IRONWOOD, MI – After a short break in action for the Norse, Bay's Volleyball Team (5-4) were back in action over the weekend, splitting a pair of matches hosted at Gogebic Community College.  The Norse were swept in three sets by Minnesota North – Rainy River (6-8) before bouncing back and beating Gogebic (6-5) three sets to one.

Bay started off slow against Rainy River as they failed to connect on their attacks, and committed five service errors in the first set, dropping that one by a score of 25-18.  The second set would bring more opportunities for the Norse offense, and while they connected with 11 kills, they committed 12 attack errors, which caused them to drop the second set by a narrow 25-22 margin.  The Norse finally started to get in a groove offensively in the third set, amassing 12 kills with just three errors, but faltered in other areas, picking up six receiving errors, three service errors, and three ball handling errors.  It was just enough for Rainy River to seal the sweep, winning the third set by a score of 25-23.

Mia Hauser (SO, Wallace, MI) led the offense with 16 kills, and added six digs.  Hope Varoni (FR, Bark River, MI) picked up 20 assists.  On the defensive side Jade Jasenovsky (SO, Menominee, MI) and Audrey Franz (FR, Florence, WI) each had 11 digs, while Varoni added ten. 

Ninette Romero led Rainy River with eight kills, while Jordan Robichaud piled up 16 digs.

After shaking off the rust in the first match, Bay looked to put things together against their U.P. rival Gogebic Community College Samsons.  The offense was much more efficient throughout the match, but especially early on for Bay.  The Norse cut back on the errors and connected on 12 kills for a .281 attack percentage in a dominating performance in the first set, taking it by a final of 25-11.  Bay committed just one attack error in the second set and the Norse rolled to a 25-14 victory.  Gogebic was not willing to go quietly in the third, and put pressure on the Norse.  The Samson attack forced eight blocking errors, while Bay committed nine attack errors, despite picking up 14 kills.  Gogebic would come out on top in an extended third set, winning it 29-27.  Once again in the fourth set, Bay put out their highest output of kills with 15, but also had the most attack errors in the match with ten.  Despite that the Norse were able to pick it up defensively and piled up 14 digs.  It was just enough to end the match with a 26-24 Norse victory.

Hauser was once again the offensive leader for Bay with 17 kills and a .400 attack percentage.  She had five service aces and chipped in on the defensive side with 11 digs.  Varoni also contributed on both sides of the ball, contributing 37 assists and 14 digs.  Franz ended with ten service aces for Bay.

Defensively the Norse had five players in double-digits in digs in the match.  The other three not previously listed are Jasenovsky, who led the team with 22, Hilarie Porcaro (SO, Sault Ste. Marie, MI) with 13, and Ava Maki (FR, Marquette, MI) with ten.

Those two matches served as the final tune up for the Norse as they jump into conference play on Monday evening.  They travel to Montcalm Community College for  6:30 pm match.