Volleyball Opens Season 2-0 At U.P. Open

OVERVIEW – LAKE SUPERIOR STATE/MINNESOTA CROOKSTON (U.P. OPEN)

SCORE: Northwood Timberwolves 3, Lake Superior State Lakers 1 (19-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-22) / Northwood 3, Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagles 2 (21-25, 25-12, 25-11, 19-25, 15-7)

RECORDS: Northwood 2-0/Lake Superior State 0-2/Minnesota Crookston 1-2

LOCATION: Northern Michigan University – Marquette, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood Volleyball opens season with a pair of victories at the U.P. Open Friday (September 1), defeating Lake Superior State 3-1 and Minnesota Crookston 3-2.

INSIDE THE MATCH - LAKE SUPERIOR STATE

• The Lakers scored the first three points of the match and never trailed the remainder of the of the first set. Northwood came back to get within one at 9-8 but that proved to me as close as they would get. With the LSSU lead standing at 19-17, the Lakers put up six of the final eight points to take the opener 25-19.
• Trailing 2-1 early in the second, Northwood scored five straight to take a 6-2 lead. NU would maintain that lead the remainder of the set. The Timberwolves 25-15 lead at the end was their biggest advantage of the set.
• Northwood started the third fast as well, going up 7-3. The Timberwolves led by as many as six (15-9) before a late rally by LSSU. With the score tied 21-21, Northwood scored four of the final five points to take the set 25-22 and go up 2-1 for the match.
• After trailing 4-1 to start the fourth, Lake Superior State scored 14 of the next 20 points to take a 15-10 lead. Northwood responded with six straight points of their own to go on top 16-15. LSSU led 20-19 when Northwood finished strong, scoring six of the final eight points to close out the match 25-22.

MATCH STATS - LAKE SUPERIOR STATE

• HITTING: Lake Superior State .131 (34-16-137), Northwood .272 (53-16-136)
• DIGS: Lake Superior State 33, Northwood 49 (MacKelle Thompson – 12)
• BLOCKS: Lake Superior State 5, Northwood 9 (Sydney Hasenfratz – Five)
• ACES: Lake Superior State 11, Northwood 3 (Sophia Oakes – Three)

TOP NU PERFORMERS - LAKE SUPERIOR STATE

• Caitlin Warnshuis: 13 kills, six digs, .500 attack percentage (14-3-22)
• Hasenfratz: 12 kills, five blocks, .471 attack percentage (10-2-17)
• Kiana Martens: 12 kills, 11 digs, .381 attack percentage (12-4-21)
• Sydney Sweet: Nine kills
• Renee Brines:  42 assists

INSIDE THE MATCH - MINNESOTA CROOKSTON

• The Golden Eagles were the better team in the opening set, taking the lead for good at 4-3. Crookston pushed the lead to 16-9. Northwood fought back to get within two at 22-20 before Golden Eagles closed out the set at 25-21.
• Northwood took the lead for good in the second set at 2-1. Leading 9-6, the Timberwolves controlled the set the remainder of the way. NU scored the final five points of the set to win 25-12 to tie the match 1-1.
• The Timberwolves scored the opening point of the third set and led the rest of the way. NU went up 8-3 and did not let the Golden Eagles get any closer than four the remainder of the third. Northwood's 14-point advantage at the end of the set was their biggest in the set and gave the Timberwolves a 2-1 lead.  
• The fourth set was tightly contested most of the way – through the first 34 points of the set, the biggest lead for either team was two points. The set was tied 15-15 when Crookston scored four of the next five points to go up 19-16. UMC led 20-19 before earning the final five points to take the set 25-19 and force a fifth set.
• Northwood never trailed in the final set to earn the victory, scoring six of the first eight and seven of the first 10 points. The Screaming Eagles got no closer than three points the rest of the way, as NU went on to win 15-7 and take the match 3-2. After committing seven attack errors in the fourth set, Northwood played a clean fifth set, finishing with just one attack error.

MATCH STATS - MINNESOTA CROOKSTON

• HITTING: Minnesota Crookston .282 (35-11-85), Northwood .205 (52-21-151)
• DIGS: Minnesota Crookston 34, Northwood 60 (MacKelle Thompson – 19)
• BLOCKS: Minnesota Crookston 6, Northwood 6 (Hasenfratz – Three)
• ACES: Minnesota Crookston 8, Northwood 7 (Brines/Maddy House – Two)

TOP NU PERFORMERS - MINNESOTA CROOKSTON

• Warnshuis: 13 kills
• Hasenfratz: 12 kills
• Brines: Five kills, 36 assists

UP NEXT

• Northwood will wrap up the U.P. Open with matches against Winona State (2 p.m.) and Northern Michigan (7 p.m.) Saturday (September 1).