Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University (NMU) Wildcats volleyball team faced a challenging match against the top-ranked Ferris State Bulldogs, ultimately falling in three sets. This encounter marked their second meeting of the season, with Ferris State maintaining an unblemished record. The set scores were 15-25, 24-26, and 22-25.

Jacqueline Smith led NMU with 13 kills, but the team was outhit by the Bulldogs, who recorded a hitting percentage of .319 compared to NMU's .173. Ferris State also dominated defensively with a significant digs advantage of 51 to 31.

In the first set, Smith initiated the scoring for NMU with a kill assisted by Allie Barlow. However, Ferris responded with a six-point run that prompted an early timeout from NMU. Despite Smith's efforts, including a service ace and additional kills from McKenzie Gruner, Ferris closed out the set at 15-25.

The second set saw a more competitive start from NMU. Key contributions came from Smith, Caylie Barlage, Gruner, and Barlow as they kept pace with Ferris. A service ace by Barlage and three consecutive kills from Meghan Meyer gave NMU its first lead at 11-8. Despite this advantage and further attacks from Smith and Gruner that tied the score at 24-24, Ferris clinched the set at 24-26.

Set three began with NMU taking an early five-point lead after a kill from Barlow and continued pressure resulting in a service ace by Smith. Nevertheless, Ferris mounted a comeback to tie the score at 15 all before eventually pulling ahead despite late resistance from NMU players like Sydney Bartels and Liesl Haugen. The Bulldogs secured the final set victory at 22-25.

Following this match against Ferris State, NMU will continue their road trip to face Davenport on Saturday.