Volleyball Opens GLIAC Play With 3-1 Win Over No. 21 Ferris State

OVERVIEW – FERRIS STATE

SCORE: Northwood 3, No. 21 Ferris State 1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-22, 25-23)

RECORDS: Northwood (7-2, 1-0 GLIAC), Ferris State (4-5, 0-1 GLIAC)

LOCATION: Riepma Arena – Midland, Mich.

RECAP: Northwood opened up Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) play with an exciting 3-1 victory over No. 21 Ferris State.

INSIDE THE MATCH

• Northwood finished the opening set with a flourish to take the early lead. The Timberwolves led 17-16 when NU earned six of the next eight points to go up 23-18 and eventually take the set 25-20.
• It appeared the Timberwolves were on their way to a 2-0 lead, taking an 18-13 lead. But the Bulldogs finished the set with a bug run, scoring 11 of the next 12 points to take a 23-19 advantage. FSU took the set 25-20 and leveled the match at one set apiece.
• NU trailed in the third 9-8 when the Timberwolves scored seven of the next nine points to earn a 15-11 lead.  The Bulldogs stayed close the rest of the set, eventually cutting the Northwood lead down to 23-22. But an FSU service error and an attack error from the Bulldogs gave NU a 2-1 lead.
• After FSU took an early 5-1 lead in the fourth, the remainder of the set was tight.  Neither team would have more than a three-point lead the rest of the way. With the score 23-23, the Timberwolves got kills from Allison Getty (Wayland, Mich.) and Sydney Greulich (Kitchener, Ontario/St. Mary's) to close out the victory.

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Northwood .255 (65-25-157), Ferris State .159 (48-22-164)
• DIGS: Northwood 85 (Hailey Jones – 19), Ferris State 60
• BLOCKS: Northwood 6 (Brenna Murphy/Sydney Greulich/Colleen Mayer – 3), Ferris State 11
• ACES: Northwood 2 (Sommer VandenBerge – 2), Ferris State 2

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Allison Getty: 17 kills, .317 attack percentage (17-4-41), 15 digs
• Carson Rutherford (Flushing, Mich.): 16 kills, .333 attack percentage (16-4-36), 15 digs, two blocks
• Brenna Murphy (Fort Gratiot, Mich./Port Huron Northern): 11 kills, 14 digs, three blocks
• Sydney Greulich: 10 kills, three blocks
• Hailey Jones (Ada, Mich./Forest Hills Northern): 62 assists, 19 digs
• Sommer VandenBerge (Ada, Mich./Forest Hills Eastern): 19 digs, two aces

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• In their last game against Ferris State (11/7/15), Northwood lost to the Bulldogs 3-0 (25-9, 25-7, 25-15)
• Jones had a career-high 62 assists in the match – her previous best was 54 (at Tiffin – October 4, 2014). She also finished one dig short of her career-high in that category (20 – vs. Trevecca Nazarene – 9/3/16)

COACH SHUMAKER SAYS

• "I'm very proud of the girls for a nice win. Whenever we made a run, they came back. We withstood a lot of pressure from them and fought back a few times. And with a young team, it's great to fight back against a veteran team with such a great tradition. I'm sure with the exciting brand of volleyball we played tonight, our crowds will continue to be great. It was a fun atmosphere tonight."

UP NEXT

•             Northwood will host Grand Valley State Saturday afternoon (September 16). First serve is set for 5 p.m.