Volleyball Defeats Saginaw Valley State 3-1

The Northwood University volleyball team posted its 12^th win in their last 14 matches with a 3-1 victory at Saginaw Valley State Saturday afternoon (November 2).  Set scores were 26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16.

NU stands at 17-7 overall, 10-3 in the GLIAC.  SVSU falls to 15-9 overall, 7-6 in the GLIAC.

Northwood overcame a sloppy offensive attack in the opening set to take a 1-0 lead.  The Timberwolves registered eight more kills than SVSU (15-7), but NU made a total of 13 attack errors to keep the Cardinals close.  SVSU led 21-17 and had a set point at 24-23, but Northwood claimed nine of the final 12 points of the set to earn the 1-0 lead. Both offenses struggling in the opening frame – Northwood it .041 while SVSU finished at -.028.

The second set featured a near identical finish to the first set, except the Cardinals pulled out the final points to level the score. Just like the first set, Northwood trailed 21-17 when the Timberwolves rallied.  NU eventually took a 22-21 lead thanks to five straight points, but the Cardinals bounced right back, scoring four of the final five points to earn the set. The Timberwolves offense remained sluggish in the set, finishing at .049 (8-6-41).  SVSU hit .171 (15-8-41).

Saginaw Valley State led 16-13 in the third set when Northwood offense got going.  NU scored 10 of the next 14 points while not making an attack error on that stretch. The Timberwolves then got a pair of kills from Juliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine)  to give Northwood the set and a 2-1 lead.  Northwood hit .167 (14-6-48) while SVSU finished at .125 (11-6-40).

SVSU got out to a 10-7 lead in the fourth set when the Timberwolves went on one of their best runs of the season. Northwood registered 11 straight points to break open a close set.  The Timberwolves eventually scored 16 of the next 19 points to put the match away. NU finished the third set at .188 (15-6-48) but held the Cardinals to a -.064 mark (5-8-47).

For the match, Northwood finished with a .113 attack percentage (52-31-186) while SVSU registered a .049 mark (38-30-164).  Both teams blocked well in the match – the Cardinals finished with 12 blocks compared to 11 for the Timberwolves.  NU held a slight 89-87 edge in digs.

Pakhomenko once again led the way for Northwood, finishing with a match-high 23 kills to go along with a team-high 22 digs.  She also added five blocks.  Kristin Perschon (Schaumburg, Ill./ Conant) had 10 kills while matching her season-high with nine blocks.

Northwood will travel to Hillsdale Tuesday night (November 5). Match time is set for 7 p.m.