Michigan Tech’s Jillian Kuizenga (12) and Janie Grindland (19) reach to attempt a block during a match against Wayne State on Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — A month ago, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team was mired in an 0-3 start to the GLIAC portion of their schedule, which only got worse two matches when they found themselves at 1-4 in conference. This past weekend, the Huskies took a huge step in the right direction with a pair of wins against the Saginaw Valley State Cardinals and the Wayne State Warriors, vaulting into a tie for fifth at 6-5 with the Warriors.

The Huskies won six out of seven sets en route to the home sweep.

On Saturday, the Huskies rolled to a 25-12, 25-21, 25-19 victory over the Warriors.

Senior right side hitter Jillian Kuizenga led all attackers with 13 kills in the win. Coach Matt Jennings found ways to use her both on the left and right side to help balance the Huskies attack. She hit .393 for the match.

Kuizenga says the credit should really go to her setter.

“I think I start with our backcourt, just very solid,” she said. “Passing was on-point. That gave Lina (Espejo-Ramirez) the options to spread out the whole offense to get really everybody going. I think her hands were particularly good.”

For Jennings, using his senior right side in unexpected ways helps his team find ways to beat opponents blocks.

“She had another great match here,” he said. “We did a good job finding her. The tempo of the ball was really nice. Jillian presents all kinds of problems for defenses, the way she swings in scores. When she gets going, she’s just really hard to stop.”

Kuizenga, who finished the weekend with 29 kills, feels that the reason she is able to try things from the opposite side of the court is the play of freshman right side Meg Raabe, who racked up 18 kills of her own on the weekend, including seven against the Warriors.

“I think it really speaks to the depth of the team,” Kuizenga said. “The only reason I’m able to try something new is because Meg absolutely kills it on both pins. She’s fantastic.”

Kuizenga and her teammates stormed out of the gates Saturday, hitting .464 for the set. The outcome for the set was never in doubt.

Jennings was proud of the start.

“We talk a lot about dictating the way the game is played,” he said. “I think that first set actually was the example of that, really tough behind the service line, trying to be fast in transition. Then we were controlling the ball. So that lead in that first set, I think, set the pace.”

In the second set, the Huskies had to lean heavily on senior middle blocker Janie Grindland early, and she delivered. She picked up two key kills and an ace in rapid succession. She finished her afternoon with eight kills and two aces after getting four kills and two aces on Friday.

Getting the efforts from Kuizenga and Grindland gave the Huskies a boost throughout the weekend.

“We know that we’re going to have to lean on our senior crew to get us through,” said Jennings.

In the third set, Kuizenga racked up seven kills, including three late as the Huskies battled back from deficits of 5-1 and 12-8. Once they evened things at 14-14, the Huskies never looked back.

Earning a victory in the third set was something the Huskies felt they needed to do after dropping the third set on Friday to give the Cardinals some life.

“I think we came out a little sluggish,” Jennings said. “That was like 4-1, something like that. Enough times throughout the match here, I was proud of the way when we were maybe down two or three, we stayed poised, didn’t didn’t try to overdo it, and clawed our way back.”

On Friday, the Huskies and Cardinals traded blows like a pair of heavyweight fighters in a title match. The Huskies took the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-21 before dropping the third, 25-19. In the fourth, the Huskies battled hard to finish with a 25-21 win.

Kuizenga led the way with 16 kills, but she was just one of three Huskies in double figures as Raabe and freshman Makena Wesol both had 11 kills each.

Jennings was proud of the bounceback Raabe showed over the course of the weekend after struggling in her previous seven outings, where she could not manage to get more than six kills in any of them.

“This was probably her best, most comprehensive weekend,” said Jennings. “We gave her the nod on the six rotations offensively, and she came through, big swings at big times, passing well.”

Tied at 21-21 in the first set, Kuizenga took control and lifted the Huskies to the win. In the second set, the Huskies turned to Raabe, who came up with three key kills late.

In the third set, the Huskies trailed 20-13. Jennings called a timeout and the team responded by taking things a point at a time, cutting three points off the advantage by the time the set ended. Jennings felt that was enough to help the team get back on its feet.

“I was happy to see that, in the fourth set, we came out even ball until just short of 10,” he said. “Then our serving in offense kind of led the way.”

In the fourth set, the Huskies found themselves tied at 12-12, but from there, Wesol, Raabe, senior middle blocker Morgan Radtke and Grindland all found ways to chip in as they pulled ahead for good shortly after en route to the win.