NMU volleyball travels to nationally ranked GVSU today
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MARQUETTE -- After the excitement of beating chief Upper Peninsula rival Michigan Tech on Tuesday, the Northern Michigan University volleyball team has another important task in front of it today -- taking on conference co-leader and nationally ranked Grand Valley State.
The Wildcats head to Allendale to take on the No. 16 Lakers at 3 o'clock this afternoon. While NMU is 6-7 overall and 3-2 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, the Lakers are humming along at 10-2 and 4-0 in the GLIAC. They're in a tie with Ferris State (12-0 overall) atop the league.
Today begins a gauntlet of seven of the next eight matches on the road for the Wildcats.
Actually, though, Northern's next match after today is at home, a 5 p.m. Friday encounter at Vandament Arena vs. Wisconsin-Parkside, with the next three conference matches back on the road, plus three more at the Midwest Crossover tournament in Hammond, Indiana, on Oct. 16-17. The Midwest Crossover will technically be a neutral-site event as numerous schools will converge on Hammond.
Fans can stay connected @NMU_Wildcats and @NMU_Volleyball on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for updates throughout the weekend, or visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the volleyball schedule for links to live video, live statistics and a preview.
The Michigan Tech match was big enough just because it was against the Huskies, but also had to be amazingly exciting as it went a full five sets with the Wildcats winning, exactly something that has happened the last four times these rivals have met up, dating back to their second encounter in 2024 -- a five-set victory by Northern.
NMU Sports Information in its news release previewing the GVSU match estimated there were nearly 1,000 fans at Vandament for the White Out event against Tech in Northern's 25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-10 victory.
Wildcats sophomore Kaylie McIntosh set her career high with 28 kills while posting an attack percentage of .321. A trio of freshmen made good "wingwomen" for McIntosh as Anna O'Keefe added 14 kills, Laynie Russell 12 and Olivia Ziemer eight.
With senior teammate Allie Barlow recording 61 assists and 13 digs, senior Liesl Haugen led the defensive charge with 16 digs to become the fourth Wildcat in program history to reach 1,500 digs.
McIntosh is up to 169 kills this season, second in the GLIAC as her 3.52 per set is fifth. Plus, she's averaging 4.06 per set in conference matches for the No. 1 ranking there. Additionally, her 3.94 points per set is No. 5 in the league.
O'Keefe is second on the team with 133 kills, with her 3.00 per set in conference contests putting her 10th.
Barlow's 10.29 assists per set ranks her second in the GLIAC while her 0.37 service aces each set is eighth.
And Haugen's 4.27 digs per set is No. 4 in the league.
Barlow and Haugen were GLIAC Second Team selections in 2025 as head coach Mike Lozier is in the midst of his 10th season at NMU.
Grand Valley, which was hosting Davenport on Friday, a day before the Wildcats' arrival, is No. 1 in the GLIAC as a team in a number of defensive categories -- the Lakers allow the lowest opponents' attack percentage at .135, fewest assists per set with 8.73, fewest kills per set with 9.64 and fewest digs per set with 12.27.
And their own .309 attack percentage ranks No. 2 in the GLIAC and fifth nationally.
GVSU's Finley Arp with 125 kills and Brianna Stawski with 107 lead the Lakers' attack, while Paige Sanders is close on their heels with 98, but also has the team's best attack percentage of .422.
In their only meeting last season, which was at Vandament, NMU pulled out a five-set victory, 15-12 in the final set after the Wildcats won the first two sets. McIntosh led Northern with 15 kills that day.
This year, these two teams will get a second regular-season match to be played Oct. 30 at Vandament Arena.
Story contents based on a Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the match
Northern Michigan University's Grace Allen, left, returns the ball during a GLIAC volleyball match played against Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette last Saturday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)