By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — Led by fifth-year senior Jacqueline Smith, four Northern Michigan University volleyball players were named to All-GLIAC volleyball teams when the league announced the honors recently.

Smith made the GLIAC First Team for an amazing fifth consecutive season, something possible due to the NCAA granting another year for players participating during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-21.

The others honored were senior middle blocker Meghan Meyer and sophomore setter Allie Barlow to the Second Team and sophomore libero and defensive specialist Liesl Haugen as Honorable Mention.

In addition, Smith was also named to the GLIAC All-Tournament Team after the event wrapped up on Nov. 24 with undefeated and national No. 1 Ferris State sweeping Grand Valley State in three sets in the tourney championship match.

The Wildcats ended their season in the GLIAC Tournament semifinals with a five-set loss to Grand Valley a day earlier. NMU completed its season with records of 20-9 overall and 13-4 in the conference, good for third place in the regular season.

Ferris (31-0) opens play in the NCAA Division II Tournament today by hosting the eight-team Midwest Regional. The No. 1 overall seeded Bulldogs will be joined by regional No. 2 seed GVSU for matches today, Friday and Saturday. The Midwest winner advances to the Elite Eight to be played Dec. 12-14 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Smith, a native of Saint Germain, Wisconsin, earned another GLIAC First Team berth after leading the entire conference with 436 kills, also a top-20 number nationally. She had at least 20 kills in seven matches and reached double digits in 25 of the 27 matches she played.

Her accumulation of kills this season includes a career-high 28 in a five-set marathon victory at Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech on Oct. 30, when Smith also made a career-high 19 digs.

She is fourth in Division II with 1,907 kills among players who were active this fall.

Smith broke the NMU career kills record on Oct. 5 during a home Vandament Arena match against Lake Superior State, surpassing the 1,664 that had been the record held by Andrea Gommans since 1993.

Smith also reached 1,000 career digs during this season, becoming the 18th Northern player to reach that milestone.

Meyer, from downstate Ada, also earned her fifth consecutive All-GLIAC honor with this season’s Second Team berth. She made her 1,000th career kill during a match against MTU as she stands at 1,056 in all. Her .353 hitting percentage this season was fifth highest in the league.

She had 14 matches with at least six kills and a hitting percentage better than .300.

Barlow, who hails from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, led GLIAC setters with 1,129 assists, also a top-15 number nationally. She also has 94 kills, 44 service aces, 243 digs and nine blocks.

She set a career high on Oct. 30 vs. MTU with 62 assists, a total that ranks her 16th for a single match this fall in Division II.

And Haugen, a Maple Grove, Minnesota, resident, earned her second straight GLIAC Honorable Mention as her 429 digs were third in the conference.

She made a career-high 31 digs in the match at Tech, and she was second among the Wildcats with 434 receptions and a 93.3% success rate.

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