Volleyball Loses To Clarion & Hillsdale

OVERVIEW – CLARION/#19 HILLSDALE (HILLSDALE TOURNAMENT)

SCORES: Clarion Golden Eagles 3, Northwood Timberwolves 0 (25-9, 25-17, 25-15)/ No.19 Hillsdale Chargers 3, Northwood 1 (5-18, 25-10, 23-25, 25-12)
RECORDS: Northwood (0-4), Clarion (4-2), Hillsdale Chargers (5-1)
LOCATION: Potter Arena – Hillsdale, Mich.
RECAP: Northwood dropped a pair of matches at the Hillsdale Tournament, falling 3-0 to Clarion and 3-1 to Hillsdale.

INSIDE THE MATCH - CLARION

• The Timberwolves scored the opening point of the match but that proved to be their lone lead of the set. Clarion led 10-8 when the Golden Eagles finished with a big run, scoring 15 of the final 16 points to win 25-9. Northwood finished the opening set struggling on the offensive end, hitting -.111 (6-9-27). Clarion hit a strong .400 (9-1-20) in the set.
• In the second, Northwood was more competitive until the midway portion of the set. After the score was tied 11-11, CU led 19-17 late before another push gave them a 2-0 lead. Clarion scored the final six points to take the second 25-17. The Golden Eagles continued to be strong offensively in the set, finishing with a .379 attack percentage (.379). NU finished at .054 (12-10-37).
• Northwood held an early 4-2 lead in the third before the Golden Eagles took over. CU used a 7-0 run to go up 15-7 before closing out the set 25-15 to complete the sweep. Clarion maintained their edge in hitting in the third, ending at .333 (13-3-30) while NU hit .029 (9-8-34).

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Northwood: .000 (27-27-98), Clarion: .367 (35-6-79) 
• DIGS: Northwood 34 (Carson Rutherford – 8), Clarion 41
• BLOCKS: Northwood 1 (Zyla Kadriu/Karlie Wengorovius – 1), Clarion 6
• ACES: Northwood 4 (Four Players – 1), Clarion 8

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Grace Rekeweg: Seven kills, five digs
• Zyla Kadriu: 22 assists, seven digs

INSIDE THE MATCH - HILLSDALE

• Northwood held two separate two-point leads early in the match before the Chargers took over late. HC led 13-11 when Hillsdale put up five straight points to go up 18-11. The Chargers then scored four of the final five points to close out a 25-18 win. Hillsdale ended the opening set hitting .275 (16-5-40) while Northwood finished at .125 (8-4-32).
• The second set was all Hillsdale from the start, as the Chargers scored the first 10 points. HC took advantage of Northwood mistakes in that stretch – only two of the  10 points were scored by Hillsdale kills. Northwood got no closer than nine points the rest of the way. NU struggled offensively in the second, finishing with 15 errors and six kills (6-15-35 = -.257). The Chargers finished the second with just six kills while hitting .167 (6-2-24) .
• The Timberwolves responded to their struggles in the second set with a strong performance in the third. The score was tight throughout – neither team led by more than three at any point. The Chargers led 19-18 when NU scored four straight points to go up 22-19 on their way to a 25-23 win. Northwood easily had their best offensive set of the day in the third, hitting .303 (14-4-33). Hillsdale ended up with 14 kills and five errors on 39 attempts, good for a .231 attack percentage.
• After the fourth set was tied 5-5, Hillsdale made one more big push to close thigs out. HC scored eight of the next nine points to go up 13-6. Northwood got no closer than five the rest of the way. The Chargers offense got rolling in the fourth, finishing with 15 kills and one error on 32 attempts (.438). NU finished the final set at .027 (8-7-37).

MATCH STATS

• HITTING: Northwood: .044 (36-30-137), Hillsdale: .281 (51-13-135) 
• DIGS: Northwood 61 (Loren Westlake – 25), Hillsdale 61
• BLOCKS: Northwood 5 (Mary Gallagher – 4), Hillsdale 14
• ACES: Northwood 4 (Four players – 1), Hillsdale 6

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Carson Rutherford: 14 kills, nine digs, two blocks
• Rekeweg: Eight kills, 11 digs
• Kadriu: 30 assists

UP NEXT

• Northwood will conclude the event with matches against Palm Beach Atlantic and Findlay.