Northern Michigan University’s Kaysie Bakke, top right, blocks a shot against Grand Valley State as the Wildcats’ Emilia Gulock, top left, also gets her hands up for the block during their GLIAC volleyball match played against Grand Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Friday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team didn’t really lose ground, but did miss a chance to make up some ground on the league leaders if they could’ve posted a pair of wins at home over the weekend.

Instead, the Wildcats split a pair of five-set matches, defeating Grand Valley State and losing to Wayne State.

NMU is in fifth place at 8-12 overall but 6-3 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, just a half game behind third-place GVSU and Davenport.

Wayne State’s win enabled the Warriors to move into second place, a game and a half ahead of Northern and just a game behind league leader Ferris State.

The Wildcats have another important match this week to wrap up a brief three-match homestand, hosting Michigan Tech at 6 p.m. today at Vandament Arena. Not only are the Huskies Northern’s most heated rival, but MTU is just a game behind NMU in fifth place at 5-4 in the GLIAC.

This weekend, Northern goes back on the road for conference matches in Chicago at Roosevelt at 7 p.m. EDT Friday and in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to play Wisconsin-Parkside at 4 p.m. EDT Saturday.

Parkside is a half-game behind Tech at 5-5 in the GLIAC, while Roosevelt is tied for ninth at 1-9.

Here is a roundup of this past weekend:

NMU 3, Grand Valley 2

On Friday afternoon, the Wildcats were giant killers, knocking off the GLIAC coleaders, 25-23, 26-24, 17-25, 23-25, 15-12.

One of Northern’s keys was making 15 blocks, its most in a match since 2017. And the Wildcats did it against the league’s top blocking team, getting five more blocks than in any previous NMU match this season.

And the climatic moment to end the match came on a block during a fifth set that was as back and forth as the whole afternoon — a thunderous one on a shared combination between NMU’s Kaylie McIntosh and McKenzie Gruner.

Teammate Kaysie Bakke led Northern blockers with seven as Gruner made six and Emilia Gulock five. Those three numbers exceed the team total as shared blocks count as one full block for individual players, and the Wildcats had 11 of those shared blocks among their 15.

McIntosh also led NMU with 15 kills while making two service aces, Bakke added in 14 kills and Gruner had 13 kills.

Liesl Haugen led Northern with 23 digs while making two aces and six assists, while Allie Barlow had 48 assists and 17 digs.

“I am so incredibly proud of our team after yet another gritty five-setter at home,” Wildcats assistant coach Lauren Van Remortel said in an NMU Sports Information news release about the match. “This win was not by luck. It was a culmination of the hard work put in over the last few months.”

In the first set, the Lakers grabbed an early lead before the Wildcats went on a 6-1 run to go up 13-11. In that streak, Bakke and Madison York each had two kills, McIntosh one kill and Haugen an ace.

Grand Valley briefly retook a 15-14 advantage before NMU went ahead for good.

But the persistent Lakers wouldn’t give up, and even down four match points, 24-20, GVSU saved the first three before a Lakers’ attack error ended the set.

Northern used another mid-set run to go up in the second set, using a 10-3 burst to go ahead 21-14. In that extended streak, Haugen, York, Bakke and McIntosh each had a kill while Haugen also had an ace.

GVSU was still determined, immediately scoring six in a row to get back with 21-20. The Lakers also saved set point twice to tie it 24-24, but the Wildcats scored the final two points, the clincher on a Bakke kill.

NMU looked to make it a sweep early in the third set, going up 4-1 and still leading 11-10 after a lot of alternating points.

Then the Lakers went on a 12-2 run to all but put the set away, 22-13, and did end it a few points later.

Grand Valley used the momentum from the third set to race to a 6-0 lead in the next, though Northern stayed within hailing distance at 12-9.

Falling behind 23-17, the Wildcats scored five in a row as Gulock and Bakker had kills. NMU also saved one set point on a GVSU attack error before the visitors evened the match.

Northern built an 8-4 lead in the climatic fifth set, but the Lakers again answered with four in a row to tie it 8-8. It was also tied at 10-10, 11-11 and 12-12 before the Wildcats scored the final three points that included a Bakke kill and the thunderous match-ending block.

Wayne St. 3, NMU 2

On Saturday afternoon, the Warriors prevented Northern from moving into second place in the GLIAC with a 25-23, 21-25, 21-25, 25-9, 17-15 victory.

With a crowd nearly as intense as the players on the court, according to NMU SI, there were close sets and big momentum swings, with 21 ties and nine lead changes counted, including an amazing 10 ties and five lead changes in the final set alone.

York finished with a career-high 18 kills while hitting .325, while Gruner had 13 kills and Gulock nine. Gruner also had four blocks, an ace and an assist, while Barlow made 47 assists, four aces, 10 digs and two blocks.

Haugen had a match-high 24 digs along with five assists.

Wayne State jumped out to early leads of 6-2, 15-10 and 21-15 in the first set before Northern rallied with a 7-0 run featuring two kills apiece by McIntosh and York and an ace by Barlow.

But tied 23-23, the Warriors scored the final two points on kills by Katerina Stout and Lauren Essenpreis.

With NMU leading 12-11 in the second set, the teams alternated points until the Warriors tied it 20-20.

Maybe that got the Wildcats’ attention, as they scored five of the next six points to clinch the set. That run included a Bakke ace and four Wayne State attack errors.

Now a 1-1 match, NMU jumped out early in the third, going up 13-5 with five points in a row as McIntosh had two kills and Gruner a kill and ace.

The teams exchanged several four- and five-point runs with Northern keeping a 23-21 lead before scoring the final two points of the set on a pair of WSU attack errors.

The Warriors made up for their third-set lapses by jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the fourth. The landslide continued with their 22-7 lead before back-to-back points by Northern on a York kill and Remi Madison ace made it a bit more respectable.

The fifth set was memorable. Neither team had more than a two-point lead as NMU had match point at 14-13 following three straight points, all York kills.

The Warriors twice saved match point, then converted the 15-15 tying point into three good plays in a row to win the match.

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.