AURORA, Ill. - Northern Michigan University volleyball (10-8, 10-1 GLIAC) fell to Rockhurst University (16-2, 9-2 GLVC) 3-1 to open up the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover.  Rockhurst came into the crossover ranked second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Hawks opened up fast in the first set with a 13-6 lead, which proved to be too large of a deficit for the Wildcats to overcome as Rockhurst was able to sideout NMU with a 78% efficiency.  The Hawks eventually took the set 25-19.

NMU recorded a hitting percentage of .235, while Rockhurst hit .303 to open the match.

The second set started out similarly as the Hawks took an early 17-8 lead and scored seven of the final 10 points to cruise to a 25-15 set win.

The Hawks continued to attack well with a hitting percentage of .368 in the set.

Northern Michigan was able to overcome their slow start in the third set but still found themselves down 13-9.  NMU then went on a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the set at 15-14.  Junior outside hitter Lisa Studnicka recorded three kills during the run.  Northern Michigan was able to hold onto the lead the remainder of the set and eventually picked up a 25-23 victory.

The Wildcats attacked efficiently in the set with a hitting percentage of .300 led by Studnicka who had seven kills in the set.  The front row also played well in the set as NMU recorded four blocks.

Rockhurst once again started fast in the fourth set as they hit .357 and eventually took the 3-1 victory with a 25-12 set win.

Studnicka had a game-high 16 kills to lead Northern Michigan, while Anna Aycock chipped in 10 kills with one error for a hitting percentage of .600.

Freshman middle hitter Madison Whitehead had three solo blocks and assisted on another two blocks at the net for NMU.

Freshman setter Meghan Seymour had 40 assists out of the 46 Northern Michigan kills.

Northern Michigan closes out the crossover tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 18 when they play a rematch with UW-Parkside at 11 a.m. (EST) and Lewis at 5 p.m. (EST).