Great Lakes Wire

The Northern Michigan University volleyball team is preparing for its final regular season road trip, with matches scheduled against Roosevelt and Parkside this weekend. The Wildcats, currently holding a 10-12 overall record and a 7-3 mark in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), recently secured a five-set win over rival Michigan Tech. This victory has placed them in a tie for third place in the conference standings.

The team will play at Roosevelt on Friday, October 31 at 7 p.m. ET and then travel to Parkside for a match on Saturday, November 1 at 4 p.m. ET. Updates will be available through the team's social media accounts.

Northern Michigan's recent homestand featured three consecutive five-set matches against Grand Valley State, Wayne State, and Michigan Tech. The Wildcats achieved victories over Grand Valley State and Michigan Tech but fell short against Wayne State. In their latest win over Michigan Tech, McKenzie Gruner led with 24 kills on a .408 hitting percentage, while setter Allie Barlow contributed 59 assists as four Wildcats reached double-digit kills. The defense recorded a season-high of 97 digs during the match.

Gruner leads the team offensively with 241 kills and holds the top spot in GLIAC hitting percentage at .380. She also ranks fifth in kills per set with an average of 3.37. Other key contributors include Madison York (177 kills), Kaylie McIntosh (158), Kaysie Bakke (151), and Emilia Gulock (122). Barlow ranks fourth in the league with an average of 10.02 assists per set.

On defense, Liesl Haugen has been notable as one of the conference’s leading liberos, ranking second in digs per set at five and recording more than twenty digs in nine out of seventeen matches this season. Her performance earlier this year against Michigan Tech included thirty-eight digs—the highest single-match total in the GLIAC this season and second-highest ever for NMU.

Roosevelt enters Friday's contest with a record of two wins and twenty losses overall, including one win from ten GLIAC games after defeating Saginaw Valley State last weekend. Three players have exceeded one hundred kills each; middle blocker Lihi Zaibert stands out among league leaders with fifty-one total blocks and an average of point eighty-four blocks per set.

Parkside began its season strongly with nine straight wins before losing six out of seven matches—a run that included their first defeat by NMU this year—then rebounded by winning four consecutive matches last weekend against Lake Superior State and Saginaw Valley State. Natalie Harris leads Parkside defensively atop the GLIAC with an average of five point thirty-nine digs per set; Ava Irvin (three point forty-four) and Sam Fisch (three point thirty-nine) are ranked third and fourth respectively in kills per set within the conference.