The visiting Cardinals started out strong. But after an out of bounds error on a spike by the Wildcats’ Jacqueline Smith left SVSU down just 15-14, NMU reeled off a half-dozen straight points while the Cardinals remained stuck at 14.

With Northern leading 21-14, each team traded three-point spurts before NMU clinched it on a Smith kill.

“One of biggest Achilles heels coming into this is that we don’t start games very well,” NMU head coach Mike Lozier said. “Going into this weekend we said we’d start and win the race to seven (points). It’s exciting … that we did that.”

In Set 2, the Wildcats firmly held their ground with SVSU on their tails as the last time NMU lost the lead was at 6-6. Impressively, the Cardinals got the majority of their points in this round from kills. Rylee Zimmer, Madison Thompson and Lizzy Stark led their team with a number of successful kills.

“I thought we attacked well, but we didn’t pass very well and our blocking was weak,” Cardinals head coach Will Stanton said.

In the end, Northern won the set.

The Cardinals seemed to lose most of their traction in the third set and and fell behind, first 3-0, then 17-11 and 21-14.

“We were in the fight up until halfway through and we stalled out,” Stanton said. “We just couldn’t maintain the intensity we needed.”

NMU successfully kept the Cardinals at bay and finished with back-to-back points on a Smith kill and SVSU attack error.

“Meghan Meyer is leading our conference in attack percentage, she’s just such a threat out there, and Jackie Smith on the outside is so gifted in not only offense, but defense as a leader,” Lozier said.

Meyer made eight kills, second on the team to Smith’s 14.

“Lauren Van Remortel did a really good job distributing the ball. We were really happy with that,” Lozier said. “And Alli Yacko — she kinda runs our defense. She’s a fifth-year player, so she’s really composed and a really good leader, so when things get chaotic she does a really good job of keeping everyone in the zone.”

Van Remortel led in assists with 31, while Yacko had 14 digs.

The Wildcats sit third in the GLIAC at 8-3 and 15-4 overall, while SVSU is 5-6 and 9-10.

————————-

Wayne State 3, NMU 2

On Friday, the Wildcats lost a five-set heartbreaker as the Warriors prevailed, 17-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-23, 17-15.

Smith led NMU with 22 kills, while Lizzy Stark added 20. While Yacko had 20 digs, Madeline Crowley added 17. Other leaders were Caylie Barlage with four service aces, Ania Hyatt with three blocks and Van Remortel with 54 assists.

Though WSU jumped out to a 6-2 lead, Northern quickly rebounded to tie it a half-dozen times between 7-7 and 16-16.

But at that highest tie, NMU scored nine of the final 10 points of the set that included two kills by Stark and two aces by Barlage.

The second set also started the Warriors’ way, but the teams then traded the lead with a number of ties, the last at 20-20. But Wayne State scored six of the final seven points to even the match 1-1.

NMU jumped out in the third set, going on a 8-0 run to take a 10-5 lead on two Stark kills, one by Smith and a Smith ace. The Wildcats kept WSU at arm’s length the rest of the set.

A streaky fourth set meant the lead changed often, but the Warriors got the final streak in, scoring the final three points including an attack error and bad set by Northern, to tie it 2-2.

NMU had an excellent chance to put the match away in the fifth set, jumping out to an 8-3 lead after a pair of Smith kills and three WSU attack errors broke a 3-3 tie.

But the Warriors kept chipping away, finally evening the set at 12-12 as it was also tied at 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15 before Wayne State scored the final three points of the match on a Kayla Giroux kill and a pair of NMU attack errors.

Email Alexandria Bournonville at abournonville@miningjournal.net.