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Wayne State University Athletics

Lauren VanderWal
© 2022 Jose Juarez
Lauren VanderWal and the Warriors earned a key GLIAC win on Friday night.
3
Winner Wayne State WSU 12-6,6-4 GLIAC
2
Northern Mich. NMU 14-4,7-3 GLIAC
Winner
Wayne State WSU
12-6,6-4 GLIAC
3
Final
2
Northern Mich. NMU
14-4,7-3 GLIAC
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Wayne State WSU 17 25 18 25 17 (3)
Northern Mich. NMU 25 21 25 23 15 (2)

Game Recap: Volleyball | | Cameron Weidenthaler, Assistant Media Relations Director

Volleyball Wins Thriller at Northern Michigan

The Warriors took the fifth set 17-15.

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The Wayne State University volleyball program (12-6, 6-4 GLIAC) took down Northern Michigan (14-4, 7-3 GLIAC) on Friday night in five sets.  WSU won set two 25-21, set four 25-23 and set five 17-15.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Kills from Halle Shell (Port Huron, Mich. / Port Huron Northern) and Maddie Morrison (Flushing, Mich.) gave WSU a 6-2 lead early in the first set.  The Warriors continued to lead by two, 9-7.  Thee Wildcats led 13-12 and 15-13.  With the set tied at 16-16, NMU went on a 9-1 run to win 25-17.

Kayla Giroux (Flat Rock, Mich.) tallied three straight kills to give the Green & Gold a 6-3 advantage in thee second set.  Lauren VanderWal (Caledonia, Mich.) notched back-to-back kills to make it 11-9 before Northern Michigan led 16-15 later in the set.  A VanderWal spike gave the visitors a 19-17 lead but NMU regained the lead 20-19.  However, the resilient WSU squad would finish the set on a 6-1 rally to win 25-21.

Northern Michigan led the third set 10-5 and 14-7.  The Warriors were never able to find their footing and lost 25-18.

A point by Morrison tied the fourth set at 6-6.  Blocks from Giroux and Shell powered the Warriors to a 12-7 advantage.The Wildcats would storm back to take a 13-12 lead before Wayne State went on top 19-16 on a kill by Giroux.  Northern Michigan looked poised to close out the match, leading 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22.  A point by Shell and back-to-back NMU errors gave Wayne State a 25-23 victory and forced a fifth set.

The home side controlled the first part of the fifth set, leading 8-3 and 9-6 following a kill from Giroux.  A Warriors' service error gave NMU an 11-7 lead.  Wayne State was able to tie the set at 12-12 and the teams traded points as the Wildcats led 15-14 looking to defend its home court.  However, WSU had other ideas and a kill by Giroux tied the set before two NMU errors have the Warriors a 17-15 victory.

LEADING THE WARRIORS
Four Warriors finished with at least 10 kills led by VanderWal's 19.  Shell had 15, while Morrison tallied 14 and Giroux notched 13 kills.  VanderWal had a double-double with 16 digs to with a .326 hitting percentage.  Kamryn Duffield (Romeo, Mich.) had 55 assists and Maddy Benoit (Farmington, Mich. / Mercy) led the defense with 26 digs.

ONE BIG THING
The WSU blocking was the difference on Friday night as the Warriors collected 12 blocks compared to NMU's seven.

FROM COACH KOTH
"This was a gritty performance from the Warriors in front of a loud home crowd.  Northern is very good, with an exceptional offense.  We found a way to block and defend enough balls to squeak this out.  Kayla Giroux was outstanding tonight."

UP NEXT
The Warriors will stay in the U.P. and play at Michigan Tech on Saturday afternoon with first serve set for 4:00 p.m.

 
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