Northern Michigan University’s Lauren Van Remortel, center, lunges to dig a tipped ball in a GLIAC 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 will play a GLIAC-heavy schedule this fall, but before the Wildcats get into the conference season, they’ll have a pair of multiday tournaments to open the season.

NMU went 12-15 overall and 7-8 in the GLIAC last fall after winning both the conference regular season and tournament titles the previous winter during the height of the coronavirus pandemic earlier in 2021.

Northern opens the upcoming season a week before the Labor Day weekend at its home Vandament Arena with the NMU Open/Green and Gold Invitational scheduled for Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 25-27.

Then the Wildcats head south for the Kentucky Wesleyan Tournament in Owensboro, Kentucky, during the holiday weekend on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 2-3.

The rest of the teams and schedules haven’t been determined or at least announced for those two events.

With a week off after the trip to Kentucky, NMU jumps right into its league schedule with home and away matches against each of the other nine GLIAC members.

Northern opens at home with five straight matches in mid-September. All conference matches will be played on Fridays and Saturdays with the exception of the ones against Michigan Tech, with those matches against the Huskies taking place on Tuesdays.

The Wildcats host Grand Valley State on Sept. 9 and Davenport on Sept. 10, then host Lake Superior State on Sept. 16 and Ferris State on Sept. 17. Ferris is the reigning GLIAC champion, though NMU split with the Bulldogs in two matches last season.

Then comes the first MTU match, a home match on Sept. 20. Northern has split its last four matches against Tech.

Northern then hits the road for two weeks, traveling to Wisconsin-Parkside on Sept. 23 and Purdue Northwest on Sept. 24, then Ferris on Sept. 30 and LSSU on Oct. 1. NMU has never lost in four matches against PNW.

A quick weekend at home, against Wayne State on Oct. 7 and Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 8, will be followed by a final nonconference break in the schedule.

That will be the Midwest Crossover Tournament on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 14-15. In the past, the event has featured GLIAC teams playing against teams from another conference, most commonly the Great Lakes Valley Conference that includes schools from Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. But all that has been determined now is that the Wildcats will hit the road for that weekend.

And they stay on the road for another two weekends and five matches. NMU goes to Davenport on Oct. 21 and Grand Valley on Oct. 22, plays at Michigan Tech on Tuesday, Oct. 25, then travels to SVSU on Oct. 28 and Wayne State on Oct. 29.

Then Northern comes home for the final weekend of the regular season to host Purdue NW on Nov. 4 and Wisconsin-Parkside on Nov. 5. That final day has been designated Senior Day for the Wildcats.

Following that will be the GLIAC Tournament, which is likely to have the top eight of the league’s 10 teams qualify.

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