The Wildcats played four full, best-of-five matches in less than 48 hours, opening with a 3-1 victory over Wheeling University (West Virginia) on Thursday afternoon.

NMU played twice Friday, losing to Spring Hill College 3-1 in the early afternoon and 3-0 to nationally ranked No. 15 Southwest Minnesota State in the evening.

They wrapped up their tournament run with 3-0 setback to event host West Florida on Saturday around lunchtime.

The Wildcats continue their double tournament opening to their season, traveling closer to home to the Huskies Volleyball Classic in St. Cloud, Minnesota, this week with nearly the same schedule as in Florida — a Thursday afternoon match, two on Friday and a final one in the early afternoon Saturday.

Northern Michigan University’s Kaylie McIntosh reaches back for a swing during a SpringHill Suites Invitational match against Southwest Minnesota State on Friday in Pensacola, Fla. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Northern faces Barry at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday, Adelphi at 10 a.m. Friday, host St. Cloud State at 3 p.m. Friday and Minnesota-Duluth at 1 p.m. Saturday.

NMU’s home opener at Vandament Arena won’t be until Friday, Sept. 26, when the Wildcats play a GLIAC match at 6 p.m. against Wisconsin-Parkside.

Here are details from their Florida trip:

NMU 3, Wheeling 1

On Thursday afternoon, Northern came back from an opening-set loss to prevail 17-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-16.

“I’m very proud of the team tonight,” Wildcats coach Mike Lozier said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the match. “We started slow, but they answered my call to step up.”

Junior setter Allie Barlow led the offense with 55 assists as she also made nine digs. She helped set up a spread-out offense with four Northern players each making at least eight kills.

The quartet also had hitting percentages over .300 for each of them.

The effort was led by Kaysie Bakke with 17 kills as McKenzie Gruner had 15, Sydney Bartels 13 and Emilia Gulock eight. Gruner had a .500 attack percentage, Bakke was at .400, Bartels .344 and Gulock .316 as all four matched or exceeded their previous career bests in kills.

“We had players out there who have spent years being in a supporting role, and tonight they got to show what they are made of,” Lozier said.

Liesl Haugen had 20 digs, four service aces and three assists, while Gruner led the team with four blocks and Bartels had 13 digs and a block.

In addition, the NMU offense improved each set, going from attack percentages of .116 to .314, then .325 and ending at .367.

Wheeling’s biggest lead in the opening set was four points until going on a late run and scoring seven of the final nine points aided by a trio of Northern errors.

The Wildcats fell behind early in the second set, taking their first lead at 6-5 on a Wheeling error. Northern began to open things up with a 6-1 run that made it 17-12, Gulock making three kills and Bartels two in that streak.

But the Cardinals fashioned another comeback, tying it 19-19 before NMU scored six of the final eight points, led by Gruner, Gulock, Bartels and Bakke each making a kill while Barlow ended the set with an ace.

The third set was incredibly close, with an amazing 16 ties as neither team ever had a lead of more than two points.

The difference came when, facing set point, Northern reeled off three straight points to end it after kills by Bartels and Gruner and a Wheeling error.

That seemed to invigorate the Wildcats, who jumped out quickly in Set 4, only to have the Cardinals score five straight points to tie it 12-12. But NMU answered with a 5-0 spurt that turned into a 10-1 streak and made it 22-13. That extended string included three Gruner kills but also five Wheeling attack errors.

The teams traded points until another Cardinal error ended it.

Spring Hill 3, NMU 1

On Friday afternoon, no evidence could be found that Spring Hill College was also a sponsor of this SpringHill Suites tourney, though Spring Hill’s home of Mobile, Alabama, does have the similar-sounding hotel that has branches all over the country.

Regardless of that, the Badgers prevailed 25-19, 22-25, 25-17, 25-19 as the trip from Mobile was probably the shortest for any tourney team except host West Florida.

Lefthander Madison York led NMU with a career-high 14 kills, including a half-dozen in the victorious second set, while Gruner added 13, Gulock 11 and Bakke nine.

York also led the Wildcats with three blocks, while Barlow topped them in assists with 45 and shared the top spot in aces with two.

Lauren Cardwell also had two aces, while Haugen again led in digs with 16 while adding four assists. Bartels tacked on 14 digs and an ace.

Spring Hill took early control with a 5-0 run and a 9-3 lead in the first set, though Northern eased back within 13-11 on back-to-back-to-back kills, the first two by York and the latter by Gulock.

The Badgers slowly pulled away, amassing multiple points after the Wildcats would get a single one.

In the victorious second set, NMU yo-yo’ed the lead early before a 9-1 run put Northern up 19-13. That streak included a trio of York kills and a kill and ace by Barlow.

The Wildcats held off Spring Hill down the stretch, winning the set on a Gulock kill.

Northern never got the lead in the third set, though it pulled within one several times, the latest at 9-8. But Spring Hill scored the final three points on kills by three players.

The final set started back and forth, but when the Badgers’ Jaylyne Bell slammed a kill to make it 7-6, NMU never caught up again.

SW Minn. St. 3, NMU 0

On Friday evening, the nationally ranked Mustangs won 25-19, 25-23, 25-15 to improve to 3-0 for the season.

Haugen had 20 digs, six assists and two aces, while York pumped out 11 kills and three blocks.

Gruner had a team-high four blocks while making eight kills, and Barlow had 13 digs and 25 assists.

Though SW Minnesota led throughout the opening set, NMU pulled within 13-11 and 22-19 before the Mustangs scored the final three points.

In the competitive second set, the teams traded the lead multiple times, Northern taking control with a 5-0 run to go ahead 14-10 after a Bartels kill, Barlow ace and three Mustangs’ errors.

NMU kept the lead until a late SW Minnesota run produced an 8-2 streak to end the set in its favor.

Northern also took the lead early in the third set, but a number of multiple-point strings by the Mustangs allowed them to take control down the stretch.

W. Florida 3, NMU 0

On Saturday morning, the long trip might’ve finally taken a toll on the Wildcats as the host Argos won 25-9, 25-16, 25-17.

Gulock and York led the Northern attack, but only with four kills apiece. Gulock also paced NMU with five blocks, while Barlow was the leader with 10 digs and 14 assists. Haugen added six digs, two assists and an ace.

West Florida kept their guests in single-digits scoring in the first set, taking a 6-1 lead quickly before adding a 13-0 run to grab a 20-3 stranglehold.

The Argos also jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set, though the Wildcats crept within two points a quartet of times, the final one at 17-15, before WFU scored eight of the final nine points.

For the third straight time, the Floridians jumped out to a 6-1 advantage in Set 3, and this time put a stranglehold on the set, going up 16-8, 20-11 and 23-12 before Northern scored four straight that included a pair of Bartels aces.

But a Kaylin Johnson kill for the Argos ended the set, match and weekend for the Wildcats.

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