The Northern Kentucky University volleyball team took sole control of second place in the Horizon League standings with the first road sweep in Wisconsin since joining the conference.
The Norse (13-11) are 11-2 in Horizon League action and only trail Wright State’s unblemished 13-0 mark. NKU has eight straight wins.
“This was a big weekend,” said Liz Hart, Northern Kentucky head coach. “I think we’ve done a good job taking one match at a time. I was really impressed with our serving in both those matches. I thought we did a good job putting a lot of pressure on opposing passers and getting them out of system.”
NKU won at Milwaukee, 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22) for the first time in program history on Friday. The Norse had 53 kills minus 14 errors on 119 attempts for a .328 hitting percentage to go with 51 assists, seven aces and 15 blocks. The Panthers had 54 kills minus 28 errors on 145 attempts for a .179 percentage to go with 50 assists, three aces and seven blocks.
Senior defensive specialist Anna Burke had 17 digs, four aces and eight assists for the Norse. Junior setter Katy Yopko had 22 assists and five digs with graduate outside hitter Anna Brinkmann, senior outside hitter Reilly Briggs and middle blocker Abby Kanakry recording 12 kills each.
Kanakry had six blocks and Briggs added four. Junior outside hitter Skyy Smith added a career-high nine blocks to go with three kills. Brinkmann added 11 digs for her 11th double-double of the year.
The Norse then ventured to Green Bay on Saturday with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 29-27) victory. Northern Kentucky recorded 55 kills minus 27 errors on 158 attempts for a .177 hitting percentage to go with 51 assists, nine aces and 15 blocks. The Phoenix had 52 kills minus 31 errors on 168 attempts for a .125 hitting percentage to go with 45 assist, seven aces and 10 blocks.
Yopko had another nice game with 25 assists and 12 digs for her third double-double of the season. Briggs had team-high 16 kills and three blocks on her way to a .351 hitting percentage. Kanakry added 12 kills and eight blocks with Brinkmann and Burke digging up 19 balls each. Brinkmann added four aces and seven kills with Burke recording four assists and one ace.
“My coach gives me spots to serve to their weakest passer,” Yopko said of her serving. “On every single ball, you want to go back there with a purpose. You don’t want to give them free points. I just try to go back there and put my team in the best situation possible.”
The Norse travel north to take on Wright State (21-3) at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The Raiders have won four of the last six meetings.
Men’s Soccer
The Norse (4-10-2 overall) lost a road game against the East Tennessee State Buccaneers, 4-1 on Tuesday. The Bucs scored two goals in each half.
The Bucs outshot the Norse, 18-13 including an 11-4 advantage on goal. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Nic Lemen made nine saves for the Norse.
Senior forward Sam Robinson scored his sixth goal of the season nearly nine minutes into the game to give the Norse a 1-0 advantage. Junior defender Roberto Burlew had his first assist this year and second of his career on the play.
The Norse conclude the regular season on Wednesday at Oakland. The Horizon League game starts at 2 p.m.
Women’s Soccer
The Norse ended the season with a 2-1 loss to the Wright State Raiders at Scudamore Field. They finished the season 2-11-2 overall and 2-7-1 in Horizon League play.
Both teams had 10 shots with seven on goal for Wright State and five for Northern Kentucky. But the Norse had three corner kicks to two for the Raiders. Graduate student Mimi Stines and junior Mickayla Kowalski split halves in goalkeeper making three and two saves respectively.
Senior defender Taylor Abbott scored the quickest goal of the season for the Norse just 32 seconds into the match to put Northern Kentucky up 1-0. It marked Abbott’s first goal this year and the first of her NKU career.
Senior midfielder/defender Megan Sullivan had two shots on goal for the Norse. Junior midfielder/forwards Kaya Vogt and Sofia Wilmes had one shot on goal each as 19 Norse saw action.
Cross Country
The Horizon League championships took place Saturday at the Oakland University Cross Country Course in Rochester, Michigan. The Northern Kentucky men took sixth with 156 points and the women finished seventh with 186 points tying last year’s result.
It marked the best finish for the NKU men since 2020 and the lowest point total since 2018. The women tied last year’s result. Simon Kenton graduate Kyle Mastin led the Norse men with a 12th-place finish of 25 minutes, 23.6 seconds on the 8,000 kilometer course. Freshman Natnael Weldemichael, a Beechwood graduate, finished right behind in 20th in 25:49.7.
Weldemichael earned the Horizon League’s Male Freshman of the Year honors while Mastin and senior Megan Cole earned Second Team All-Horizon League honors. Cole led the NKU women with a 12th-place finish in 22:29 in the 6000 kilometer race.
The Norse head to Louisville for the NCAA Southeast Regionals on Friday, Nov. 11 at E.P “Tom” Sawyer State Park. The women’s 6K race takes place at 11 a.m. and the men’s 10K race is an hour later.
