NMU announced its volleyball schedule on Tuesday, featuring two season-opening tournaments in Minnesota and Houghton, followed immediately by the GLIAC season. The remainder of the regular season will be all conference matches, with the exception of another tournament in Indiana in mid-October.
Northern has a total of eight and possibly nine games scheduled at Vanderment, and Vanderment is undergoing expansion to accommodate Northern basketball games as well. The Volleyball Wildcats could potentially play more than the eight or nine games scheduled at Vanderment if they can earn a home court spot in the season-ending GLIAC tournament.
With a number of returners and a strong freshman group, the Wildcats have high hopes for next season after going 9-9 in the GLIAC and 12-18 overall in 2023. NMU got off to a slow start last season, going 1-7, and is facing numbers. They ranked among the top ranked teams in the country early on before playing their remaining games at .500.
The season begins with the Minnesota State Tournament in Mankato, Minnesota, with four games scheduled for September 6th and 7th. The match time and opponent have not yet been decided.
Just ahead of the UP Open, which will be held at Houghton on September 13th and 14th at nearly the same weekend close to home, NMU Sports Information said in a news release about the schedule that the former at Vanderment Arena on Thursday, September 12th. It was mentioned that a match will be held. Although Findlay is a GLIAC member, he is not listed on the university's sports website, nmuwildcats.com.
In any case, the tournament hosted by Michigan Tech on Sept. 13 and 14 will include four games, similar to the Mankato event.
NMU should enjoy the limitations of the SDC gym, as last season the Wildcats won two games against Tech in the regular season before losing to Houghton's Huskies in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals.
Once the two early season tournaments are decided, Northern will return to its conference schedule, playing out of state from Sept. 20-21 before returning home for three consecutive weekends.
The GLIAC schedule begins Sept. 20 at Wisconsin Parkside in Kenosha, Wis., with games played Sept. 21 at Purdue Northwest in Hammond, Indiana. Times for these games have not yet been determined.
The Wildcats begin their extended home quarantine with a game against Davenport on Friday, September 27 at 6:30 p.m., and have their next home game less than 24 hours later on Saturday, September 28 at 3:30 p.m. against the GLIAC. A match is scheduled against the defending tournament champion. Ferris State.
NMU opens at Vanderment hosting Saginaw Valley State on Friday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m., and at Lake Superior State on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 3:30 p.m.
This home game will be played next weekend against Vanderment against Michigan Tech on Thursday, October 10th at 6:30 p.m., and against the league's newest member, the Rus, on Saturday, October 12th at 6:30 p.m. It ends with a match against Belt.
The Wildcats' third tournament weekend will be Oct. 18 and 19 at Midwest Crossover, home of Purdue Northwest, in Hammond, Indiana.
There are three more games before Northern returns home for the last time in the regular season.
NMU will travel to Allendale on Friday, Oct. 25 to take on defending GLIAC regular season champion Grand Valley State, then travel to Detroit to take on Wayne State on Saturday, Oct. 26. A midweek game will then be played at MTU in Houghton on Wednesday, October 25th. 30. All of these matches have no set start time.
The Wildcats will return home and open their November games against Purdue Northwest on Friday, Nov. 1 (start time not set) and against Parkside on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m., which also happens to be Senior Day. The opening ceremony is about to begin.
Four more games will be played over the next two weekends to conclude the regular season.
NMU will play Ferris State in Big Rapids on Friday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m., then play Davenport on Saturday, Nov. 9 in Grand Rapids (start time to be determined).
A game will be played next weekend in Sault Ste. Marie will play against LSSU on Friday, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m., and she is scheduled to travel to the University Center to meet SVSU on Saturday, Nov. 16 (start time not set).
That leads to the postseason, with the GLIAC tournament's quarterfinals featuring the top eight players from the regular season to be played on Wednesday, November 20th, and the semifinals and finals to be played the following Saturday and Sunday, November 23rd and 24th.
Typically, the top four teams host the quarterfinal games, and the top-seeded surviving team from that round hosts the semifinal and final games.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.