Women’s Volleyball started a five-game road trip that started in Grand Rapids, MI last Friday night as they were set to face off against Davenport University. The teams battled the first two sets with the Panthers beating NMU by two points in both sets to take a 2-0 lead. 

“If you’ve been a part of any sporting event you can feel when it’s getting overwhelming, like it’s going to be over soon,” head coach Mike Lozier said. “We didn’t believe that, but you could tell everyone else believed that.”

NMU won the third set 25-13 giving the ‘Cats the momentum back. NMU’s Jacqueline Smith and Lizzy Stark both had over 18 kills as NMU stormed back to beat Davenport in consecutive sets to win the match 3-2. 

“Super proud of my team. What they did on Friday is no easy feat against a team like Davenport,” Lozier said.

NMU traveled to Grand Valley State in a match that again had huge implications on the conference standings as the top five teams are all together and will be meeting at the end of the season. The ‘Cats have struggled with blocks all season and are last place in the conference with 119 blocks, almost 100 behind first place UW-Parkside.

“Grand Valley said as much, they said they were the worst blocking team and they said that we, I think the word they used was scuffling, into the weekend. We were skipping out of their gym on Saturday,” Lozier said.

Meghan Meyer earned the GLIAC defensive player of the week title with the ‘Cats averaging 11.5 blocks in the two matches last weekend that saw them add to the win total as they now stand at 18-7, 10-4 GLIAC, and are currently two games behind Ferris State. 17-9, 12-2 GLIAC. Meyer, one of the two players this season to earn an offensive and defensive player of the week awards this season.

“You can see the wheels are always turning when we’re practicing, and how she can get better and the changes she’s trying to make,” Lozier said.

There was a quick turnaround this week for the team as they were headed to Houghton, MI to face off against longtime rival Michigan Tech. The last time the two met earlier in the season the Wildcats were able to pull off the sweep, beating the Huskies in Vandament Arena.

“Last time at home, the crowd was a huge, huge bump for us and then Tech was not playing particularly well at that moment. They are playing well now,” Lozier said.

Unfortunately, the ‘Cats seemed a little exhausted after the long two weeks that saw the team play five games in just 10 days with long road trips between each stop. The Huskies took advantage, sweeping NMU in consecutive sets to split the season series 1-1, winning the first point and holding the lead over the ‘Cats the entire match.

NMU will be finishing up their road trip this weekend Oct. 28-29, with critical matchups against Saginaw Valley and Wayne State. The Warriors, 16-9, 9-5 GLIAC, are just behind the ‘Cats at fourth in the conference. 

“I have to be forward thinking … about how we’re preparing the team and looking at tomorrow’s practice,” Lozier said.