MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University volleyball won its fifth Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference match in a row and second shutout of the weekend with a 3-0 sweep of Walsh University on Saturday (Oct. 12) afternoon from Vandament Arena. The Wildcats had 14 service aces, hit a .398 attack percentage and won with set scores 25-15, 25-18 and 25-10. NMU is now 14-5 overall and 9-1 in the GLIAC on the season.

In set one, the Wildcats set the pace going up 6-0 on sophomore Alex Berger's serve, which included two service aces. NMU kept the set out of reach for the Cavaliers, leading by as many as 12. A kill by senior Kalli Herron, one of her four of the set, closed out the first set.

Set two began much of the same way with NMU taking a 4-0 lead on Berger's serve, that included two kills by freshman Alex Larsen. The Cavaliers got within one point (14-13) in the set before NMU scored four consecutive points (18-13) on senior Sarah Hamilton's serve to regain a five-point lead. Two of those points came on service aces by Hamilton. Hamilton closed out the set with a kill on Larsen's serve and tallied four kills in the set.

The Cavaliers opened set three 1-0 for its first lead of the afternoon. The Wildcats answered back on Larsen's first serving series of the set, putting NMU back up 5-1. The Green and Gold kept its lead, not allowing Walsh to come within more than four points. Larsen also tallied five kills in the set.

Hamilton led NMU with 10 kills on the afternoon. Larsen added nine kills and senior Lina Lopes had eight. Senior Kellisha Harley ended the afternoon with 35 assists.

Lopes led the defense with 10 digs and Berger contributed with seven. NMU had eight total blocks. Larsen, freshman Bridget Bussell and Hamilton all had four block assists.

For Walsh, Kelsey Snider led with eight kills and Kriss Sokol had seven. The Cavaliers had 20 total kills and a .068 attack percentage. Devin Hummel finished with nine digs and Haley Howell had 19 assists.

The Wildcats travel to Ohio next weekend for a pair of GLIAC games against Ohio Dominican on Friday (Oct. 18) and Tiffin on Saturday (Oct. 19).

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