NMU trio earns GLIAC volleyball honors
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MARQUETTE -- A trio of volleyball players from Northern Michigan University were named recipients of postseason awards that were announced Thursday by the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Senior setter Allie Barlow and sophomore outside hitter Kaylie McIntosh earned the top honors to the GLIAC First Team, while freshman right-side hitter Anna O'Keefe won Honorable Mention.
The Wildcats were playing in the league's tournament semifinals on Friday evening as the No. 3 seed against No. 2 Grand Valley State. With the semifinals and finals being played at top seed and undefeated Ferris State in Big Rapids, a Northern victory there would put them in the finals at 4 p.m. today against either the host and No. 1-seeded Bulldogs or No. 5 Michigan Tech.
NMU is a modest 14-14 overall, but finished 9-7 in the GLIAC and won a four-way tiebreaker to earn the tourney's No. 3 seed in the event's first-round quarterfinals. Northern took advantage of the home court that went with that high seeding and scored a three-set sweep of No. 6 Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena on Wednesday.
Barlow's First Team honor is the first time she reached that height in the conference awards after back-to-back Second Team laurels the last two seasons.
Barlow, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was termed the catalyst of the Wildcats offense by NMU Sports Information in its news release about the awards. Entering Friday, she had made 1,046 assists in Northern's 28 matches, ranking her No. 3 in the GLIAC. She has surpassed 1,000 assists for the third straight season and now has 3,656, ranking sixth in program history.
Barlow, who was named GLIAC Setter of the Week in back-to-back weeks during the season, was also one of the league's best servers, leading the league with 52 service aces and 0.49 per set, each also ranking in the top 50 in NCAA Division II.
A seven-ace match in a three-set victory over Lake Superior State on Oct. 3 was the most in any GLIAC match all season.
McIntosh, from Monroe, Ohio, also made the GLIAC First Team for the first time after her breakout sophomore season, leading NMU with 343 kills that ranked her No. 5 in the conference. Her 3.30 kills per set is No. 4 in the league, while she's third with 208 kills and 3.53 kills per set when only looking at GLIAC matches.
One of the most consistent attackers in the league, she reached double-digit kills 19 times, including a career-high 28 kills in a five-set home win over Michigan Tech on Sept. 22.
In the home stretch, she totaled 54 kills in the final three regular-season matches to help NMU secure the No. 3 tourney seed.
Also contributing 31 blocks, she has a .198 attack percentage.
O'Keefe, an Orono, Minnesota, native, made an immediate impact as a freshman, ranking No. 2 on the Wildcats with 252 kills and third with 47 blocks as a left-handed attacker.
In her college debut vs. Winona State (Minnesota) on Aug. 27 at the UP North Tournament, she notched her season-high 20 kills and won a spot on the all-tournament team after finishing four matches with 39 kills.
In that event, she had a .267 attack percentage, highest for Northern, and for the season's 28 matches, reached double-digit kills exactly half the time in 14 matches.
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Northern Michigan University players celebrate a service ace in the GLIAC Tournament first-round quarterfinals against Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena on Wednesday. They include, from left, Anna O'Keefe, Allie Barlow and Kaylie McIntosh. Each of them earned GLIAC honors that were announced on Thursday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)