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Northern Michigan University volleyball team struggles on road against some of GLIAC’s best

From left, Ferris State’s Gabby Piazza attempts a kill as Northern Michigan University’s Rayne Thompson and Meghan Meyer jump to block it during their GLIAC match played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sept. 28. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team had a rough time against some of the best teams in the GLIAC during a downstate road trip over the weekend.

The Wildcats lost in straight sets at conference second-place team Grand Valley State, then fell a day later to the team that has joined them in third place, Wayne State.

NMU, now at 13-7 overall and 7-3 in the league, trails league leader Ferris State (11-0) and GVSU (9-1) and is tied with WSU (7-3).

The Wildcats keep busy with three matches in the next five days, traveling to Houghton to play Michigan Tech at 6 p.m. Wednesday, with television coverage on Fox-U.P., possibly moving to Grit-TV after 8 p.m. if the World Series continues that day.

Then the Wildcats host Purdue Northwest at 4 p.m. Friday and Wisconsin-Parkside at 4 p.m. Saturday. The Parkside match is the team’s final home match of the regular season and is Senior Night and also a Veteran’s Day celebration.

Here are details about the past weekend:

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Grand Valley St. 3, NMU 0

On Friday evening at Allendale, the nationally ranked No. 13 Lakers prevailed 25-13, 28-26, 25-16.

GV dominated on offense, compiling an attack percentage of .448, including .679 in the opening set, while Northern’s was just .091.

Jacqueline Smith led NMU’s attack with nine kills, adding in seven digs, two blocks and an assist. Teammate Meghan Meyer had seven kills, two service aces and two blocks, while Helen Beiring had six kills and two blocks.

Caylie Barlage led the Northern defense with eight digs as Allie Barlow had five.

Grand Valley jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set, then extended that with a 6-1 run to go up 21-11, not letting the Wildcats get closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

The second set was the most competitive, with the teams trading the lead several times before an NMU 6-1 run put the Wildcats ahead 15-12. In that surge, Smith had two kills and Meyer and McKenzie Gruner one each, while Allie Barlow added in an ace.

The Lakers caught Northern at 19-19 with ties at 20-20 and 21-21 before a 4-0 NMU run gave them triple-set point at 24-21. That streak included a Meyer kill and ace and a Barlow kill.

GVSU saved all three points and eventually went ahead 26-25 before a Beiring kill retied it 26-26. But kills by Grand Valley’s Paige Sanders and Jordyn Gates ended the set.

The Lakers retook control to start the third, racing to leads of 5-1, 8-2 and 16-6 and never let the Wildcats get closer than seven points the rest of the way.

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Wayne State 3, NMU 0

On Saturday afternoon at Detroit, the Warriors won 25-16, 25-23, 25-23 to move into a tie with NMU in the GLIAC standings.

Smith again led the Northern attack with 12 kills as she added five digs, while Olivia Webber and Kaysie Bakke had six kills and two blocks each. Teammate Caylie Barlage added nine digs as Liesl Haugen had seven.

WSU jumped out to 7-3 and 16-8 leads in the first set, and after that the Wildcats couldn’t string together more than two points in a row.

The final two sets were much more competitive.

In the second set, Northern used back-to-back 4-1 runs to establish a 17-10 lead. In those streaks, Bakke, Barlow, Webber, Meyer and Smith all had kills.

The Warriors found their rhythm late in the set, using a 5-0 run to tie it 21-21, then finishing it on a 4-1 streak after a Smith kill gave NMU a 23-22 lead.

Wayne State jumped out early in the third before the Wildcats used a 4-0 run to tie it 6-6. In that run, Rayne Thompson had a kill and Smith an ace.

The Warriors once again established a lead before a Northern 7-1 run retied it 22-22. In that spurt, Smith had three kills, Webber two and Lauren Cardwell an ace.

But WSU answered with three of the final four points, culminating with a kill by Wayne State’s Kayla Giroux to end the match.

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

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