Great Lakes Wire

Northern Michigan University (NMU) athletics teams had a mixed weekend from September 27 to 29, with notable performances across various sports.

The NMU volleyball team finished the weekend with one win and one loss, bringing their overall record to 7-4 and 3-1 in conference play. They secured a 3-1 victory over Davenport, dominating the first two sets by limiting the Panthers to just ten and six points respectively. The 25-6 win in set two was significant, marking the biggest set win during Mike Lozier's tenure at NMU and tying for the largest individual set win in the last twelve years. Northern hit .293, its second-best mark of the season, while holding Davenport to an opponent season-low .053 clip.

However, they faced a setback with a 1-3 loss to No. 7 Ferris State. Allie Barlow contributed significantly with 46 assists, her second-highest career total, including an impressive 18 assists on 19 NMU kills in the first set win of 25-22. Jacqueline Smith led the attack with 19 kills followed by Kaysie Bakke who achieved a career-high of ten kills.

The men's soccer team also experienced mixed results over the weekend. They won against RV Purdue Northwest with a score of 3-1, thanks to goals from Tommaso Lami, William Uchenna, and Davian Gumbs. Assists were provided by Jan Hoffman, Jaziel Sainz de Vilmorin, and Finn van den Berg. Goalkeeper Nils Cedergren allowed only one goal out of ten shots faced.

In contrast, they suffered a narrow defeat against No. 21 Parkside with a score of 0-1. The match saw three red cards and seven yellow cards distributed between both teams. Despite outshooting Parkside 23 to ten and having an advantage in corners eight to one, NMU could not secure a win.

The women's soccer team had a more positive outcome over their matches this weekend. They triumphed over Roosevelt with a decisive 6-0 victory where Brooke Pietila and Lucy Burk each recorded a goal and an assist. The Wildcats dominated by outshooting Roosevelt Lakers 29-2 with fourteen shots on target compared to none from their opponents.

Their match against Purdue Northwest ended in a goalless draw despite Sally Patton recording her third clean sheet of the season by stopping all three shots she faced.

Lastly, NMU's cross country team competed at the Lucian Rosa Invite in Wisconsin where they finished fourth out of ten teams. Five Wildcats earned top-25 finishes including Dani Van Lente who clocked in at ninth place with a career-best time of 22:45.3. Gianna Hoving also made it into the top ten finishing at tenth place followed closely by sophomores Lamar Gordon and Emma Sweeney who took seventeenth and eighteenth places respectively. Freshman Celia Wallace rounded up NMU’s top performers by securing twenty-first place.

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