The Wildcats lost a pair of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matches on the road in three straight sets in each, falling to 1-9 overall and 0-2 in the league. Northern has yet to play a home match this season.

NMU lost at Davenport on Friday evening and at nationally ranked Ferris State on Saturday afternoon. If it’s any consolation, Michigan Tech played those teams on opposite days, and also lost both matches, only taking one set between the two dates.

Northern and Tech join three other GLIAC teams starting 0-2 in conference play — Lake Superior State, Saginaw Valley State and Roosevelt, while getting off to 2-0 starts are Ferris, Davenport, Wisconsin-Parkside, Grand Valley State and Wayne State. The 11th team, Purdue Northwest, is the only one at 1-1.

This week the Wildcats return home to Vandament Arena to host Parkside at 6 p.m. Friday and entertain Roosevelt at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Northern Michigan University’s Allie Barlow, top, sets the ball during a Wildcats’ match earlier this season as teammate McKenzie Gruner watches the play. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Here are details from the downstate trip:

Davenport 3, NMU 0

On Friday at Grand Rapids, the Panthers prevailed 25-22, 25-13, 25-23.

Davenport (4-4 overall) had superior offense, holding a 42-29 edge in kills and .202 to .151 advantage in attack percentage.

Kaysie Bakke and Kaylie McIntosh paced the Northern offense with eight kills apiece as Bakke also had two service aces and five digs.

Defensively, Lauren Cardwell paced the Wildcats with 12 digs, while Emilia Gulock made six blocks. And teammate Allie Barlow had 24 assists to go with three blocks and an ace.

After an early back-and-forth, DU went on a five-point run to take a commanding 10-4 lead in the first set. Though the Wildcats scored the next three points — including a Bakke kill — the Panthers kept a 15-9 lead until another three-point NMU run with McIntosh and Bakke kills.

After Madison York made a pair of kills and Bakke had an ace, Northern got as close as trailing 23-22 before DU scored the final two points of the set.

The Wildcats had a small lead for much of the early part of the second set before the home team went on an extended run, scoring a dozen points in a row to take a commanding 20-11 lead. Hayley Carr had five aces in that streak for the Panthers. DU also scored five of the final seven points to finish off the set.

In Set 3, Northern apparently got over the shock of the previous set, jumping out to a 7-0 lead after York and McIntosh kills, a Bakke ace and four straight attack errors by the Panthers.

The lead continued to grow until it reached 12-2 after another couple McIntosh kills, and was at 15-6 before Davenport went on an extended 13-2 run to take a 19-17 advantage.

From there, the teams fought tooth-and-nail, NMU grabbing a 23-22 lead after a pair of Bakke kills, but the Panthers scored the match’s final three points to clinch the sweep.

Ferris St. 3, NMU 0

On Saturday at Big Rapids, the nation’s No. 12 team pulled off the sweep, 25-19, 25-23, 25-18.

Again, the home team had a solid advantage on offense, winning the kills sweepstakes 44-35 and attack percentage, .318 to .215.

Sydney Bartels paced Northern’s offense with 11 kills as she added eight digs, while McKenzie Gruner had eight kills and York seven.

Cardwell paced the defense with 16 digs as teammate Remi Madison had 10. Barlow had 31 assists, too, while McIntosh had three aces.

In the opening set, Ferris (7-3) used an extended run to take an 11-5 lead, though the Wildcats immediately responded with their own 5-0 streak that included a Bartels kill and four straight Bulldogs’ errors.

Ferris dug deep for another string, this one 6-0, to go back up 19-12. While Northern had a late 5-1 run — including three Bartels kills — that only got them within 23-19. And the Bulldogs finished the set with the final two points.

Set 2 saw the Wildcats score five points in a row to take a 7-4 lead, York getting three kills and Cardwell an ace in the streak.

They didn’t fall behind again until Ferris put together three straight points to go up 16-14.

It was neck-and-neck down the stretch with Northern tying it 23-23 after three straight points that included two Gruner kills and one by Bartels. Then Ferris again scored the final two points to finish the set.

The Bulldogs jumped out early in the final set, 9-3, and never let NMU get closer than four points the rest of the way. And for the third straight set, FSU scored the final two points to end the set.

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