The Northern Michigan University Volleyball team’s perfect record is no more, as they lost to the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals on Saturday, Sept. 8. The Wildcats also played the Lake Superior State Lakers (LSSU) and the Michigan Tech Huskies (MTU) over the last week, going 1-2 over that three-game stretch.

NMU’s first game of the weekend was on Friday, Sept. 7, against LSSU, their first Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) matchup, which ended in a close decision. The Wildcats won the first two sets 29-27 and 25-22, before surrendering the next two 25-21 and 25-20. The fifth set saw Northern take an early lead that they would not relinquish, winning the deciding frame 15-12.

NMU’s first loss of the year came the next day, after taking on the Saginaw Valley Cardinals. Early indications looked promising as the Wildcats won the first set 25-14, but Saginaw Valley would take the next three in a row 28-26, 25-21 and 29-27 to hand Northern their first loss of the season after starting 9-0.

The Wildcats returned to Vandament Arena for their first conference home game of the season, hosting their bitter rivals MTU. Tech took the first two sets of the game, winning the first 25-23 and the second 25-22. Northern bounced back and won set number three 25-23, and looked to have momentum on their side. MTU, however, would take a 17-7 lead in the fourth set, and despite a huge 11-0 rally for the Wildcats to take the lead 18-17, the Huskies went on to win the set 26-24 and the match 3-1.

After the match against MTU, the Wildcats sit in 7th place in the GLIAC standings, and play next at home against the Ferris State University Bulldogs on Friday, Sept. 14.