Northern Michigan University’s Liesl Haugen, bottom, digs to keep the ball in play during a GLIAC volleyball match played against Davenport at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

MARQUETTE — Junior Liesl Haugen has proven her value to the volleyball team at Northern Michigan University over and over again this season, taking multiple conference weekly awards as proof.

The libero and defensive specialist from Maple Grove, Minnesota, led the Wildcats to a pair of wins at Vandament Arena over the weekend to earn her third Defensive Player of the Week on Monday from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Also a winner in back-to-back weeks in early October, Haugen recorded her second 38-dig performance of the season in a four-set win over Davenport. Each missed the program record by one for a single match.

NMU recorded a season-high 102 digs in that match, while a day earlier, Haugen had 24 digs in a five-set home victory over Ferris State.

Also with a total of six service aces between the two matches, she has at least 20 digs in 11 of 21 matches this season, with her highs of 38 ranking in the top 20 in NCAA Division II this season.

She also leads the conference with 5.44 digs per set in GLIAC matches as the only NMU player to earn a GLIAC weekly honor this season.

The weekend victories were important for Northern in a tight league race, where the top eight teams were separated by just four games headed into last weekend.

The Wildcats are now so close, but yet so far away, still sitting in fourth place where they started, but amazingly now just one game behind tri-leaders Wayne State, Ferris and Grand Valley State.

NMU is a modest 13-13 overall, but a sterling 10-4 in the GLIAC, right behind those other three schools all at 11-3 in the conference.

In addition, Northern is one game up on fifth-place Wisconsin-Parkside at 9-5, but also three games ahead of 7-7 Michigan Tech, Purdue Northwest and Davenport, all tied for the final three spots in the upcoming GLIAC Tournament.

Every team in the league has two matches remaining this week before the regular season ends. NMU’s are at home against 10th-place Lake Superior State (1-13 GLIAC) at 6 p.m. Friday and vs. ninth-place Saginaw Valley State (2-12 GLIAC) at 3 p.m. Saturday.

The GLIAC Tournament opens with the quarterfinal round next Wednesday, hosted by the top four teams taking on the next four in the standings.

Two wins this weekend would guarantee a quarterfinal match at Vandament, with the possibility of moving all the way into the No. 1 seed with the right upsets happening at the top.

One of the remaining matches pits two of the tri-leaders, Grand Valley at Wayne State, on Thursday night, adding to the intrigue at the end of the season.

Here are details from the past weekend for the Wildcats:

NMU 3, Ferris St. 2

On Friday afternoon at Vandament, Northern prevailed in a back-and-forth match against the GLIAC coleader, 26-24, 21-25, 27-25, 13-25, 16-14.

“We sure love to make it interesting at home!” Wildcats assistant coach Lauren Van Remortel said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing the match. “The girls’ composure and grit down the stretch was so impressive against an incredible opponent. You cannot ask for much more as a coach.”

Sydney Bartels led the Wildcats’ attack with a career-high 21 kills while adding in 15 digs and three assists.

“(Bartels) is amazing,” Northern head coach Mike Lozier said to NMU SI. “I’m really proud of her for never giving up and to get rewarded for it with that performance is pretty cool.”

Teammate McKenzie Gruner had 15 kills and a team-high seven blocks, while Madison York made 14 kills and Allie Barlow mixed in 50 assists with a team-high three aces.

The Wildcats’ Lauren Cardwell also had 18 digs and two aces.

In the opening set, Ferris jumped out with the first four points only to be caught by Northern’s own four in a row that tied it 6-6. That streak included a pair of Gruner kills.

It was a two-point match until the Bulldogs reeled off five points in a row for a 19-14 lead, but NMU immediately responded with its own 5-0 streak, the final four points all Bartels kills, to retie it 19-19.

Northern got to the first set point at 24-23, but Ferris scored to retie it before the Wildcats recorded the final two points on a York kill and Bulldogs’ attack error.

