Senior outside hitter Jacqueline Smith made her 1,665th kill early in the second set of a victory over Lake Superior State to break the record of 1,664 previously held by Andrea Gommans that was established in 1993, according to an NMU Sports Information news release about the match.

Northern won NCAA Division II national championships in 1993 and 1994 while finishing as national runner-up in the years before and after them in 1992 and 1995.

Smith finished with 22 kills in the match vs. LSSU, the second time’s she eclipsed 20 kills this season, and now stands at 1,678 kills.

“I am very proud of how our team battled (Friday and Saturday),” Smith said in the NMU SI release. “We were challenged in the second set both days but we rose (up) to it and showed that we can get the job done.”

Northern Michigan University players on the bench gesture their serving ritual held on the sidelines in a GLIAC volleyball match played against Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

The Wildcats swept their home GLIAC weekend, beating both Saginaw Valley State on Friday and LSSU on Saturday in four sets to improve to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the conference. NMU is tied for second with Grand Valley State as Ferris State leads the league with a perfect 6-0 mark.

Northern remains at home this week to complete a six-match homestand, hosting Michigan Tech at 6:30 p.m. Thursday that will be televised by Fox-U.P., then entertaining GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt at 6:30 p.m. Friday for Youth Sports Day.

The Huskies are right behind NMU in the standings at 4-2, while the newest Lakers’ entrant in the GLIAC has struggled to an 0-6 record. Roosevelt joins Lake State and GVSU as being nicknamed the Lakers.

After this week, the Wildcats won’t be home again until Nov. 1, traveling to the Midwest Crossover at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana, on Oct. 18-19, then heading downstate for two GLIAC matches the following week, finally playing their return engagement at Michigan Tech on Wednesday, Oct. 30, which should also be on TV on WLUC-TV6 or Fox-U.P.

Here are details from last weekend’s matches:

Northern Michigan University’s Liesl Haugen, front, and Julia Bouma dive for a dig in the second set of a GLIAC volleyball match played against Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

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NMU 3, Saginaw Valley State 1

On Friday at Vandament Arena, the Wildcats prevailed after losing the second set, 25-16, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14.

Smith came alive in the final set, recording eight of her match-high 16 kills as she added in 12 digs.

Meghan Meyer contributed 13 kills and hit an efficient .524 to go with sharing a match-high five service aces with teammate Allie Barlow. Barlow also contributed 40 assists, while McKenzie Gruner had 10 kills, hit .500 and made a team-high two blocks, while Liesl Haugen made a team-high 15 digs along with two aces as Julia Bouma had 13 digs.

“I think (Friday) was a test of our grit and mentality on the court since we didn’t come out exactly how we wanted,” Barlow said in an NMU SI release about the match. “We proved to ourselves that we’re able to make a switch and push through when we need to, and I’m super proud of us for recognizing it and doing something about it.

Barlow had back-to-back aces in the Wildcats’ 6-1 opening run in the first set, though the Cardinals quickly knotted the score 7-7. NMU reclaimed leads of 16-11, 18-12 and 20-13 before a Meyer kill ended the set.

The Cards jumped out early in the second set and kept a small lead until an NMU 4-0 run tied it 18-18. In that streak, Meyer and Gruner had kills, while Meyer also had an ace.

Though Northern built a 22-19 lead, Saginaw Valley answered by scoring six of the final seven points to claim the set.

With the match tied 1-1, the Wildcats jumped out to a 5-1 lead in Set 3, Meyer getting a kill and Barlow both a kill and an ace.

NMU kept the lead until a Cardinals’ 5-0 run put the the visitors ahead 15-13. But Northern immediately answered with its own 4-0 run to retake the lead as Smith had two kills and Gruner one as Meyer served an ace.

The Wildcats kept a lead that didn’t exceed three points after that until Smith and Gruner made back-to-back kills to end the set.

In the fourth set, Northern again jumped out to leads of 5-2 and 9-3, those combined streaks including four Smith kills along with a Barlow kill and Meyer ace.

Another NMU 6-0 run made it 17-8 as Meyer and KC Fortune made kills and Bouma had an ace.

Finally, a match-ending 7-1 run included three more Smith kills with the exclamation point provided by back-to-back Gruner kills.

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NMU 3, Lake Superior State

On Saturday at Vandament, the Wildcats prevailed almost exactly like the day before, only dropping a close second set in a 25-16, 23-25, 25-15, 25-18 victory.

Smith’s record-setting day with 22 kills was more than twice as many as any other player on either team. NMU’s Helen Beiring did add 10 kills — the second time in her career she’s reached double digits in that statistic — as Meyer had eight. Smith, Meyer and Caylie Barlage added two aces apiece, while Smith also had eight digs.

Haugen led Northern’s defense with 18 digs as Barlow had 13 to go with 44 assists.

The Wildcats got off to another fast start, racing to a 7-1 lead as Smith had three kills and Meyer an ace in the first set. The teams mostly traded points until NMU scored the final three points of the set on a Barlow kill followed by back-to-back ones by Smith.

Lake State was determined to avoid the slow start in the second set, jumping out to a 6-1 advantage. Smith’s second kill of the set — the record-setter — pulled the home team within 7-4, but LSSU still extended its advantage to 15-7.

An NMU 7-2 run got the Wildcats within 17-14, with Smith adding in three more kills and Barlow and Barlage one apiece.

Northern pulled even, 19-19, with another 5-0 run as Beiring had a kill and the Lakers had four errors.

Then Lake State held off NMU, ending its winning set with a kill by Morgan Deming.

Now with the match tied 1-1, Northern raced to a 6-1 lead in the third set as Meyer had two kills and Smith, Barlow and Gruner one each.

The Wildcats extended their lead to double digits for the first time at 15-5, and upped it further to 22-10 on a 4-0 run that included a Beiring kill and Smith ace.

They needed the advantage after the Lakers scored five of the next six points, but NMU answered with back-to-back kills by Beiring and Meyer to end the set.

The teams traded short runs for much of the fourth set, keeping the score close, including Northern leading 20-18.

Then the Wildcats finished the weekend with a flourish, scoring the final five points as Barlage had an ace and Meyer two kills, including one on the match-clinching point.

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