway through the set in the opening frame to take a 14-10 lead and never looked back for a 25-19 victory. Haugen was a defensive stalwart with 10 digs in the set, a number rarely seen. NMU had five players with 11 kills in the first game, led by Smith with four.
A long rally to start the second set was as expected for the home team, but the Cats went on a dominant 9-0 run midway through the set, turning the score from a 6-4 deficit to a 13-6 lead. Ta. Meyer and Smith each had a notch kill to induce set point, and Smith refused to attack to secure the second at 25-15. NMU held Tech to a .000 batting average and got 14 kills from six players, led by Jackie’s five.
Northern continued to push for a third point, going on a 7-0 run to take a 19-14 lead. In the second set in a row, Helen Beiling got in front of an attack attempt and denied it to the hardwood, allowing Brock to secure the victory. NMU had 15 kills from five different players, again led by Smith with six kills.
In the fourth, Meyer hit back-to-back kills to reach the 1K plateau and tie the match at 7-7. The Huskies began to pull away and eventually won 25-17, taking a crucial fifth set. Northern hit a respectable .273, but couldn’t beat MTU’s .452.
Then came a thrilling fifth set. Ballage reached his 1,000th career early, but the Huskies led 8-6 as the teams shuffled teams.
Bakke tied the score with back-to-back kills and added another goal after the tech point to keep it tied. The Huskies scored two straight points to take an 11-9 lead, but Megan Meyer scored twice and Smith scored another shortly after to tie the score at 12.
Tech’s first match point came at 14-13, and a reversal of the call kept the Cats alive. The Huskies had three more chances, but they were all erased by a kill by Gruner, a kill by Meyer, and a kill by Barrage.
With the score tied at 18, the extended rally was held together by two decisive digs by Bouuma, leading to a kill by Meyer and match point for the Green and Gold. With everything on the line, NMU executed a dig set kill from Barlow to Haugen to Smith for an exhilarating victory.
Northern has now won the last four regular season meetings against its rival. With this win, the Wildcats improved to 14-7 and 8-3, while the Huskies fell to 11-10 and 5-6.
to the next
Northern Michigan returns home for its final home week of the regular season, hosting Purdue Northwest on Friday, Nov. 1 and Parkside on Senior Day on Saturday, Nov. 2. Both games will begin at 4 p.m.
