Northern volleyball picked 4th in GLIAC
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MARQUETTE -- As the volleyball team at Northern Michigan University is in the midst of opening its season by hosting the UP North Tournament this weekend, the coaches in its league have chosen the Wildcats to finish fourth among the 11 teams this season.
That's just about the same spot NMU finished last season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
In fact, there were very few changes in the preseason poll compared to where teams finished last year.
At the top, 2025 regular season co-champion Ferris State was picked to repeat, but the other co-champion, Wayne State, only earned a third-place pick from the coaches.
Slotting between them is Grand Valley State in second place after the Lakers tied NMU for third place a year ago.
Ferris received nine of the 11 first-place votes, which is near unanimous since coaches don't for their own teams in the poll, meaning there will always be at least one other school getting a first-place vote besides the favorite.
NMU's fourth-place prediction is just about the same as its tie for third place last year. Finishing in a three-way tie for fifth last year were Wisconsin-Parkside, Davenport and Michigan Tech, and those schools were picked fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, this summer.
Eighth-place Purdue Northwest and ninth-place Saginaw Valley State repeated those spots in the poll, while last year's 10th-place tie between Lake Superior State and Roosevelt resulted in them being picked 10th and 11th, respectively, this year.
NMU was actually a hard-luck third place last year, its 12-4 GLIAC mark only one game behind co-champs Wayne State and Ferris at 13-3.
And the next team -- actually next three squads -- after Northern and Grand Valley were three games behind them at 9-7.
NMU was only 15-14 in all matches last year after a rough nonconference schedule that included three tournaments against a host of nationally ranked teams. The Wildcats were only 3-10 in the out-of-league matches to drag their overall record down.
This weekend, Northern already split its two Thursday matches at the UP North Tournament to start rapidly improving that part of its record.
Of the Wildcats' 19 players last season, they lost just five, though among them was GLIAC First Team pick McKenzie Gruner. However, GLIAC Second Teamers and seniors Allie Barlow and Liesl Haugen are back.
Barlow, a setter, totaled 1,088 assists, averaging 10.06 assists per set, both numbers No. 2 in the league. Entering this year, she had 2,560 assists, already in the top 10 in Wildcats' career totals.
Haugen, a libero, comes off one of the best defensive seasons in the GLIAC. A three-time GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week, she had 20 or more digs in half of NMU's matches and was second in the conference with 4.98 digs per set and seventh with 0.40 service aces each set.
Head coach Mike Lozier is entering his 10th season at Northern, sporting a 147-102 overall record (.590 winning percentage) and 92-54 in the GLIAC (.630).
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Northern Michigan University head coach Mike Lozier, squatting at center, talks to the Wildcats during a timeout in a match against Winona State during the UP North Tournament held at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)