Northern Michigan University’s Allie Barlow signals a play to her hitters in the second set of a GLIAC volleyball match played against Michigan Tech at the Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team not only picked up a pair of victories in three matches over the weekend, but saw one of its players earn a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference weekly award while doing it.

The Wildcats had the weekend off from conference play, instead heading to the southern end of Lake Michigan and GLIAC member Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana, to take part in the Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament.

On Monday, NMU sophomore Allie Barlow was named GLIAC Setter of the Week after she made 131 assists in the three matches — wins on Friday over Findlay and Indianapolis and a loss Saturday to Rockhurst.

Just on Friday alone, she made exactly 100 assists, a career-best 52 in a five-setter vs. Findlay, then 48 more a few hours later in a four-setter vs. Indy. She tacked on 31 on Saturday in the four-set loss.

Over the course of three matches, she added in 14 kills, five service aces, 23 digs and even found time for a block.

“Allie is just an incredible talent (who) still has so much room to keep growing,” Northern head coach Mike Lozier said in an NMU Sports Information news release about Barlow’s honor. “Allie entered the weekend having put together some great performances, but this weekend stands out because she did it against three of the top teams in our region.

“The lights got brighter and she rose to the occasion.”

Barlow leads all league setters with 738 assists this season, a number that is also in the top 30 nationally, after she surpassed 1,000 career assists during the Wildcats’ stay in Indiana.

NMU now stands at 13-5 overall and is 7-1 in the GLIAC, good for a tie for second place with Grand Valley State and a game and a half behind 9-0 Ferris State.

The Wildcats return to conference competition for the remainder of the regular season. They have nine more matches starting with three in a row on the road. Northern faces their fellow second-place resident GVSU in Allendale at 6 p.m. Friday before heading across the Lower Peninsula to Detroit to take on Wayne State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

NMU returns home before heading in the opposite direction to play at Michigan Tech in Houghton at 6 p.m. next Wednesday. That match is expected to be televised on WLUC-TV6 or Fox-U.P., as Fox-U.P. showed their match on Oct. 10 in Marquette.

Northern’s next home match is at 4 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1, against Purdue NW, followed the next day with a 4 p.m. match against Wisconsin-Parkside, both at Vandament Arena.

Here is a wrapup from the Midwest Crossover:

NMU 3, Findlay 2

On Friday afternoon, Northern pulled off two comebacks against a former GLIAC member, winning 16-25, 25-13, 22-25, 25-16, 17-15.

It was a bit of revenge for the Wildcats, who lost in three sets to the Oilers to open their run at the Upper Peninsula Open on Sept. 12 in Houghton.

“As a staff, we are so proud of how our team competed this afternoon,” NMU assistant coach Sarah Kuehn said in an NMU SI release detailing the match. “We were motivated going into the match knowing we didn’t give them our best when we played them (before).

“We’ve grown a lot as a team since that first matchup against them because of all the hard work our team has put in, so I’m just glad we got to see that come together against them.”

Jacqueline Smith joined Barlow in having a match to remember as the senior outside hitter was the offensive force of the match, making 24 kills and posting a .380 attack percentage. Smith added in 15 digs and four blocks.

Teammate Rayne Thompson had 10 kills and a .400 attack percentage, while Meghan Meyer added eight kills to go with a match-high five blocks and an ace.

Liesl Haugen led NMU’s defense with 25 digs, while Julia Bouma and Caylie Barlage each had 11 digs and McKenzie Gruner four blocks.

The opening set was tied multiple times early before Findlay went on an extended 12-2 run to take control. The teams mostly traded single and pairs of points after that until the Oilers ended the set with four points in a row, the final three on Northern attack errors.

The Wildcats turned things around quickly in Set 2, jumping out to a 7-1 lead as Smith had five kills then. Another 7-1 run made it 19-6 — Smith had three more kills and Meyer one — before a Findlay error mercifully ended the set.

The Oilers took an early lead in the third set before NMU finally caught them at 10-10 after a Meyer kill and Findlay error.

The teams went back and forth before Northern took its only lead of the set, 20-19, on another attack error. But Findlay scored six of the final eight points to retake the lead in the match.

A 9-4 early streak gave the Wildcats a 12-8 lead in the fourth, while five more in a row by NMU made it 18-10. The latter streak included kills by Thompson, Gruner and Kaysie Bakke. The set ended on a Smith kill.

