Northern Michigan University’s Meghan Meyer, second from left, has a satisfying grin after the point made by teammate Kaysie Bakke, left, late in the third set of a GLIAC volleyball match played against Purdue Northwest at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Also celebrating for the Wildcats are Liesl Haugen, second from right, and Jacqueline Smith, right. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team won a hard-earned GLIAC split on the road last weekend, falling to the No. 1 team in the nation while pulling off a big comeback against a middle-of-the-pack squad.

Top-ranked and undefeated Ferris State ran its overall record to 26-0 with a three-set sweep of the Wildcats, before NMU regrouped to pull out a five-set victory at seventh-place Davenport.

The split leaves Northern at 17-8 overall and 11-4 in the conference, a half-game ahead of Wayne State as they currently hold the final home court spots in the first round of the upcoming GLIAC Tournament. Ferris leads the way at 15-0 and Grand Valley State is second at 12-2, a game-and-a-half ahead of the Wildcats.

This week is the final weekend of the regular season as the NMU remains on the road to take on ninth-place Lake Superior State at 5 p.m. Friday and eighth-place Saginaw Valley State at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Northern has actually clinched its home court for the first round as fifth-place Michigan Tech and sixth-place Wisconsin-Parkside each already have seven conference losses and NMU can only have six.

Here are details from last weekend:

Ferris State 3, NMU 0

On Friday in Big Rapids, the Bulldogs prevailed 25-15, 26-24, 25-22 as FSU has only lost nine sets all season in its 26 matches.

Ferris held a statistical advantage in every major category, including 45-31 in kills, 7-4 in service aces, 5-4 in blocks, 51-31 in digs and 43-27 in assists.

Nevertheless, Northern’s Jacqueline Smith tied for the match high in kills with 13 while adding a pair of aces and seven digs.

Allie Barlow was the NMU digs leader with nine, while Meghan Meyer and McKenzie Gruner each had two blocks and four kills.

The Bulldogs put their stamp on the match right away, jumping out to a 7-1 lead, though Northern cut it to 7-5 with four points in a row as the last three were Smith kills.

Ferris gradually extended the lead until it reached 10, 21-11, though NMU used a 4-1 spurt to get back within 23-15 as Smith and Gruner had kills.

But the Bulldogs scored the final two points to take Set 1.

The second two sets were much more competitive. The Wildcats used an 8-3 run to go ahead 12-9 in Set 2. In that streak, Meyer had two kills and Smith and Barlow one each as Caylie Barlage had an ace.

The teams traded short streaks to leave the score tied 15-15. Ferris then got a couple-point lead that Northern erased to make it 24-24 following a Gruner kill.

But the hosts scored back-to-back points to end this set.

Northern jumped out to a solid 7-2 advantage to start the third, Barlow, Smith and Caylie Barlage each getting kills as FSU committed four errors.

NMU kept the lead until Ferris scored back-to-back points to tie it 13-13. The lead changed hands four times after that until the Bulldogs notched three straight to reach match point at 24-21. A Meyer kill averted one of those match points before Ferris ended it on a Olivia Henneman-Dallape kill.

NMU 3, Davenport 2

On Saturday in Caledonia, the Wildcats lost the first two sets before roaring back to take an 18-25, 18-25, 25-12, 25-19, 16-14 victory.

These team stats were much more even, Northern’s biggest advantage coming in digs with an 89-66 edge.

Smith again shared high-kills honors with 21, matching DU’s Abby Alan, as Smith also had 17 digs, two aces and two assists. This was Smith’s sixth 20-kill match this season.

Teammate Kaysie Bakke added 12 kills, while Meyer had 10 kills and a team-high three aces.

Leisl Haugen returned to her top defensive mode, leading the Wildcats with 23 digs.

“Davenport came out hot and we weren’t ready to play,” Meyer said in an NMU Sports Information report on the match. “It took us longer than we wanted to get going, but we leaned on each other and battled through and pulled out a win.”

The home team quickly built a 7-3 lead in the first set before Northern evened it up. The score was close until Davenport pulled away late, ending the set on a 6-1 run.

The teams traded runs in the second set, keeping the score close again quite far into the set. But the Panthers used another good finishing run, this time 6-2, to go up two sets to none in the match.

With their backs to the wall, the Wildcats got down to business in Set 3, establishing leads of 3-0, 7-2 and 10-4 before using an extended 12-3 spurt to go up by an insurmountable 22-9. That dozen-point run included four kills and back-to-back aces by Smith, along with a couple kills by Bakke.

NMU finished the set emphatically, scoring the final three points that included a kill from Madison York.

The Wildcats also got out to a quick lead in the fourth set, but this time Davenport hung close. Northern couldn’t push its lead beyond three points until a 4-0 run made it 17-11. That streak included a pair of Bakke kills bracketing back-to-back DU errors.

NMU got it to set point, 24-17, following a Smith kill, and while the Panthers averted it twice, a DU error ended the set to even the match 2-2.

In the final-set race to 15, Northern again jumped out and didn’t trail. But DU tied the score several times, the final time at 12-12 following a 4-0 run, then actually got to match point first at 14-13 before the Wildcats saved the match on a Davenport service error, then won it on back-to-back kills by Gruner and Barlow.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.