Michigan Tech’s Janie Grindland (19) celebrates with teammates Olivia Heidel (11), Meg Raabe (9) and Carissa Beyer (20) during a match against Grand Valley State earlier this season at the SDC Gym. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — While she and her teammates on the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team are working their way through a tougher season, in terms of success, than they hoped, senior middle blocker Janie Grindland is trying to make the most of her final year of collegiate volleyball by enjoying helping her teammates take the next step, in the hopes that the whole team can come together by the end of the season and win a GLIAC playoff title.

With the graduation of Laura De Marchi, Anna Jonynas, Olivia Ghormley, and Megan Utlak, Grindland has found herself as one of the Huskies with the most playing experience. She has tried to take what she learned from that quartet and blend it into her leadership style.

“I think the group that was here last year really taught me a lot about leading,” she said. “They were great leaders. So (I was excited to) kind of step into their shoes and implement some of the things that they had started in our program, and carry that on.”

Unlike the quartet who started nearly every set and match they were a part of from the moment they arrived on campus, Grindland has had a chance to slowly mature into a leadership role, which she is very thankful for.

“I felt very prepared coming in,” she said. “I wasn’t nervous at all. I also feel like, as I’ve been maturing through the program, I’ve been stepping into smaller leadership roles. It kind of started off with being the oldest one in my position, being the oldest of the middle, so I was kind of the leader of the middle group, and kind of took on that role. It wasn’t a stark change from what I was already doing. It kind of progressed very naturally.”

Coach Matt Jennings stresses that the team connects both on and off the court. Over her first four years, Grindland learned what that meant by being around the older girls.

“I think they were just like the perfect example of a great group of girls,” she said. “I learned so much from them. I learned how to work hard on the court, I learned how to communicate with coaches, communicate with your teammates, communicate on the court, off the court.”

She learned about how to build friendships that help with the student aspect of being a student athlete as well.

“Academically, they taught me a lot about the different resources that are available,” said Grindland. “Some of them even tutored me…What it means to be a good friend, and what it means to be a captain, and all that stuff. They really checked every box.

“I think each one of them was so different, and unique in their own way, that they really worked together to build this cohesive group of just well-rounded individuals.”

After being a part of so much success by the program the last three seasons, Grindland and her teammates are trying to get their season on track after some tough losses early in their conference schedule.

For her and her teammates, that means a lot of growth.

“I think it’s given us the opportunity to do a lot of self reflection and a lot of growth within the team,” she said.”It’s definitely pushed us to work harder.

“For the older girls, we’ve never experienced starting off conference play that way, so it was a little shaky. Then, we kind of accepted that that had happened. We didn’t start it the way we wanted to. Now it’s kind of, ‘okay, now, what did we learn? How do we grow from it?’ So, I think it’s been a lot of growth in everyone this season, hard work in practice, hard work off the court.”

Grindland and teammate Jillian Kuizenga, a junior, have developed a lot of chemistry in their blocking scheme.

“I love playing with Jill,” said Grindland. “She has to be one of my favorite people to play with, just the energy and the way she just plays is so much fun to me. We’ve become really great friends on and off the court. Having her kind of like my right hand man there on the court is just…it’s the greatest feeling ever.”

As the Huskies prepare to face GLIAC opponents Saginaw Valley State and Wayne State this weekend, Grindland hopes to see her teammates continue to grow as they take on the second half of the season.

“I would say I have a lot of intangible goals,” she said. “I feel like I want to see the confidence in my team go up. I want to see us have so much fun on the court. It’s my last few games. I want to just have so much fun with these girls, because (they are) the whole reason I came back.

“I didn’t come back because I was like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna win a national championship. I need to come back.’ I came back because I (felt) like I need to play with these girls, one more time. I love them all to death.”

Of course, should a GLIAC playoff title be in the cards, Grindland would be ecstatic.

“I also want to see us host a playoff game and win a GLIAC championship, because I know we’re capable of it,” she said. “We just haven’t put the pieces together yet.”