NORTH MUSKEGON – It’s funny how success can bring people together.

Before they became teammates on the North Muskegon volleyball team, Natalie Pannucci and Sami Baker were not particularly close.

But their skill sets were closely related on the court, and success meant working closely together.

Pannucci is a powerful outside hitter who specializes in pounding home points. Baker is a gifted setter who specializes in setting up shots for big hitters like Pannucci.

They’ve been clicking on the court for two-plus seasons now, and both had great success last year.

Pannucci slammed home 768 kills and Baker had 972 assists. Pannucci was third-team All-State while Baker was honorable mention.

They helped the Norse have a strong season last year– just not quite the season they hoped for.

They finished with a 27-22-2 record and advanced to the West Michigan Conference tournament finals before losing to Whitehall. Then they advanced to the Division 3 district finals before losing to powerful Western Michigan Christian in five grueling sets.

Despite the disappointment, all of Pannucci and Baker’s hard work and success have brought them closer together, and now they are close friends, which probably makes them an even more dangerous combination for opponents.

“When she was a freshman, I took her under my wing,” Pannucci said. “When you’re a freshman, you don’t have many friends on the team to start.”

“We weren’t very close before we started playing together,” Baker added. “But now we have a really good connection. She’s one of my best friends and I think it really helps us connect on the court. We know our strengths and weaknesses and try to put things together.”

So far Pannucci and Baker have picked up where they left off last season.

As of last week, Pannucci had 94 kills, bringer her to a career total of 862. If she continues at her current pace, Pannucci is very likely to reach the milestone career mark of 1,000 kills this season.

“I’d be really excited about that,” the senior said. “That would be really cool. I’ve always seen other girls do it and I want to achieve it too.”

What drives Pannucci to put up amazing numbers is her super-competitive spirit,combined with her athleticism, according to North Muskegon Coach Kammi Eacker.

“She’s probably the most competitive person I’ve ever met,” Eacker said.  “It doesn’t matter how big or small the competition is, she wants to win every time. She’s just one of those athletes that, in everything she does, is fun to watch.”

Pannucci also gets a big boost from having a terrific setter like Baker putting her in positions to succeed.

“She’s always adding more to her game,” Coach Eacker said about Baker. “She’s always looking for little things that she can fine tune. Everything out of her hands looks the same every time, and that’s what you really want out of a setter. She does a really good job of reading the court and she catches teams off guard.”

The honorable mention All-State honor meant a lot to Baker, particularly since she was only a sophomore last season.

“I was super grateful,” she said. “Just to be put up for All-Region and All-State is awesome. Once I found out I got it, it was so cool to see everything I’ve done pay off.”

Eacker says both are even better than they were last season.

“Sami’s been pushing herself to be more offensive, and she’s attacking more herself,” the coach said. “Natalie’s defense is stellar, and she’s been moving from the middle to the outside more, which brings a different tone to her game and she gets more swings.”

The Norse got off to a so-so start this season after playing teams from a lot of larger schools in early-season tournaments.

But they had a good night on Monday, beating Newaygo, and more importantly their old rival Whitehall, and improved to 7-6-3 on the season.

The Norse are 1-0 in conference play so far, and the fact that they fell just short of conference and district titles last year is providing plenty of motivation for the balance of this season.

“I think when you ask the girls about team goals, those are the very first two things they mention,” Eacker said. “They definitely want to avenge those losses and show everyone what’s up. The focus on those goals is pretty strong. We talk about it all the time.”

“We were so close to winning both that it’s driven our motivation to win and work harder each practice,” Pannucci said.