Last week, NMU Volleyball was back on the road as they took on two GLIAC Rivals. The team traveled to compete against Michigan Tech and Purdue Northwest. 

“We’re focusing on little victories right now. And I think that was the difference between the beginning of the season and now, we kind of went into it expecting all these wins…And I think that’s what we’ve been doing. The girls have been working very hard again on just getting 1% better every day at one given thing,” Assistant Coach Lauren Van Remortel said. 

First, the team stopped off at their long-time rival, Michigan Tech in Houghton, where they were able to come up with the win, taking out the Huskies, with the match ending 3-2. 

In the win over the Huskies, the team was able to bounce back early after falling in the first set 26-24, making the comeback in the second set, coming out on top 25-19, as well as the third with a similar score 25-18. The Huskies were able to take control of the fourth set coming away with the win 25-22, setting up the fifth and final set. The Wildcats were able to hold on against their rival, winning the final set 15-11. 

Junior outside hitter Remi Madison came away from the win with 11 digs. Freshman libero Taylor Smaka came up with nine digs for the Wildcats. Fellow junior and outside hitter Kaysie Bakke ended the game with 13 kills, three digs, and two blocks. Finally, middle back sophomore Emilia Gulock recorded 13 kills and six blocks. 

“Always some tight matches over at Michigan Tech…I was so so proud of our girls, especially with having a younger team. Not to say I was a little bit nervous going into it, but just because we’d had some people that haven’t experienced that before, especially on the court and I was pleasantly surprised with how our girls did. And I think that is the most composed I’ve seen our team this whole year. And for it to be in a setting like that, like, you really can’t ask for more. So, it was great,” Coach Van Remortel said. 

Following the close win against Tech, the team headed down to Indiana, where the Wildcats took on Purdue Northwest. Again the Wildcats were victorious, this time the team was able to get the win in four sets.

The Wildcats won the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-18. The team then fell to Purdue Northwest in the third set 25-21, before coming back in the fourth to take out Purdue 25-23.

Junior libero Lauren Cardwell came up with three assists in the game along with 14 digs. Joining Cardwell was senior McKenzie Gruner, who had 14 kills and four blocks in the win over Purdue. Junior setter Allie Barlow recorded one kill, eight digs, and 47 assists. Freshman outside hitter Kaylie Mclntosh had 14 kills, seven digs, and one block. Finally, junior libero Liesl Haugen ended the game with 22 digs and five assists. During the week Haugen was named GLIAC Defensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row with her performances over the weekend.

“Shoutout to Liesl, I think she’s really commanding that back court, and because of it we’re able to feed our middles, which were both super successful this weekend, and then also after that we’re also able to run different people on the pins too. It’s been awesome, and she’s been amazing physically and she’s just so mentally strong. So, we love having a person like her back there,” Van Remortel said. 

This weekend, the team will head out to compete in the Midwest Crossover tournament held in Indiana. The team will face off against two teams in this tournament, the first being Findlay on Friday afternoon, followed up by Quincy on Friday evening. If the Wildcats are able to prove themselves in the first two games, the team will move to games on Saturday. The tournament is made up of 38 different schools ranging from the GLIAC to the G-MAC and the GLVC conferences. 

Following the crossover, the Wildcats will be back at home next weekend to go head to head against two GLIAC teams as Grand Valley and Wayne State both come into town. 

“You never know who’s going to go off at any given time. So, it’s been amazing. You just kind of got to push last one aside and move forward.” -Van Remortel