Forcing the race-to-15 fifth set, the combatants went beyond that. NMU jumped out to a 6-3 lead with five in a row including two Smith kills and one by Gruner.

Findlay pulled ahead 9-8 and then 12-9, but Northern had the wherewithal to stay in it, scoring three in a row after two Barlow kills and one by Smith.

That set up ties at 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15, but the Wildcats ended it with the final three points that included kills by Smith, and on match point, by Gruner.

NMU 3, Indianapolis 1

On Friday evening for what had to be an exhausting match following the five-set thriller, NMU pulled out a 25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21 victory.

“Super proud of how the team persevered through some adversity in this match,” said Kamryn Duffield, another Northern assistant coach, in an NMU SI account of this match. “I want to give a big shout-out to our bench for bringing great energy and making a neutral site feel like home.

“Our offense stepped up firing on all cylinders and our defense was relentless.”

NMU’s sixth straight win included 61 kills, only exceeded this season by the 62 it had against Findlay a few hours earlier.

Smith didn’t have to carry the offensive load this time, though she tied for the team high with 13 kills. Meyer also had 13, while Bakke added 11, Gruner 10, Thompson eight and Barlow six.

Smith also had two aces, two assists and a block, while Meyer had two blocks.

Barlow’s 48 assists were augmented by a team-high three aces, while Haugen led with 27 digs as Barlage had 18.

A back-and-forth start started going the Wildcats’ way with a 7-1 run to make it 19-13 and included two Thompson kills, one by Gruner and a Smith ace.

The ‘Cats kept Indy at arm’s length before a Greyhounds service error ended the set.

NMU never trailed in Set 2 but only slowly pulled away, building a 24-18 lead on a Bakke kill. Indy saved set point three times before a Meyer kill ended it.

A series of three-, four- and five-point spurts highlighted a third set that was tight until Indy closed it out with a 7-1 run, the only interruption in that streak a Meyer kill.

In the fourth and final set, NMU jumped out to a 6-2 edge only to have the Greyhounds wrest back a 9-7 advantage.

Northern immediately began a 6-0 spurt — featured were two kills by Meyer and one each by Thompson and Bakke — before Indy again clawed back to tie it 19-19.

The Wildcats then closed it out with a trio of 2-0 mini-runs, the final one featuring a Smith kill and Indy attack error.

Rockhurst 3, NMU 1

On Saturday afternoon, the Great Lakes Valley Conference team from Kansas City, Missouri, prevailed 19-25, 25-16, 25-11, 28-26.

Gruner led the Wildcats on offense with 14 kills, while Smith had 11. Other team leaders were Meyer and Bouma each with three aces, Smith and Guner both with two blocks, and Haugen with 12 digs. Smith had 11 digs and Bouma 10.

The first set, the only one captured by NMU, started with Northern taking a 10-3 lead as Bouma began it with back-to-back-to-back aces and Smith and Gruner each had a kill as Barlow also had an ace.

A series of back-and-forth runs saw the Wildcats fall behind 19-18, but Northern had the answer — score the final seven points. The last run included kills by Bakke and Gruner, but more importantly, five Rockhurst errors.

Northern started well in Set 2, jumping out to a 4-0 lead with a pair of Meyer aces and a kill apiece by Smith and Gruner.

Rockhurst put its stamp on the set with an 8-1 run that made it 24-14. The Wildcats averted two set points that included a Gruner kill before the Hawks ended it to even the match.

NMU also jumped out to a 4-1 edge in the third as Smith had a kill, but Rockhurst had the answer again, this time a long 8-0 run that included four aces by the Hawks’ Molly Trachta.

Trailing 12-6, Northern never got closer than that the rest of the set, which ended on an RU 8-1 streak.

Needing the fourth set to extend the match, the Wildcats used a 5-1 run to go ahead 8-5 as Gruner and Bakke had kills and Haugen and Barlage aces.

After Rockhurst caught up again, NMU used a 4-0 streak to go ahead 21-18. Barlow and Smith had kills in the spurt.

Two more streaks left NMU ahead 24-23 and it was tied 24-24, 25-25 and 26-26 before RU scored the final two points to end the set, match and weekend.

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