ALLENDALE — The Northern Michigan University volleyball team opened its GLIAC season with a five-set victory at Grand Valley State on Friday night.

The Wildcats prevailed 18-25, 25-19, 15-25, 32-30, 15-13 as both teams are 4-5 overall.

In the extended fourth set, the score was tied at every point from 23-23 to 30-30.

In the fifth set, NMU freshman Abigail Durecki made a key kill to give her team a 13-12 lead.

Sophomore Lizzy Stark led Northern with 19 kills, while Durecki added 12, sophomore Hailey Wickstrom 11 and senior Sarah Kuehn 10.

Freshman teammate Lauren Van Remortel finished with 49 assists and added two aces. Durecki also had two of NMU’s six aces.

Stark and sophomore Lauren Caprini each had 18 digs, while Van Remortel had 17. Up front, Kuehn tallied four blocks as Durecki and Wickstrom each had three.

The Wildcats play Davenport in Grand Rapids at 2 p.m. today.