Box Score Chris Kendrick (@CKendrick86)
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Northwood University (Fla.) volleyball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm as visiting Warner swept the Lady Seahawks in three sets (17-25, 20-25, 24-26) in a Sun Conference matchup at the Countess de Hoernle Student Life Center Saturday afternoon.
After battling Webber International in a five-set dogfight last night, the Lady Seahawks had troubles finding a consistent offensive attack against Warner, even though Northwood has one of its best games from an attacking standpoint with their second-fewest errors of the season (11).
Senior middle Sydney Fish (Kalamazoo, Mich.) led the offense attack for the Lady Seahawks with a team-high ten kills with no errors. Sophomore outside hitter Nikki McKown (Lakeland, Fla.) recorded six kills with 11 digs, while sophomore setter Nicole Papineau (Walnut Creek, Calif.) tallied 27 assists. Senior libero Ti'Ana Fox (Tucson, Ariz.) grabbed a team-high 15 digs with two aces, and senior defensive specialist Anni Polscher had 11 digs. Junior outside hitter Veera Hietala (Tampere, Finland) chipped in 13 digs and four kills in the loss.
The Royals were powered by senior outside hitter Marisa Moralobo with a game-high 16 kills and nine digs. Sophomore outside hitter Adrienne Czaplewski registered a double-double with a game-high 17 digs and 12 kills. Senior middle Tiffani Pate and sophomore middle Nicole Wittmer each added seven kills. Sophomore setter Rachel Stanton racked up a game-high 41 assists.
"We need to have that passion every time we step on the court, and that's what was missing in the first set," said Northwood Head Coach Chris Taylor. "We just need to come out with that fire and energy, because when we do it leads to good things. If was afraid that last night's match might affect us, but when we were in the locker room, the mood was good. They fought for every point in every set, and they'll never disappoint me if they go out and play hard. Warner showed up and played really well. [Warner is] one of the top teams in the conference for a reason. In terms of managing out hitting errors, we did a great job of that, but only managing five kills in the first set put us in a hole. Every conference match is going to be a dogfight, no matter if you're a top team or a bottom team. That's conference play, you need to show up and produce, and when we do that, I'll take our chances any day of the week. I want us to step up to the plate and challenge Palm Beach Atlantic on Wednesday, and then we have Embry-Riddle on Friday and Southeastern on Saturday. This will probably be the toughest stretch of our schedule, and it's going to challenge us physically and mentally. I know we are ready for the challenge."
The Lady Seahawks dropped to 8-5 on the season, and 2-1 in Sun Conference play, while Warner improved to 2-8, and 1-0 in TSC. Northwood will return to the court against cross-town rival Palm Beach Atlantic at Rubin Arena Wednesday night. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m.
NORTHWOOD VOLLEYBALL
