Jacqueline Smith

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team suffered a pair of GLIAC losses on the road over the weekend at Northwood and Lake Superior State.

The Wildcats (4-9, 1-4 GLIAC) return to Vandament Arena for Homecoming weekend with a match at 4:30 p.m. Friday against Saginaw Valley State and at 2 p.m. Saturday vs. Wayne State. The WSU match starts two hours before the NMU football team’s Homecoming game against the same school in the Superior Dome.

Here is a rundown of last weekend’s volleyball matches:

————————

Northwood 3, NMU 0

On Friday at Midland, the Timberwolves prevailed 25-18, 25-19, 25-14.

Northern’s Jacqueline Smith, last season’s GLIAC Freshman of the Year, led her team with 10 kills and three blocks as she added three digs.

Caylie Barlage had a team-high 13 digs, while setter Lauren Van Remortel had 24 of her team’s 25 assists, seven digs, a block and her team’s only service ace. Teammates Meghan Meyer and Evynn Layshock each made five kills as Meyer added two blocks and Layshock four digs.

————————

Lake Superior State

3, NMU 2

On Saturday at Sault Ste. Marie, the Lakers came out on top of this back-and-forth match, 25-15, 15-25, 25-19, 24-26, 15-12.

Smith led the Northern attack with 22 kills while contributing 14 digs, a block and two service aces.

Layshock and Ania Hyatt each had eight kills with Layshock adding 10 digs and a block. Van Remortel had 44 of her team’s 48 assists to go with nine digs and two kills.

And Barlage had an NMU-high 18 digs to go with two aces, while Madeline Crowley added 12 digs and two aces. Meyer and Angelina Negon each made two solo blocks.

Neither of the first two sets was particularly close.

The third set was a different story. Following five early ties, neither team led by more than three until the Lakers grabbed a 20-16 advantage, keeping it at four or five points the rest of the way.

The fourth set was another back-and-forth affair. After NMU’s early 8-4 lead, LSSU tightened things up, tying it at 8-8, 16-16 and 18-18.

With another 22-22 tie, the Lakers scored back-to-back points to get to match point leading 24-22. But the Wildcats scored the final four points to instead send the match to a fifth set. In the set-ending flurry, Smith made a kill that was abetted with three LSSU attack errors.

In the final set, NMU jumped out quickly as Smith made four kills and Van Remortel one for a 6-2 Wildcats lead. Then Lake State caught up, tying it 9-9.

Smith made another kill to retie it 11-11 before back-to-back points gave the hosts the lead for good. However, Smith had one more kill left in her arsenal to pull Northern within 13-12 before LSSU nabbed the final two points.

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