Michigan Tech’s Meg Raabe reaches to hit a ball during a match against Northern Michigan Tuesday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — In any game or match in sports, one of the most successful strategies a team can have is to get the upper hand early and set the tone. That is exactly what the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team did in each set as they stunned the visiting Northern Michigan Wildcats in three sets, 25-15, 25-21, 25-12, at the SDC Gym on Tuesday.

Senior defensive specialist Grace Novotny set the tone from the opening serve with two aces on her first two serves, and the Huskies never looked back.

“That’s why we start with her serving,” said coach Matt Jennings. “For us, we want Grace to be our first server because, well, precisely that. She’s got a great serve, and she can put you at a position to create a point, a couple of points spread in a match, and to have it happen early on was really helpful.”

The Huskies kept the Wildcats’ two biggest threats on the outside, Lizzy Stark and Jacqueline Smith, to 13 and four kills, respectively, by dominating at the service line or through efficient attacks of their own.

Novotny’s two aces were part of a set of eight aces the Huskies (16-8 overall, 8-6 GLIAC) picked up throughout the match as they worked to keep the Wildcats guessing in serve-receive. Jennings admitted that was necessary to allow the Huskies to bounce back from a 3-0 loss in Marquette on Sept. 20. The Huskies were also looking to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to Davenport on Saturday, so having a fast start was important against the Wildcats.

“We feel really good about the way we played,” said Jennings. “I’m particularly proud of the way we stepped up against a team, a good team, a team that is winning games, and beat us pretty good last time we played them back there in Marquette. We had that in mind going into this one.

“We prepared well, on the short turnaround, and played the kind of game we wanted to.”

The Wildcats (18-7 overall, 10-4 GLIAC) had no answer in the first set for freshman outside hitter Meg Raabe, who racked up seven of her match-high 17 kills. She added another seven in the third set, hitting an impressive .421 for the match.

“I think this match really changed things for our team,” she said. “We’ve been working to play like how we just did. I think our energy was unmatched throughout the whole game. We really just pushed through and just dominated.”

Whenever the Huskies’ offense sputtered and the Wildcats appeared poised to get on a run, senior middle blocker Janie Grindland and junior middle blocker Kaycee Meiners both stepped in and came up with key blocks to stop the visitors in their tracks.

Grindland made one solo block and had three block assists on the night. Meiners added three block assists.

“I think I could speak for all the seniors, we kind of came out with a chip on our shoulder,” said Grindland. “We didn’t perform as we wanted to last time we played. So, I think we all just came out and said, ‘This could be the last time we play Northern. Let’s just stick it to him. Let’s show them what we got.’ I think we did just that.”

After struggling to get anything going offensively in the first set, the Wildcats fought hard in the second set to stay in striking distance, pulling to within two at 11-9, and again to within two at 23-21, but after Jennings called a time out, freshman outside hitter Makena Wesola and Meiners came up with kills to help the Huskies earn the set win.

In the fourth set, Raabe hit an incredible .636 by going 7-for-11. Meiners added four of her eight kills in the set as well.

Up next

The Huskies will head back out on the road this weekend to face Wayne State on Friday at 7 p.m. and Saginaw Valley State at 4 p.m. on Saturday.