Northern Michigan University’s Lauren Van Remortel sets the ball during a GLIAC volleyball match played against Ferris State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sept. 17. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team looks to make it a season sweep of Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech when the teams meet in Houghton at 6 p.m. today.

The match will be televised on Fox-U.P. and can be followed along online with live statistics available at bit.ly/3A5i5Uu and live streaming at bit.ly/3TO1wWj.

On Sept. 20, the Wildcats swept MTU in three sets at Vandament Arena in Marquette as Jacqueline Smith led Northern with 19 kills as Alli Yacko had 15 digs and Lauren Van Remortel 34 set assists.

NMU is tied with Davenport for second place in the GLIAC at 10-3 as the Wildcats are also 18-6 overall. Ferris State leads the league at 12-2, while the Huskies are tied for fifth at 7-6 and are 15-8 overall.

Northern won a pair of five-set league matches on the road last weekend, defeating Davenport and Grand Valley State.

Here is a synopsis of those matches:

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NMU 3, Davenport 2

On Friday in Grand Rapids, the Wildcats prevailed after falling behind 2-0, winning 24-26, 24-26, 25-13, 25-23, 15-9.

Smith led the Wildcats with 20 kills that included the 1,000th of her collegiate career. Lizzy Stark had 18 kills, while Van Remortel added 49 assists, Caylie Barlage five service aces, Meghan Meyer six blocks, Olivia Webber five blocks, Barlage 21 digs and Yacko 20 digs.

With nothing going Northern’s way, the Wildcats turned things around in a big way in the third set, jumping out to a 7-1 lead as Stark had a trio of kills in a four-point stretch. While Davenport did pull within two points at one time, NMU lengthened its lead back to 19-10 and 23-11 after several three kills by Stark, ending it on back-to-back kills by Meyer and Smith.

NMU never trailed in the fifth set, but took total control with a 6-0 run that made it 13-6 after a pair of Smith kills and four straight DU errors. The match ended on a Rayne Thompson kill.

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NMU 3, Grand Valley State 2

On Saturday in Allendale, the Wildcats gave up a 2-0 lead before winning the fifth set, 25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 14-25, 15-12.

Stark had 15 kills and Smith 13, while Smith added three aces and 18 digs.

With the Lakers holding all the momentum, they jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Northern dug deep and answered to go up 5-4 and then 7-5 after several Stark kills.

GVSU tied it several times, the last at 12-12, before back-to-back-to-back Laker attack errors ended the match.

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