Huskies volleyball takes two of three at crossover
HAMMOND, Ind. — With a win over Tiffin on Friday and one over Findlay on Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team went 2-1 over three matches at the Midwest Regional Crossover over the weekend. The lone Huskies loss came in their opener against No. 18 Quincy.
The win over Findlay avenged a previous loss to the Oilers earlier this season.
Huskies defeat Oilers Saturday
The Huskies team wrapped up its non-conference schedule and its weekend at the 16th annual Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament with a 3-1 victory over Findlay on Saturday. The Huskies avenged an earlier loss to the Oilers this season 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, and 25-21.
“Simply put, today’s win was huge,” Huskies coach Matt Jennings said. “We played tough, aggressive, and to win. Like we’ve been saying all year, when we’re on point and spreading the ball around, we’re tough to beat. I couldn’t be more proud of this Husky team.”
Both teams put down 54 kills in the match but the Huskies forced the Oilers into 25 attacking errors and overcame 31 ties and 14 lead changes to improve to 11-7 overall. Findlay fell to 14-6.
Seven different Huskies notched a kill in the opening frame with Rachel Zurek tallying four. Tech led 21-20 and scored the final four points with kills by Brynn Erickson, Zurek and the winner by Kaycee Meiners.
The Oilers led by as many as seven in the second and tied the match before the break with three different players putting down three kills each.
The third set saw 14 ties and six lead changes before the Huskies took control late, scoring five of the final six points to take a 2-1 lead. Meg Raabe put down six kills in the third, including two of the final five.
UF went on a 7-0 run in the fourth to tie it at 16, but the Huskies regained the lead and turned to Jacqueline Yancy and Zurek down the stretch to earn the win. Yancy, Zurek, and Raabe each had five kills in the fourth.
Raabe tallied a match-high 17 kills while hitting .319. Zurek (14) and Jacqueline Yancey (12) were also in double figures offensively. Tess Hayes set the attack with 45 assists while adding 12 digs. Amelia Albers led with 18 digs while Brynn Erickson added 17.
Huskies split Friday
The Huskies split its day at the crossover Friday. The Huskies fell 3-0 to No. 19 Quincy in the afternoon and then bounced back with a 3-0 sweep of Tiffin in the night match.
“I’m very happy with the way we played to close out the day,” Jennings said. “Tiffin is not an easy match up, and we really stepped up on all fronts to come away ahead.”
Michigan Tech 3, Tiffin 0
Tech improved to 10-7 overall with its fifth sweep of the season 25-18, 25-13, and 25-18. The Huskies only trailed three times in the match and hit .382 while holding the Dragons to .169.
Zurek hit a blistering .591 with a match-high 13 kills. Raabe added a dozen kills, while Paige Wagner (9), Meiners (7), and Yancy (6) also contributed to the offense. Hayes set the attack with 39 assists. Albers led the backrow with nine digs with Hayes and Erickson adding eight digs each.
No. 19 Quincy 3, Michigan Tech 0
The Hawks defeated the Huskies 25-19, 25-18, and 25-21 to improve to 18-1. There were 11 ties and seven lead changes in the opening set. Quincy led from the outset in the second and then mounted a comeback in the third after Tech held a five-point lead.
Raabe led the Huskies with 11 kills, while Zurek put down nine kills, including eight in the final two frames. Hayes set the offense with 24 assists. Four different Huskies had at least five digs with Yancy leading the way with nine.
UP NEXT
The Huskies get back to GLIAC action at Wayne State and Grand Valley State next weekend.