From left, Northern Michigan University’s Lauren Van Remortel lunges to make a set in the second set as teammates Ania Hyatt and Meghan Meyer look on in the Wildcats’ GLIAC volleyball match against Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 1 at Vandament Arena in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team returns to GLIAC play this weekend on the road with matches at Purdue Northwest and Wisconsin-Parkside.

The Wildcats were scheduled to play in Hammond, Indiana, at Purdue NW on Friday night before they travel to Kenosha, Wisconsin, at 2 p.m. today to play Parkside.

NMU has several players in the top five in the GLIAC in a number of statistical categories.

Jacqueline Smith, a sophomore who earned GLIAC Freshman of the Year honors last season, is third in kills, both in kills per set at 3.86 and total kills with 270.

Service ace leaders feature three Wildcats — Caylie Barlage is No. 1 in the league at 0.54 per set, Smith is fourth at 0.44 and Lizzy Stark is fifth at 0.42.

Smith, Meghan Meyer and setter Lauren Van Remortel were all named First Team in the GLIAC last season. Meyer is 11th in the league in attack percentage at .277, while Van Remortel is sixth in assists per set at 9.87.

Last weekend, the Wildcats won two of three matches at the Midwest Region Crossover Tournament in Hammond, Indiana, defeating Southwest Baptist of Missouri and Ursuline of Ohio while falling to Maryville of Missouri.

Smith was named to the all-tournament team.

With this weekend’s opponents relatively new members of the GLIAC, NMU has only faced them a handful of times.

Northern is 3-0 vs. Purdue NW, their most recent match in 2019 when NMU won in four sets, while the Wildcats are 15-5 against Parkside, their initial meeting back in 1985 in Marquette in a Northern four-set win.

Fans can follow @NMU_Wildcats on Twitter for continued coverage of the volleyball Wildcats and other NMU teams throughout the week.

Information on today’s match is available online. For audio, visit streamdb8web.securenetsystems.net/cirruscontent/wupk, for video, visit team1sports.com/Parkside/ and for live statistics, visit gliac.prestosports.com/sports/wvball/2021-22/boxscores/20211023_e64z.xml.

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