By Journal Sports Staff

MARQUETTE — Northern Michigan University’s four-match volleyball winning streak was snapped on Friday when Saginaw Valley State outlasted the Wildcats in five sets.

SVSU (16-7, 9-3 GLIAC) prevailed 23-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13 over Northern (14-9, 3-9) at Vandament Arena.

NMU had a balanced offense as senior Autumn Monsma and junior Sarah Kuehn each made 16 kills, while senior Maggie Liebeck had 15 and senior Jessica Skonning 13.

Senior teammate Lynzi Svoboda posted the third 50-plus assist match of her career with 52 and also led the team with two service aces.

Five players reached double-digit digs for the Wildcats as well, led by senior Rachel Braunschweig’s 18. Monsma had 13, while freshman Alli Yacko and junior Gabriella Martinez both had 11 and Svoboda contributed 10.

Kuehn helped the defense with her best GLIAC conference outing by making seven blocks, including a season best four solo.

Northern led 10-5 in the first set before the Cardinals came back to tie it 13-13 and later take a 20-18 lead. NMU retied it at 22-22 and 23-23 before an SVSU attack error and kill by Liebeck ended the set.

The Wildcats broke away from a 10-8 deficit in the second set with a 10-1 run to take command.

The Cardinals held a narrow lead for most of the third set before NMU tied it late. But SVSU took the final two points to stay in the match. The story was much the same in the fourth, though SVSU never relinquished its late lead.

And in the final set, Northern jumped out to a 5-2 lead that included a kill by Skonning before it was tied at 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13. A Cardinals kill and NMU attack error then ended the match.

The Wildcats return to action at 4:30 p.m. today against Lake Superior State for their final home match of the season. NMU seniors will be honored before play starts.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.