MARQUETTE, Mich. – Northern Michigan University Volleyball took Ashland University into a fifth set in Friday's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup but fell to Eagles 3-2.

SET SCORES

The Wildcats started the match with a 25-19 first set victory. The set started with a 9-4 lead which expanded to an eventual 21-13 NMU advantage. The Eagles rebounded to make it 23-18, but freshman Abigail Durecki (South Lyon, Mich.) smashed a kill from freshman Lauren Van Remortel (Carmel, Ind.) to make it 24-18. After an Ashland kill, the Eagles put their next serve into the net to give NMU a 25-19 win.

Ashland took the next two sets, winning 25-17 and 25-9, but the Wildcats rallied back to win the fourth set. NMU jumped out to a 10-6 lead before Ashland fought back to eventually tie the score at 18-18.  Durecki broke the tie with back-to-back kills before AU scored a point. The Wildcats then took advantage of two attack errors by Ashland to move ahead 22-20. Errors from both teams made the score 23-22, but senior Sarah Kuehn (Green Bay, Wis.) made it 24-22 with a kill. Another error from Ashland gave NMU a 25-23 fourth set victory to force a deciding fifth set. 

The Eagles were able to take a 6-2 lead in the fifth set. NMU was able to narrow it to 8-7 but Ashland rallied to win the set 15-11. 

OFFENSIVE LEADERS

Sophomore Lizzy Stark (Minneapolis, Minn.) led the offense with 17 kills while Durecki finished with 16 kills and just four errors. Kuehn added 12 kills.

Van Remortel tallied 50 assists on the day while sophomore Lauren Caprini (St. Charles, Ill.) chipped in with an ace. 

ON THE DEFENSE

Sophomore Alli Yacko (Oak Lawn, Ill.) tallied a team-best 24 digs. Stark and freshman Madeline Crowley (Green Bay, Wis.) both aided the effort with 12 digs with Caprini adding 10. 

Sophomore Alyssa Milski (Oregon, Wis.) had a team-high three blocks. Kuehn, Van Remortel and Durecki each had two.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats improve to 6-9 on the season, 3-4 in the GLIAC while Northwood falls to 4-10, 4-3 in the league.  NMU will now return to Vandament Arena and will take on Ashland University at 4:30 p.m. Friday for more GLIAC play.