This story was written by Bay College SID Mike Pankow
MUSKEGON, MI – The Bay College Norse Volleyball Team did something they had never done before on Monday evening, taking down the Muskegon Community College Jayhawks n four sets by scores of 25-19, 25-15, 20-25, and 25-14.
The perennial powerhouse Jayhawks had won eight consecutive matches against Bay College and most times in dominant fashion. The Norse win put them right back in the thick of things in the MCCAA Northern Conference.
After winning the first set, the Norse put together a very efficient attack in the second. They committed just two attack errors and had a .306 team attack percentage in that set, burying the Jayhawks by a score of 25-15. Muskegon responded in the third with 11 kills and two attack errors, picking up a .310 attack percentage, but mistakes would catch up to them in the fourth. The Jayhawks had six attack errors and a negative attack percentage as the Norse rolled to a 25-14 victory to seal the match.
"It's great to get our first win ever against Muskegon," said Head Coach Dan Porath after the match. "Ther are a few things that stand out to me. I thought our team had more energy then Muskegon had the whole match. There were several points that we won by giving out max effort, which is who we have to be. In order to win a match like this you have to have good service pressure, and you have to handle service pressure, and we did both."
Josie Mechling (FR, Negaunee, MI) had ten kills in 26 attempts and picked up three solo blocks in the match. Ava Johnosn (RS-FR, Menominee, MI) also had ten kills to go with three service aces and eight digs. Kharman Loya (FR, Mt. Pleasant, MI) led the Norse defense with 36 digs, while Audrey Franz (SO, Florence, WI) added 17. Franz also had a pair of service aces. Hope Varoni (SO, Bark River, MI) had 37 assists in the match and also picked up 11 digs.
Alissa Klopp (SO, Muskegon, MI) led Muskegon with 13 kills and had a .258 attack percentage. Maddilyn Dyer (SO, Muskegon, MI) had 26 assists and 11 digs. Ari Bryant (FR, Cadillac, MI) led the team with 18 digs, while Danica Gee (SO, Grant, MI) added 15 digs.
Muskegon suffered their first loss of conference play. North Central Michigan was the other undefeated in conference heading into the night but fell in three straight sets to Delta College. That creates a log jam in the standings with five of the seven MCCAA Northern Conference teams sitting with one loss in conference play. Bay College will host one of those teams on Wednesday evening as Kirtland Community College (4-5, 1-1 MCCAA) comes to the U.P. That match is set for a 6:30 pm start time.