In Set 2, the teams again traded 4-0 streaks in the early going, leaving it 7-7, before yet another four-point streak gave NMU a small lead. Ferris found its own small streaks later to get to set point, 24-20, with Northern saving the first one before FSU ended it.

With the match tied 1-1, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead in Set 3 after Gruner, York and Bartels each had a kill.

NMU kept the lead until the Bulldogs tied it 16-16 following a 5-1 run. Ferris took its first lead of the set at 21-20, though Northern got to set point first, 24-23, after a Gruner kill.

The teams traded points until the Wildcats secured back-to-back points on a Bartels kill and Ferris attack error to end it.

Needing a win in Set 4 to knot the match again, FSU raced to a 9-1 start, also keeping 12-2 and 15-5 advantages.

Though NMU scored three straight points — with kills by Barlow and Bartels — the Wildcats struggled to stay closer than 10 points the rest of the way, with Ferris finishing on a 3-1 flourish.

That brought it to the final race-to-15, with Northern jumping out to a 9-3 advantage that included a pair of Bartels kills.

Ferris then scored seven of the next eight points to tie it 10-10, a York kill the only point interrupting the Bulldogs’ string.

NMU got to match point at 14-13 after a Gruner kill, but FSU saved the first one to retie it.

Then the Wildcats secured back-to-back kills by Gruner and Bartels to end the set and match.

NMU 3, Davenport 1

On Saturday afternoon at Vandament, the Wildcats came from behind to win, 24-26, 25-18, 25-23, 25-21.

“I am super proud of the team for gutting out this win,” Northern assistant coach Kamryn Duffield said to NMU SI. “We went into it knowing we’d have to win the defensive battle and we persisted through a lot of tough rallies to do so.

“Both sides of our first-contact game were great, which helped us tremendously, especially down the stretch. We also couldn’t be happier to take this one in four sets.”

Haugen not only had her near-NMU record 38 digs, but led all players with four aces while adding three assists.

Gruner paced the Northern offense with 15 kills, with Bartels getting 14, Kaysie Bakke 13 and York 10.

York and Emilia Gulock had three blocks apiece, while Barlow tacked on 53 assists and three aces as Bartels had 21 digs and Cardwell 18.

With the Wildcats jumping out to a 6-3 lead, the Panthers answered with a 6-0 run to go ahead 9-6.

In this battle of cats, NMU clawed back until it retook a 17-15 lead after a 4-0 streak that included two kills by Bartels and one by Bakke.

Davenport had an immediate four-point string to retake the lead, though Northern got to set point a 24-22. But the Panthers not only saved those two points, but turned it into another 4-0 string that ended the set.

The Wildcats jumped out again in Set 2, leading 7-3 after a trio of kills by Gruner and a Bakke ace.

They fended off DU until another 6-2 streak by NMU made it 19-12. In that time, Bartels had a pair of kills and Bakke and Gruner one apiece.

The teams traded three- and four-point spurts, but the Wildcats’ final one got them over the finish line, the set ending on a Bartels ace.

With the match tied 1-1, Northern came out with another fast start, this time taking a 6-3 lead. After Davenport tied it 10-10, NMU ripped off four points in a row to make it 14-10 as Bakke had two kills and Gruner one.

Then with the Wildcats still ahead comfortably 23-17, the Panthers put six straight points together to tie it 23-23.

But Northern dug deep to score the final two points on a Bartels kill and DU attack error to end the set.

In the final set, NMU fell behind early for the first time, 9-3, but quickly put an end to that by ripping off 10 points in a row to take a 14-10 lead. In that spurt, Gulock and York had kills with Barlow making two aces.

After giving up back-to-back points, the Wildcats strung together another 6-0 run for a 20-12 advantage, this run including a pair of York kills, one kill each by Barlow and Gulock, and an ace by Bartels.

In this battle of runs, DU answered with seven straight points to pull within 20-19, only to watch Northern score five of the final seven points, three on Gruner kills. But the match-clinching point came on a Davenport attack error.

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