Local Sports

Wildcats volleyball in midst of 6-match road trip

MARQUETTE -- The Northern Michigan University volleyball team hits the road for a pair of conference matches this weekend, the middle part of a six-match road trip that started in Sault Ste. Marie last weekend and concludes with the Midwest Crossover event in Hammond, Indiana, just over a week from now.

The Wildcats' next home match in Vandament Arena is at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, against undefeated Ferris State, not surprisingly the leader of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

This weekend's trip begins in Grand Rapids for a match against third-place Davenport at 6 p.m. Friday, with NMU heading east to Detroit to take on eighth-place Wayne State at 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Wildcats and Davenport are among three teams -- also add in Michigan Tech -- tied for third with 5-3 records, NMU also 8-8 overall while DU is 11-4 and MTU 9-7.

Wayne State isn't far back record-wise at 3-5 in the league and 7-9 overall.

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 statistic and previews.

Last weekend, Northern began at home defeating Wisconsin-Parkside in four sets, then traveled to the Soo and swept Lake Superior State.

Kaylie McIntosh led the Wildcats against Parkside with 12 kills as Anna O'Keefe had 10. Liesl Haugen reached a match-high 17 digs.

Then against LSSU, senior setter Allie Barlow notched seven service aces, her career high and well more than all other players from both teams combined. The seven aces were also the highest in any three-set match by a conference player this season, along with the most by a player in a GLIAC match this fall.

"To get the sweep was huge, and it's a lot of good momentum going into the next few weeks," Wildcats head coach Mike Lozier said in the NMU Sports Information news release previewing this weekend. "It's been harder day to day in the gym in terms of how we're pushing each other. We're playing the long game instead of worrying day to day about what needs to change."

Barlow and Haugen each earned GLIAC weekly awards a few days ago, Barlow the GLIAC Setter of the Week and Haugen the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week.

Barlow had 72 assists in the two matches, including 44 vs. Parkside, while also totaling 14 digs, eight kills, two blocks and her seven aces over the pair of encounters. She averages 10.30 assists with 628 total, both second in the league, and she recently surpassed 3,000 career assists, the eighth player in program history to do so.

Haugen had a season-high 29 digs vs. Parkside, most in a four-set conference match this season, with another 17 vs. Lake State. She also had seven assists and three aces, with her 4.53 digs per set and 263 total both third in the GLIAC. Like Barlow, she reached a recent milestone, her 1,500 career digs only the fourth time a Wildcat has ever done so.

McIntosh leads NMU with 206 kills, ranking fourth in the GLIAC, while O'Keefe has 158 and Laynie Russell 132.

This will be Northern's second match this season vs. Davenport, the first a Wildcats' four-set win in Marquette on Sept. 18.

This will be the first meeting vs. Wayne State after the Warriors won the GLIAC tournament last fall and had a 24-6 record.

Story contents based on a

Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the matches. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee's email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.