Northern Michigan University’s Jaqueline Smith sets up for a return in a volleyball match against Findlay at the newly expanded Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sept. 12. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — It took a nationally ranked team to do it, but the Northern Michigan University volleyball team fell from the ranks of the unbeaten in the GLIAC on Saturday as the Wildcats forged a split of their home weekend in Vandament Arena.

NMU is now 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the GLIAC — good for second place — after a four-set victory over Davenport and a four-set loss to league leader and No. 7 ranked Ferris State.

Northern remains home this week for the middle two matches of a six-match homestand, hosting conference foe Saginaw Valley State at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Lake Superior State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The home streak finishes out next week, when the Wildcats entertain Michigan Tech at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 10, in a match expected to be televised by WLUC-TV6 or Fox-U.P., then host GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11.

Those will be NMU’s final home matches in October, with the next home match vs. Purdue Northwest on Nov. 1.

Here are details from the past weekend:

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NMU 3, Davenport 1

On Friday evening at Vandament, the Wildcats prevailed 25-10, 25-6, 22-25, 25-17 for their fourth consecutive overall victory and third without a loss in the conference.

After dominating the opening two sets, Davenport (2-9, 0-3 GLIAC) put up a much better fight to end the match. In fact, the second-set 25-6 win was the most lopsided of head coach Mike Lozier’s tenure at Northern and tied for biggest set win for the Wildcats in the past dozen years, last outdone by a 25-5 victory over LSSU in 2012.

NMU’s Julia Bouma recorded a career-high six service aces, half of Northern’s total of a dozen, while Jacquline Smith added four aces to go with 11 digs, a block and a match-high 19 kills.

Liesl Haugen led the Wildcats’ defense with 20 digs as she also had a pair of assists, and Kaysie Bakke and Allie Barlow each had seven kills as Barlow also had 36 assists. Teammate Caylie Barlage added 13 digs and Meghan Meyer and Helen Beiring had two blocks apiece.

“(Friday night’s) match was so much fun,” Haugen said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the match. “We fought hard, played together and executed our offense and defense.”

As a team, Northern had an attack percentage of .293, its second-best of the season, while limiting Davenport to an NMU opponent-low .053 in that statistic.

Those team numbers showed up right away as the Wildcats raced to a 7-2 lead in the opening set. Smith had two kills and an ace in that streak as Beiring and McKenzie Gruner had one kill each. DU also made two attack errors in that early stretch.

An 8-0 run expanded Northern’s lead to an unbeatable 16-4 as Meyer had two kills and Barlage and Barlow one apiece as the Panthers added in four errors.

After Davenport scored back-to-back points to reach double digits, a DU service error ended the opening set.

Much the same could be said about Set 2, with the hosts jumping out 7-1 as Beiring had two kills and Bakke one, while Barlow and Smith had aces.

And a mid-set run put it out of reach, this time another 8-0 spurt that made it 19-4 and included three kills from Smith, two aces by Bouma and a kill apiece from Bakke and Meyer.

Smith put the set to bed with a kill.

Whatever was said after that set must’ve woken up the Panthers. After Smith opened the third set with a kill, Davenport scored seven straight points to take a commanding lead. DU’s Abby Alan had three kills while the Wildcats committed three errors.

NMU got back in it, tying the score 14-14 in the midst of a 7-1 run as Barlow had two kills and Smith and Beiring one each.

Northern’s lead lasted until DU scored back-to-back points to retie it 19-19. The teams traded the lead down the stretch, NMU tying it for the final time at 22-22 on a Smith kill before the visitors ended the set with three straight points.

The Wildcats had a chance to put the match away in the fourth set, while Davenport was trying to force a fifth and deciding set.

Neither team had a lead of more than one point until the Wildcats went on a 8-1 run to take a 16-9 lead. In that string, Smith had a kill and ace, while Bakke had two kills as four DU errors added to the run.

Northern continued to pour it on, amassing a 22-11 cushion as the Panthers withstood match point four times before a Smith kill ended the set and match.

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Ferris State 3, NMU 1

On Saturday afternoon at Vandament, the Bulldogs remained undefeated at 11-0 and 4-0 in the GLIAC with a 22-25, 25-10, 29-27, 25-19 win.

Smith led NMU with 19 kills as she also had 11 digs and a block. Meyer added in her team’s only two aces along with nine kills and two blocks.

And Barlow had 46 assists and 11 digs, Haugen a team-high 16 digs and Bakke notched 10 kills and two blocks.

Ferris, however, had a sterling .312 attack percentage compared to Northern’s .184 despite the kills being almost even. That was due to NMU’s extra attempts but especially to the Wildcats having nearly twice as many errors, 26-14.

Barlow’s 46 assists, the second-most of her career, included a 18 assists on Northern’s 19 kills in the opening-set win, according to NMU SI’s report on the match.

Neither team had more than a two-point lead in that first set until the Wildcats went on a 5-1 run that made it 18-14. In that string, Bakke had two kills while the Bulldogs committed three errors.

Northern pumped its advantage to 21-16 before Ferris started closing the gap, getting to within 24-22 before a Meyer kill — assisted by Barlow — closed out the set.

After that, it was just about all Bulldogs, though the Wildcats put up a mighty fight in the third set.

In Set 2, Ferris raced to an 8-3 lead that included three Northern errors, then after a slight pause, the Bulldogs had a 10-2 string to push its lead to 18-7 when NMU committed another five errors.

NMU managed just three more points, including kills by Bakke and Smith, to leave the match tied 1-1.

The third set was much more competitive, with one team answering the other’s push. The Wildcats scored the first three points, Ferris then the next three.

A little while later, the Bulldogs got four in a row to up 14-9, NMU had a 3-1 streak to pull within 15-13. At that point, each team scored four in a row that left Northern down 19-17.

Each team had a hand in forging ties at 22-22, 23-23, 24-24, 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27 before Ferris scored back-to-back kills by Gabby Piazza to carry off the set.

With the Wildcats facing a tough mental test to start the fourth set, instead they jumped out to an 8-3 lead after scoring five in a row off two kills by Gruner and one each by Smith and Rayne Thompson.

The Bulldogs used several short spurts to gain a 14-12 edge, but Northern did the same to regain a 17-16 lead.

It was still 19-19 when Ferris put together the final half-dozen points of the set and match, aided by three NMU errors.

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