Northern Michigan University’s Liesl Haugen bumps the ball during a GLIAC volleyball match played against Wisconsin-Parkside at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sept. 26. (Photo courtesy of Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — While its overall record is just a modest 5-9, a conference mark of 4-2 has to hearten the Northern Michigan University volleyball team.

The Wildcats climbed over the .500 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with victories at Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State over the weekend.

NMU has a match on an unusual day this week, Thursday, but for good reason as it will be one of Northern’s annual meetings against its closest rival, Michigan Tech. This match will be in Houghton at 6 p.m. Thursday, with the return match in Marquette a few days before Halloween.

Also this week is a noon EDT Saturday match in Hammond, Indiana, against Purdue Northwest.

Here are details from the Wildcats’ road trip:

NMU 3, Saginaw Valley St. 2

On Friday evening at University Center, the Wildcats held off the comeback-minded Cardinals, 25-19, 13-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-9.

“I am incredibly proud of this team for getting it done tonight,” senior middle blocker McKenzie Gruner said to NMU Sports Information for a game account. “Especially in another fifth set, there wasn’t a second where I thought we weren’t going to win given the determination on everyone’s face.”

Gruner made 16 kills to lead a balanced Northern attack as four players reached double-digit kills — Emilia Gulock and freshman Kaylie McIntosh each had 14 while Madison York had 10.

Liesl Haugen gathered up 25 digs, while Allie Barlow made 56 assists to go with 15 digs and a service ace. Gruner, Gulock and York also had two blocks apiece, while McIntosh added in two aces.

While NMU only had one more kill, 64-63, the Wildcats committed a half-dozen fewer attack errors, 23-17, for a better attack percentage of .280 compared to .225 for SVSU (6-8, 1-4 GLIAC).

Northern came out in the opening set and grabbed leads of 4-1 and 9-5. During the early run, Gruner, York and Gulock each had a pair of kills.

After a short lull, the Wildcats then went on a 9-2 streak to go ahead 18-10. In that spurt, Gruner made back-to-back-to-back kills.

The Cardinals got back into it and within 20-17 before three straight points put NMU back in command. That streak included Gruner and McIntosh kills and a Taylor Smaka ace.

An SVSU attack error gave Northern the set clincher.

The Cardinals took control from the get-go in Set 2, jumping out to a 14-1 margin that included only a pair of NMU errors.

Northern made a couple small inroads into that lead, getting as close as 19-10 before SVSU streaked to win the set.

The Wildcats again fell behind to start the third set, but it was only 5-2, something that could be recovered from. And they did, using a 4-0 run to go ahead 7-6. That string included McIntosh and Kaysie Bakke kills.

The set remained nick and tuck with NMU trailing 17-16 before the Wildcats finished the set with a 9-1 flourish. It included five kills by McIntosh, including on the first four points to put Northern ahead for good. Gulock also had three late kills to keep the momentum going.

A small spurt by each team left it 5-5 to start the fourth set, with it also tied at 6-6, 8-8 and then 13-13 in the midst of NMU’s 7-0 run that included a pair of Gulock kills and also two aces from McIntosh.

Just as Northern was getting comfortable with a 22-17 advantage, the Cardinals reeled off six straight points to go up 23-22.

Alternating points left it tied at 23-23, 24-24 and 25-25 before SVSU scored the final two on an NMU service error and Saginaw service ace.

Then in the decisive race-to-15 in the fifth set, Northern jumped out 4-1 after kills by York and Gulock, keeping a small lead until another 6-2 run ended the set and match. That final streak included a pair of McIntosh kills, one from Bakke and back-to-back SVSU attack errors that ended it.

NMU 3, LSSU 0

On Saturday afternoon at Sault Ste. Marie, Gruner again made 16 kills, but with this only being a three-set match, she was the lone player on either team with double-digit kills.

Northern prevailed 25-20, 25-19, 25-11 as the Lakers remain winless at 0-10 overall and 0-6 in the GLIAC.

Haugen again led the Wildcats in digs with 16 as she also had three assists, while Barlow had 27 assists and nine digs. Bakke made nine kills and McIntosh seven, while Lauren Cardwell had three aces.

“I am so proud of the team for how we played today,” Haugen said to NMU SI. “We played clean and collected and there wasn’t a moment when I thought we weren’t gonna win.”

Despite the lopsided final result, the opening set was quite competitive, with neither team scoring more than two points in a row as it was a 12-12 deadlock.

Then Northern scored five in a row to start a 9-2 run as Gruner had two kills and Bakke, Barlow, McIntosh and Gulock one apiece in the spurt.

Leading 22-15, NMU watched the Lakers score four straight points to pull closer. But errors by both teams came on each of the final five points as the Wildcats held on.

In Set 2, Northern took control more quickly, using an 8-0 streak to go ahead 11-3. That string included three Gruner kills and two by Bakke.

Lake State never got closer than five points again, even when LSSU scored four straight to pull within 23-18 before a Bakke kill ended the set.

The third set was much the same story as the first two. After a few points of feeling each other out, the Wildcats used an 11-1 run to make it a 14-4 stranglehold. The big streak included four kills by Gruner, two by Bakke and one from McIntosh.

NMU kept the Lakers at arm’s length, finishing it off mercifully with four points in row culminated by a Gruner kill.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the matches. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.