BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University volleyball team swept a pair of opponents on Saturday (Sept. 1) at the Ferris State Volleyball Invitational to start the season 4-0. The Wildcats defeated West Virginia State 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-10) in the morning match and Glenville State (W. Va.) 3-0 (25-11, 25-9, 25-17) in the afternoon. NMU lost only one set at the two-day tournament.

"The team played very well today and it was an all around good weekend," NMU coach Dominic Yoder said. "Our serving was just tremendous."

The 'Cats dominated serves all day having 23 more service aces than the opponent. Senior Andree Ring had eight aces herself, including five against Glenville State. Freshman Lisa Studnicka had five while junior Lina Lopes and freshman Alex Berger each had four.

Northern (4-0) had a balanced offensive attack in both matches. Against West Virginia State, junior Sarah Hamilton had nine kills while Lopes and junior Kalli Herron had seven each. Studnicka had five kills and freshman Alexis Nelson had four in her first start. Herron had two block assists.

Freshman setter Kellisha Harley setup the offense with 26 assists. Lopes led the defense with nine digs and a block assist. Berger had five digs.

"We made some adjustments to the offense and Kellisha is doing a great job of implementing them into the offense," said Yoder.

Nelson led the way against Glenville State with nine kills and four block assists. Senior Andree Ring had eight kills while Studnicka (6) and Hamilton (5) contributed in the balanced attack. Harley had 25 assists and Berger had 10 digs. Senior Kalin Zimmerman had seven digs.

"The freshmen are playing really well," Yoder added. "Alex, Lisa and Alexis were good all day."

The 'Cats hit the road again for a match at Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday (Sept. 4) before another tournament at Missouri S&T next weekend