Northern Michigan University’s Kaylie McIntosh, left, and McKenzie Gruner, next to her, go up for a block on an Adelphi player during their college volleyball match played at the Husky Volleyball Invitational held in St. Cloud, Minn., on Friday. (Photo courtesy NMU)

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team ran into a real buzzsaw at the Husky Volleyball Invitational held at St. Cloud State from Thursday through Saturday.

The Wildcats played four matches in Minnesota, two of them against nationally ranked teams, but couldn’t pull out even one set win among all of them.

The four teams — Barry, Adelphi, the host Huskies and Minnesota-Duluth — all finished off 3-0 sweeps of NMU.

The closest sets all came in the final match against Duluth on Saturday, the Wildcats scoring 22 or 23 points in each set, maybe an encouraging sign as Northern readies to enter Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play later this week.

NMU (1-7), which hasn’t played a home match yet, travels to Grand Rapids to face Davenport at 5 p.m. Friday, then makes the quick trip north to Big Rapids to face Ferris State at noon Saturday.

The Wildcats’ home season finally begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, against Wisconsin-Parkside, the first of nine matches to be played at Vandament Arena this fall, all GLIAC encounters.

Here are details from the Husky Invite:

Barry 3, NMU 0

On Thursday afternoon, the Wildcats were playing their fifth straight match against an NCAA tournament team, including the four they played at the SpringHill Suites Invite in Pensacola, Fla., the previous weekend that produced one win.

At St. Cloud, No. 17 Barry (3-0) won 25-21, 25-15, 25-17 in this rematch of the 1995 Division II national championship match won by the Buccaneers.

This time around, Barry’s height and depth were big challenges for Northern, according to a match report from NMU Sports Information. Five of the Bucs’ players are taller than the Wildcats’ tallest players, which on the Wildcats’ online roster are listed as 6-foot-2 McKenzie Gruner, KC Fortune and Madison York.

That probably explains Barry having a 7-1 edge in blocks, though Northern stayed within range in kills, the Bucs having a 39-33 edge there.

York led NMU with 11 kills, while Allie Barlow had 23 assists, 10 digs and the team’s only block. Teammate Liesl Haugen had eight digs, five assists and one service ace, while Sydney Bartels had a pair of aces along with five digs.

Barry’s second-tallest player, 6-4 Ester Pushkarov, had a match-high five blocks, though 6-11 freshman Valeriya Kozlova had just one.

NMU and Barry were perfectly matched to start, with a 9-9 tie forged in the first set when there were just three instances of either team scoring back-to-back points.

Barry hit a mid-set streak, scoring eight of the next 10 to take a 17-11 advantage. Then the teams settled into their back-and-forth again, neither scoring more than two points in a row, which allowed the Bucs to win.

Barry jumped out to an 18-8 edge in Set 2 before Northern scored five in a row to cut its gap in half, 18-13. In that string, Gruner and Kaysie Bakke had kills and Bartels an ace.

But the Bucs scored the final four points to take this set.

In the third, NMU scored three straight — with a York kill and Haugen ace — to take a 7-6 advantage, the furthest into a set it had a lead all match, before Barry’s responded with a pair of 5-0 runs to reach set and match point at 24-14.

Northern saved those points twice on kills by York and Barlow before Barry finally prevailed.

Adelphi 3, NMU 0

On Friday morning in this first-ever meeting of these teams, the Panthers prevailed 25-17, 25-20, 25-20 with superior serving and net presence, according to NMU SI.

Gruner led the Wildcats with 12 kills and four blocks, while Lauren Cardwell had 15 digs, three assists and an ace. Bartels had seven digs and an ace, while Rayne Thompson and Kaylie McIntosh each had six kills, Thompson adding three blocks.

After spotting Adelphi (2-4) the first three points, Northern roared back to take a 5-4 lead in the first set with a Gruner kill and three straight attack errors by the opposition.

But the Panthers put together an 8-1 run — all on kills and aces, no NMU errors — to take a commanding 18-9 lead and coast from there.

The teams traded the lead early in the next set before a couple three-point runs by Adelphi were only answered by one from the Wildcats. With the teams trading points down the stretch, the Panthers won again.

Much the same happened in the final set, with only two instances of a team having more than a three-point lead until Adelphi finished the match with the final three points on a pair of kills and an ace.

St. Cloud 2, NMU 0

On Friday afternoon, No. 10 St. Cloud State prevailed 25-13, 25-20, 25-14.

Gruner made seven blocks to lead the Wildcats, adding in three kills, while York made six kills. Cardwell had 14 digs, two assists and an ace.

The Huskies put their guests in an early hole, scoring eight straight points early to take an 8-3 lead in the first set. And NMU couldn’t score more than two points in a row the rest of the set.

Northern grabbed early leads of 6-3 and 10-8 in Set 2, but St. Cloud answered again before the Wildcats scored four in a row to pull within 17-16. That streak included kills by Bakke and Gruner.

SCSU got in the last burst, scoring four in a row to move to set point at 24-18. NMU saved the set twice on a McIntosh kill and Barlow ace before succumbing.

The last set was similar, Northern grabbing a 5-4 lead before the Huskies took control, mostly scoring two points to every one by NMU to go up 18-13. A final 7-1 streak ended the match and a long day for the Wildcats.

Minn.-Duluth 3, NMU 0

On Saturday afternoon after a night’s rest from Friday’s doubleheader, NMU stayed the closest during the entire weekend with unranked but now 7-0 Duluth, the Bulldogs prevailing 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.

Cardwell had 22 digs, more than double of any teammate, while McIntosh made 15 kills and Taylor Smaka had five of the Wildcats’ eight aces with just one serving error.

Gruner added in 11 kills, an ace and a block, Barlow 31 assists and an ace, and Bakke 10 digs and six kills.

The scores were indicative of a close match. In the opening set, NMU finally caught up at 9-9 after kills by York and Emilia Gulock.

The Bulldogs pulled away again, only for Northern to reel them in with a 7-1 run that gave the Wildcats a 17-16 edge. In that spurt, McIntosh had three kills and Smaka two aces.

The score remained at two points or closer until the Bulldogs finished the set with back-to-back points, each on a kill.

Northern had to play catch up, and did, in the second set, using a 5-0 run to go up 8-7 as McIntosh and Gruner made kills and Bartles had an ace.

Duluth answered with a pair of similar runs to go ahead 17-10, then the Wildcats scored 10 of the next 14 points to get back within 21-20. Gruner had four straight kills in the middle of that streak.

Then leading just 23-22, the Bulldogs scored the final two points on back-to-back kills.

In the event’s final set, the teams started with just one instance of back-to-back points as Duluth led 10-8.

Then NMU seemingly took a stranglehold, scoring nine straight points to go on top 17-10. In that streak, Smaka had three aces, McIntosh two kills and Gruner one kill.

The Bulldogs answered with their own 5-0 run, though Northern still had a small lead. One more 5-0 run coupled with three of the final four points put Duluth over the top. At match point and the Bulldogs leading 24-22, McIntosh saved the set with a kill before Duluth’s own kill ended it.

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