David Archambeau/For the Gazette Michigan Tech outside hitter Lindy Oujiri extends to spike a ball during a volleyball match agaainst Davenport Saturday. Teammates Megan Utlak (left) and Kaycee Meiners (right) look on, along with coach Matt Jennings.

HOUGHTON — Opening the GLIAC portion of their season over the weekend the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team rebounded Saturday from a five-set loss Friday night to the Grand Valley State Lakers with a sweep of the Davenport Panthers Saturday afternoon. They followed Saturday’s victory with another sweep Sunday, this time of the Ferris State Bulldogs.

Looking for a strong start Saturday as part of their rebound, the Huskies got just that, winning the first set 25-8 before the second and third sets got much tighter as the Huskies won both, 25-20 and 26-24, to win the match and improve to 7-4 on the season, 2-1 in GLIAC play by the time the weekend was over.

Head coach Matt Jennings was quick to point out how important it was for his Huskies to get off to the fast start in the first set Saturday.

“I am really happy with the way we responded here today, after a kind of a tough loss last night,” he said. “Last night was a really well-played game by both teams, really good teams. (We were) looking for us to respond in a positive way here today, and I think we did just that.”

Sophomore outside hitter Lindy Oujiri, who led all attackers with 13 kills on the afternoon, racked up five of those over the course of the first set alone.

“I think it was really good coming out with high energy. just really starting strong, doing well, and then just continuing through the match was really important,” Oujiri said.

After the first set, the Panthers seemed to settle in. The two teams traded points until a kill from fifth year outside hitter Anna Jonynas put the hosts up 21-18. She added a second shortly after as the Huskies zeroed in on the set win.

Senior middle blocker Janie Grindland came up with one of the points needed to win. Sophomore middle blocker Kaycee Meiners came up with the final point to seal the victory.

Jennings admitted after the match that his team is still working through their blocking scheme. The Huskies finished the match with just three blocks.

“We’re trying to figure it out,” he said. “We were trying to figure out where we are best blocking and how we go about it best in our system. I think [Saturday] was a good example. We set clean blocks. I think we set responsible blocks. We gave our backcourt something to work with, and I think that’s a big thing.”

Jonynas sparked the Huskies in the third set when the team was down, 19-14. Two kills and a service ace later, that deficit was down to 21-19. Sophomore outside hitter Jillian Kuizenga picked up four of her five kills in the set from that point, helping the Huskies get ahead 25-24.

Oujiri came up with the final kill to seal the match.

Jennings continues to like what he is seeing out of Oujiri as she continues to build up her confidence.

“She responds very well, and very directly to, her teammates getting behind her,” he said. “As she’s aggressive and assertive in her movements, in her approach, and in her mindset, she’s gonna be hard to stop.”

Jennings also attributed much of the Huskies’ success Saturday to the team’s service game. The Huskies picked up six aces and often kept the Panthers away from what they wanted to do offensively by forcing them out of their serve receive.

“When we were going on a run and going in a role, it was most often because we were asserting tough off the line, backing their serve receive off,” said Jennings. “Once we do that to a team like Davenport, they become a little bit one-dimensional, like any team would.”

HUSKIES SWEEP BULLDOGS AGAIN

Looking to prove their three wins over Ferris State were not a fluke last season, the Huskies did just that Sunday afternoon, winning 25-20, 25-22, and 25-17.

The Huskies took advantage of a bad serve from the Bulldogs to start the match and used that to force the Bulldogs to play catchup until the opening set was tied at 17-17. De Marchi landed an ace to break the tie and the Huskies never looked back.

Fifth year outside hitter Olivia Ghormley had two of her six kills over the final five points of the set to help lift the Huskies to victory.

The Bulldogs jumped out to leads of 5-0 and 6-1, but the Huskies evened things at 9-9 shortly after. Neither team gained an advantage over the next several points and soon the teams found themselves even at 21-21.

A service error from the Bulldogs followed by a pair of kills by junior middle blocker Morgan Radtke helped the Huskies jump ahead 24-22. Jonynas then finished things off with one of her match-high 12 kills to give the hosts the two-set lead.

The Huskies jumped out to a 20-11 lead in the third set to push the Bulldogs to the brink. The visitors fought back, getting as close as six points, 22-16, but the Huskies closed strong with two more kills from Jonynas to seal the set and match win.

HUSKIES FALL TO LAKERS IN FIVE

Despite 25 kills from Jonynas and 15 more from fifth year outside hitter Olivia Ghormley, the Huskies fell to the Lakers in five sets Friday night, 21-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 12-15. The Huskies hit well at different points during the match, but while they had their strongest set in the fifth, where they hit .364, the Lakers’ best was just a little better, at .500.

Jennings likened the match to the one the Huskies lost in five sets earlier this season to then-No. 12 St. Cloud State. The Huskies finished just one kill behind the Lakers, 70-68, and had more service aces, 4-3, more block assists, 10-8, and digs, 89-86.

Kuizenga had a strong night for the Huskies as well, racking 12 kills.

HUSKIES RETURN TO THE ROAD

This weekend, the Huskies return to the road for a pair of GLIAC matches. On Friday, they will face the Lake Superior State Lakers. Saturday, they will take on Northwood.