HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University Volleyball team opened the 2019 season with a 3-2 victory over University of Mary Thursday night at the Keweenaw Classic hosted by Michigan Technological University.

SET SCORES

The Wildcats started the match with a 25-17 victory in the first set, highlighted by 17 kills and a .424 hitting percentage. After falling in the second set, NMU bounced back to win 25-17 to take a 2-1 set lead.

Mary responded with a fourth set win to force a deciding fifth set. In the fifth set, NMU used a five point run in the middle of the set to win the set 15-9 and take the 3-2 match victory.

KILL IT

Sophomore Lizzy Stark (Minneapolis, Minn.) paced the Wildcats with 21 kills on the night. Freshman Abigail Durecki (South Lyon, Mich.) achieved 11 kills in her debut and finished the match hitting at a .333 clip. 

Sophomore Hailey Wickstrom (Calumet, Mich.) notched eight kills while senior Sarah Kuehn (Green Bay, Wis.) tallied seven.

Freshman Lauren Van Remortel (Carmel, Ind.) posted 43 assists in her first match for the Wildcats.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

Sophomore Alli Yacko (Oak Lawn, Ill.) finished with a team-best 24 digs. Stark added 16 digs with sophomore Lauren Caprini (St. Charles, Ill.) giving the team 10. Senior Gabriela Martinez (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) had nine.

At the net, Kuehn notched three blocks.

COMING UP ACES

The Wildcats achieved nine aces to aid their efforts. Yacko led the team with three aces with Caprini and Stark both adding two. Durecki and Van Remortel each had one as well.

UP NEXT

The Wildcats return to action Friday for their next two matches of the Keweenaw Classic. NMU begins the day at 11 a.m. by taking on Upper Iowa University. The team then comes back to take on #9 Southwest Minnesota State University at 5 p.m.