MARQUETTE, Mich. - The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team fell to Northern Michigan University tonight (Nov. 9) by scores of 25-17, 24-26, 18-25 and 25-27.
Saginaw Valley found themselves in a dead heat at 13-13 in the first set before Northern Michigan ran away for the 25-17 victory. In the second set, the Cardinals fell behind early but were able to bounce back for the 26-24 victory to knot up the match.
The Wildcats went ahead in the third with a run midway through the set for the 2-1 edge. In the fourth set, the Cardinals held a late lead but were unable to prevail as Northern closed out the Cardinals with a 27-25 victory.
The SVSU offense was led by Chili's 'Player of the Match' junior Lyndsay Reynolds (Saline, Mich.) with a team-high 16 kills on a career-high 49 attacks. Fellow junior outside hitter Julia Thomas (Novi, Mich.) tacked on 10 kills of her own, while Kate Czopek (Sterling Heights, Mich.) posted eight kills, nine digs and five blocks on the evening.
Sam Breault (Bad Axe, Mich.) paced the Cardinal offense to the tune of 32 assists and 15 digs, while Laurel Mattson (Lake Odessa, Mich. / Lakewood HS) and Brooke Tiller (Maumee, Ohio) added 16 and 13 digs, respectively.
The loss drops SVSU to 11-18 overall on the year and 6-11 in the conference, while Northern improves to 19-11 on the season and 11-6 in GLIAC play.
The Cardinals will finish their 2012 campaign tomorrow when they make the trek to Houghton as they battle the Huskies of Michigan Tech at 1:00 PM.
