If that doesn’t sound like much of a compliment, it’s because it’s not, it’s just an observation of how they make their predictions for any upcoming season.

The 11 coaches as a group picked every league team within one spot of where each finished at the end of the regular season in November.

Northern Michigan University was one of the teams that did move, and it was down, not up, for a prediction of fourth place, just ahead of Michigan Tech.

The Wildcats finished third last fall with records of 20-9 overall and 13-4 in the GLIAC, a game and a half behind runner-up Grand Valley State.

Northern Michigan University’s Allie Barlow watches the ball go out of bounds in the second set with teammate McKenzie Gruner in the background at left during a GLIAC match played against Purdue Northwest at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

NMU hosted and won a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal match over Wisconsin-Parkside before bowing out to Grand Valley in the semifinals.

The Lakers — Grand Valley being one of three conference teams with that nickname — were chosen to be No. 1 in the league this fall with eight of the 11 first-place votes. That’s just two short of being unanimous, since each coach picks the order of all the teams but themselves.

Last year’s regular-season champion, Ferris State, flip-flopped with GVSU and earned second this preseason, getting the other three first-place votes. In addition, the Lakers and Ferris were picked 1-2 in either order by every coach but one, with Grand Valley getting 98 total voting points and Ferris 92.

NMU and Wayne State did the same flip-flop, just between third and fourth places. Last year’s fourth-place Warriors were lifted to third with Northern doing just the opposite, Wayne State getting 76 points and the Wildcats 68.

NMU’s vote total was just one ahead of MTU as the other seven conference teams after Northern were picked exactly where they finished last fall.

That meant that following Tech was Wisconsin-Parkside in sixth, Davenport seventh, Purdue Northwest eighth, Saginaw Valley State ninth, Lake Superior State 10th and Roosevelt 11th. LSSU and Roosevelt actually tied for 10th last year, but this time around the “Yooper” Lakers got five more points than the Illinois Lakers.

Conference coaches might’ve failed to have confidence in NMU after it lost five seniors, including all-time kills leader Jacqueline Smith, who had been named to the GLIAC First Team incredibly for five straight seasons.

GLIAC Second Team middle blocker Meghan Meyer also departed after her senior season.

Returning, however, is another GLIAC Second Teamer, junior setter Allie Barlow, who will be a team captain along with senior McKenzie Gruner and junior Helen Beiring.

And also back is GLIAC honorable mention libero and defensive specialist Liesl Haugen as a junior.

Barlow had four matches of at least 50 assists after twice being named GLIAC Setter of the Week last season, and she was also second in league matches with 27 service aces.

Gruner is a 6-foot-2 middle blocker and expected to be the Wildcats’ force at the net after she started 28 times and played in all 29 matches last fall. Finishing last year with 224 kills, she also led Northern with 57 total blocks.

Haugen, earning her conference honorable mention for the second straight year, played in every match with a GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week nod last fall. She led NMU with 450 digs, 249 of them in conference play including a career-best 31 vs. Tech.

Beiring joins fellow junior Kaysie Bakke with more than a hundred kills last season, while other returnees include Rayne Thompson, Madison York, KC Fortune and Sydney Bartels.

Head coach Mike Lozier returns for his ninth season heading the Northern program with a 132-88 record, exactly a .600 winning percentage. Kam Duffield is his assistant coach for the third campaign, while five-year standout player Lauren Van Remortel has been added as an assistant coach for the first full year.

“We only have one home weekend in September and one more in October,” Lozier said of not playing often at its home Vandament Arena. “The hope is that you weather the storm early and just battle, battle, battle.

“I am really excited to unleash this new brand of NMU volleyball and I am 100% confident that we are going to give it our best shot every night … and I think our best shot is pretty good.”

The Wildcats are on the road so much early with two out-of-state tournaments to kick off the season this week and next week.

Today, they open their season at the SpringHill Suites Invitational in Pensacola, Florida, facing Wheeling (West Virginia) at 5:30 p.m. EDT. That’s followed by a pair of Friday matches, vs. Spring Hill College (Alabama) at 12:30 p.m. and Southwest Minnesota State at 8 p.m., then finish with West Florida at 11 a.m. Saturday.

A similar schedule awaits NMU at the Huskies Volleyball Classic in St. Cloud, Minnesota, the following week, with a match Thursday, two Friday and a final one Saturday with the opponents to includes host St. Cloud State.

The Wildcats immediately jump into their GLIAC schedule after that, including home matches against Parkside at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, and Roosevelt at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27.

Following a GLIAC break for the Midwest Region Volleyball Crossover at a site and opponents still to be determined in mid-October, Northern hosts three matches in five days late in the month — vs. Grand Valley State on Oct. 24, Wayne State on Oct. 25 and Michigan Tech on Oct. 28.

Finally, NMU finishes the regular season with four straight home matches in the first half of November, hosting Ferris on Nov. 7, Davenport on Nov. 8, LSSU on Nov. 14 and SVSU on Nov. 15.

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