AURORA, Ill. - Northern Michigan University volleyball dropped a pair of matches to close out the GLIAC/GLVC Crossover.  The Wildcats fell to Parkside in straight sets (25-21, 25-20, 25-19) and Lewis University 3-1 (26-24, 25-13, 22-25, 25-18).  The losses put Northern Michigan 10-10 overall on the season.

To open the day NMU found themselves in a rematch from a meeting earlier in the week against the Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers.  Parkside came out fast to open the match as they recorded a hitting percentage of .524 for the set with only two errors.  The Rangers were able to take the first set 25-21.

Parkside once again started fast, but Northern Michigan was able to answer and keep the set close with a two point deficit at 17-15.  The Rangers were able to finish strong from there scoring eight of the final 12 points to take the set at 25-19.

The final set was similar as Parkside was able to score the final three points of the set to take the win at 25-19.

Junior outside hitter Lisa Studnicka led the way for the Wildcats with 12 kills.

"We played hard," commented Head Coach Dominic Yoder after the match.  "Hats off to UWP they came out real fast, different than what we saw Monday.  Our young team responded, but UWP kept the pressure on us."

Northern Michigan was able to respond well at the beginning of their next match with Lewis.  The opener against the Flyers went back and forth with each team struggling to keep serve.  Northern Michigan was able to hold off a set point late in the match, but Lewis was able to score the final two points of the set to take the first set at 26-24.

Lewis would take the second set, but the Wildcats had an answer in the third set.  NMU took the lead early at 5-4 and never surrendered the lead to avoid a sweep with a tight 25-22 victory.

NMU opened the fourth set with a 14-12 lead before Lewis went on a 6-0 run to take the lead at 18-12.  Lewis used their momentum from the streak to score six of the final eight points and win the match with a 25-18 score.

Studnicka led the way once again with 12 kills, while freshman middle hitter Kayla Chosa chipped in another 11 kills with a hitting percentage of .304. 

Freshman setter Meghan Seymour assisted on 41 of the 47 NMU kills.

Sophomore defensive specialist Megan Dahl led NMU with 10 digs in the match.

"We competed hard again," said Yoder after the second match.  "Our two freshmen middles and setter played very well.  We had runs of brilliance as well as times of creativeness.  The young team keeps learning as we proceed through this season."

Northern Michigan gets back into GLIAC play next weekend when they travel to Grand Valley State, Friday Oct. 24 for a 7 p.m.  first serve and Ferris State Saturday, Oct. 25 for a 3 p.m. match-up.