Comeback queens: Northern Michigan University Wildcats erase first-set loss to dethrone Michigan Tech in 5 sets

But the Wildcats won three of the next four sets, including a tightly contested fifth set, to emerge from the SDC Gym with a 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 17-25, 20-18 win to improve to 14-7 overall and 8-3 in the GLIAC.

The Huskies (11-10, 5-6) had multiple chances to close out the match in the fifth set, including four match points, but they couldn’t pull it off.

“I think it’s … if I don’t wear it on my sleeve, no one does,” Huskies coach Matt Jennings said. “But, yeah, this one hurts a lot.”

Wildcats coach Mike Lozier was not overly impressed with the way either team played the first four sets.

Northern Michigan University volleyball players, from left, Caylie Barlage, Leisl Haugen, Allie Barlow, Jacqueline Smith and Meghan Meyers, celebrate a point during a volleyball match earlier this season at Vandament Arena in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

“I mean, it was a pretty ugly mess through the first four sets,” he said, “and then, the fifth set, everyone kind of settled in and we had a great fifth set.”

In that final set, the Huskies hit well, with 10 kills and no errors for a .313 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Meg Raabe led the way with six kills in that set.

However, Northern senior outside hitter Jacqueline Smith was not to be denied. She had seven of her match-high 28 kills in the set, including match point, to seal the win for her team.

“I don’t know, I was probably holding my breath just like everyone else was during the stretch down the end,” Lozier said, “just looking at situations, who was matched up with who, and just trusting that if we do our job, we’re gonna side-out, and try to push and get two points in a row, which is tough. Really proud of the team.”

The Wildcats held onto third place in the GLIAC with the victory, remaining a half-game ahead of Wayne State (7-3), while Ferris State (11-0) and Grand Valley State (9-1) still hold the top two spots in the conference.

Northern Michigan University’s Liesl Haugen, front, and Julia Bouma dive for a dig in the second set of a GLIAC volleyball match played against Saginaw Valley State at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Oct. 4. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Tech sits tied for sixth with Davenport, but is a half-game behind Wisconsin-Parkside (5-5) and a half-game ahead of Purdue Northwest (4-6).

Raabe did everything she could to match Smith, finishing her night with 21 kills, crossing the 20-kill threshold for the first time since a 24-kill performance against Saginaw Valley State on Oct. 5.

“Meaghan is, night in and night out, just as consistent of a player as you can ask for,” Jennings said. “I think it hurts us a little bit more when you see a player go off like that, and then we just make some mistakes in other areas.”

The Huskies had to rely on their depth by the time they got to the third and fourth sets, and junior outside hitter Makenna Wesol was one who found a way to chip in. She picked up a season-high seven kills in just her sixth match of the season.

Michigan Tech had a solid opening set before struggling mightily for two straight sets, putting their backs against the wall by the time the fourth set came around.

In the second set, the Huskies opened with a 5-2 run before Northern scored nine straight points to take command, 13-6. In that run, Smith and Meghan Meyer each had two kills while Caylie Barlage had one. Tech never got closer than six points the rest of the set, which NMU finished off with a 4-0 streak that included kills by Meyer and Smith.

The Wildcats used another mid-set streak to take control of the third set that started out quite close. Trailing 14-12, Northern put together a 7-0 run that included kills by Kaysie Bakke, Meyer and Allie Barlow. NMU kept a lead of at least three points the rest of the way until a Smith kill

and an MTU error ended the set.

In the fourth, the Huskies trailed early, 3-1, but battled back and eventually opened up a 16-10 lead on the strength of three kills by senior middle blocker Kaycee Meiners, who finished her night with eight total.

From there, the Huskies opened up a seven-point advantage at 18-11 after a Rachel Zurek kill. The sophomore middle blocker had 14 kills on the night.

The Huskies held off a late surge in that set from Smith, who had three kills with the set on the brink, that evened the match at two sets apiece.

In the fifth, the Huskies jumped out to a quick lead thanks to a kill by Raabe. Smith answered to even things. Raabe again made a kill to push the advantage to 5-2.

At 6-2, Lozier called a timeout. Smith answered with two kills and a service ace and suddenly the set was only 7-5 in favor of Michigan Tech.

From there, the Wildcats evened the score at 8-8 and 9-9 before Raabe had a pair of kills and to put the Huskies on top 12-10.

Smith answered again to tie it 12-12. From there, the teams traded points until Raabe had a block that put Tech up 14-13.

On the next point, an apparent NMU hitting error appeared to give the Huskies the match, but upon review, the call was reversed and the score was again tied 14-14.

Northern quickly took a 15-14 lead on a service ace from Smith, but Meiners evened it at 15-15. Lozier again called for a review, this time the call stood.

Sophomore libero Amelia Albers put the Huskies in position to win with a service ace, but the Wildcats answered. The Huskies had two more opportunities to end the match, but could not as Northern tied it for the final time at 18-18.

Including the tying point, the Wildcats made kills on back-to-back-to-back points by Barlage, Meyer and Smith to end the night.

This match was just the start of a busy three-matches-in-four-days stretch for both squads. NMU hosts Purdue NW at 4 p.m. today, then Parkside at 4 p.m. Saturday, while Tech reverses the order of those matches, also at home.

After that, both Tech and Northern have four more matches, all in the GLIAC and all on the road, over the next two weekends to wrap up the regular season.