Northern Michigan University’s Lauren Cardwell sets up to serve during a GLIAC volleyball match played against Wisconsin-Parkside at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sept. 26. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Earning a weekly conference honor looks like it’s becoming old hat for Northern Michigan University junior libero Liesl Haugen, but her performances on the court are certainly nothing the Wildcats’ volleyball team and their fans are taking for granted.

The Maple Grove, Minnesota, native won her second straight Defensive Player of the Week award from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference after NMU won its fifth and sixth straight matches last week.

Northern went on the road to Houghton to defeat its closest rival Michigan Tech in five sets on Thursday, then turned around and headed to Hammond, Indiana, on Saturday to take down Purdue Northwest in four sets.

Haugen was key in the defense in each victory, making 38 digs in the Huskies’ match, the most by any GLIAC player this season and second-most in NMU history. The school record is 39 in a 1999 match by Meirong Lu.

In the slightly shorter match down south, Haugen added 22 digs for 60 overall in the two matches. She also totaled four receptions, three service aces and nine assists in the pair of encounters.

This follows up her Defensive Player of the Week honor from a week earlier — she now has three of them in her career — when she made what was then a season-high 25 digs in a five-set win at Saginaw Valley State and 16 in a three-set sweep of Lake Superior State.

Since she returned from an injury on Sept. 26, Haugen has led a big turnaround for the Wildcats, converting their paltry 1-9 record at the time, including 0-2 in the GLIAC, into a much more respectable 7-9 overall mark and 5-2 in the conference. The match against MTU last week is listed as nonconference on both the Wildcats athletics website, nmuwildcats.com, and the GLIAC website, gliac.org.

NMU has moved up to fifth place in the league, though only a game and a half behind leader Grand Valley State (7-1).

Haugen ranks second in the league with 5.0 digs per set in conference matches.

On Saturday, the Wildcats prevailed 26-24, 25-18, 21-25, 25-23 as Northern’s McKenzie Gruner and Kylie McIntosh shared top kills honors with 14 apiece as Madison York added 13, Emilia Gulock 10 and Kaysie Baake eight.

Gruner and Gulock also led all players with four blocks each as Gruner also had an ace, while McIntosh had two aces. Lauren Cardwell added in 14 digs and Allie Barlow eight digs along with 47 assists.

Illustrated by the balance in the kills, the Wildcats made 61 of them with an efficient .267 attack percentage.

“I am proud of us for pushing through some tight moments,” Bakke said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the match. “We didn’t let up or let a few plays affect us. I thought our offense was well-balanced and everyone was putting balls away.

“We made a lot of scrappy plays on defense, too. I am excited to be back at the Midwest Crossover next weekend.”

That’s when NMU returns to Hammond, Indiana, to face a pair of Midwest Region opponents, both on Friday. The Wildcats play former GLIAC member Findlay (Ohio) at 12:30 p.m. EDT, then takes on Great Lakes Valley Conference member Quincy (Illinois) at 5:30 p.m. EDT.

On Saturday, though, Purdue NW (7-7, 4-4 GLIAC) proved a formidable foe in the early going as the lead changed hands for the seventh time in the first set when the Pride took a 16-15 advantage.

Northern wouldn’t pull ahead again until its backs were against the wall, Purdue NW having three match points, up 24-21. But NMU saved each of them, on a kill by Gulock and back-to-back kills by Bakke, to even the match 24-24.

They carried that momentum into a Pride attack error and the final point of the set, a York kill.

The Wildcats fell behind early in the second set, taking their first lead after back-to-back points at 7-6 following a Gruner kill and PNW attack error.

They rolled that into a subsequent 7-1 run when McIntosh had four straight kills, five in all during the streak, and Gulock two herself, that gave Northern a more comfortable 14-8 margin.

After each team had quick 3-0 spurts, the teams traded points as NMU hung onto a 21-17 advantage. Then the Wildcats scored four of the final five points, including kills by McIntosh, York and Bakke, to win the set.

The third set, the only one Northern lost, started off well for the Wildcats, as they led all the way until Purdue NW tied it 14-14 with two points in a row.

NMU re-established the lead until the Pride caught fire down the stretch, outscoring the visitors 10-4 to take the set.

Northern must’ve figured out starting hot doesn’t work, because in the fourth set, the Pride led throughout — not even a tie score – until the Wildcats scored three straight on a York kill and Haugen ace to make it 13-13.

PNW immediately went on a 4-0 streak to retake the lead, forcing NMU to work hard and finally tie it again, 20-20, on their own 4-0 run that included a Gulock kill and Gruner ace.

It was pretty much a one-point set after that, at least until the Wildcats got back-to-back points with a York kill for double set point, 24-22. While PNW saved the first set point, Bakke then got a kill to end the match.

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