Bay College Volleyball Pushes Past NC Michigan 3-1
Click the thumbnails to see photos from SID Mike Pankow and videos, and to hear post-game comments from Amber Caylor, Olyvia Saxton, and Coach Dan Porath.
ESCANABA---The Bay College Norse women's volleyball team moved back above the .500 mark on the season Tuesday night by beating North Central Michigan College out of Petoskey, 3-1, in Escanaba. The scores were 25-17, 20-25, 25-18, 25-16.
The win, coming off a Norse loss to Delta College on Saturday, improved the team's record to 8-7 on the season, and 2-1 in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association.
"I think the girls were motivated to get back on a winning streak," Norse Coach Dan Porath said. "I thought we played really well. Lyv (Saxton) did a great job serving in that first set. It really set the tone for us. Spot-serving, rather than just getting after it all of the time. That was big for us today."
"We've been working on being aggressive on nor perfect sets. I thought we did a good job. We can still clean that up a little bit. But we didn't make a lot of multiple errors."
The Norse jumped to a 19-5 lead in the first set and coasted to the win, before the Timberwolves turned the tables with a 25-20 win in the second set. Bay controlled most of the third set and won, 25-18, and then after falling beind early in the fourth set, they used a big service run of nine straight points from Amber Caylor to pull ahead and earn the win.
"We practoced really hard and had a big comeback," Caylor said. "After last year, I kind of knew what I needed to work on, and I worked extra hard this summer, in the off-season, and before the regular season. It showed up."
"I thought it went really well," Saxton said. "The one set, we fell short, but it was good. I think our serves were very well. Our serve-receive wasn't great, but I think we picked it up at the end."
"We just had to put the ball where they weren't, and you'll score enough points," Caylor added. "We knew what was working."
The match was played before a loud, boisterous crowd, fueled by members of the Bay College baseball team. The guys were so loud that Caylor had to shush them as she got ready to serve.
"I told them to quiet up when we were serving, and it worked," she smiled. "We went on a big run (nine straight points) and we got the win."
Porath appreciated the support from those guys, as well as all of the fans.
"It's tough (for opponents) to play here, especially when the guys come out and support the girls," Porath said. "You want a loud crowd. It was a great atmosphere. It's definitely a factor, there's no doubt about it."
Caylor had 13 assists and four service aces for the Norse, while Saxton added five service aces and a team-high eight kills. Tori Jandt had a team-high 17 digs, and Leah Allan contributed six kills to go along with a dozen digs. Kylee Tadisch had seven kills, including two blocks at the net in the fourth and final set.Tianna Taylor and Emma Rutter both had five kills.
Ava Wendel led NCMC (5-7 overall, 1-2 MCCAA) offensively with nine kills, while Analiese Fredin had 21 assists and five service aces.
The Norse head downstate on Friday to face the first-place Grand Rapids Community College Raiders (12-3 overall, 3-0 MCCAA), who lead Bay by one game atop the conference standings. That match will start at 6:30. Bay will face Muskegon Community College on Saturday.
