HAYWARD, Calif. – The Northern Michigan volleyball team finished the Cal State East Bay Invitational with a 1-3 record, falling in straight sets to San Francisco State 21-25, 17-25, and 15-25 on Saturday afternoon.
Nine kills from
Laynie Russell and another seven from
Olivia Ziemer, both freshmen, paced the Northern attack, while
Cece Huizingh posted a match-high 25 digs as NMU's libero. The Gators were led by Grace Witcher and Alana Larson with 12 kills apiece.
SFSU outhit NMU .313 to .109 and led in blocks 6-1.
Now looking ahead to conference play, the Wildcats will look to bounce back after a 3-5 record in non-conference tournament action.
How it Happened
Three straight kills from the Wildcats put them ahead 4-1, but the Gators battled back to take their first lead at 8-7. They tacked on five more in a row to stretch the lead to 13-8 and later forced NMU into its last timeout down 17-11.
Laynie Russell helped shrink the gap with four kills in a stretch, but SFSU hung on for a 25-21 win to open the match. Russell posted five kills in the frame on six attempts.
Good back-and-forth action opened the second set. The Gators pushed ahead, but NMU hung around and only trailed by one, 15-14, around the halfway point. SFSU would close strong, scoring 10 of the final 14 to win 25-18.
They carried that momentum into the third, leading 4-0 and later adding a 7-1 run to double up the Wildcats 14-7. They finished off the sweep with a 25-15 win in the third.
Up Next
The Wildcats will open GLIAC play next week, traveling to Purdue Northwest for a matchup on Friday, September 11.
