Michigan Tech right side hitter Meg Raabe attempts to block a hit from Ferris State’s Claire Nowicki during a match Saturday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — With a win over Lake Superior State on Friday night and a loss on Saturday afternoon to the No. 21 Ferris State Bulldogs, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team earned another weekend split in GLIAC play. With the loss Saturday, coupled with the loss to Northern Michigan on Tuesday, the Huskies fell to 5-10 on the season and 3-4 in GLIAC play.

HUSKIES FALL TO BULLDOGS

On Saturday afternoon, the Huskies held leads in all three sets they played against the Bulldogs, but at the end of each set, it was the visitors who came out ahead. Ferris State remained undefeated in GLIAC play with a 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 victory.

“Credit to a good Ferris State team,” said Huskies coach Matt Jennings. “They’re undefeated in our league for a reason, and they really put a hurt on us today. We knew we’d have to play a clean game, and we simply didn’t do that today.

Jennings felt that the strength of the Bulldogs’ game was their serve, and that was on display in droves Saturday. They also have an experienced team, which is part of why their service game is so strong.

“They have a way of taking teams and disorienting them with the way they play, both in their serve game and their offense,” he said. “They have a couple of All-Americans on the team. They’ve returned pretty much that whole team from a couple of years in a row now. We knew we’d have our hands full, and we didn’t get done.”

On paper, the Bulldogs’ service game was not overly dominating, they had six aces and six service errors, but Jennings said that it is not about scoring immediate points for the Bulldogs.

“It’s more than just the aces in the serve game,” he said. “They take you out of your system, and so it’s just a lot of balls to the outside.”

With the loss, the Huskies fell to 2-4 since defeating Grand Valley State at home on Sept. 15. While much of the statistics did not favor the Huskies against Ferris State, Jennings did like what he saw from sophomore right side hitter Meg Raabe, who led the way with eight kills, junior middle Kaycee Meiners, who had five kills and three block assists, and sophomore outside hitter Brooke Dzwik, who had one ace, three digs, and 16 serve-receptions with no errors.

“Look, I think Megan, Kaycee and Brooke played really well today,” said Jennings. “I thought the three of them really stuck to the game plan the best they could, and played with a lot of intelligence, know, fire. But, we just simply didn’t have enough around them tonight to get it done.”

Having Raabe play in her third straight match was a nice bonus for the Huskies, despite the 1-2 record over that stretch.

“Meg is a great player, and we certainly are happy to have her back more and more,” Jennings said. “Probably have to get her some rest this week to get her ready for the weekend. I know she’s playing through a lot for us right now, and we certainly appreciate those efforts.”

The Huskies could not find an answer for Ferris State’s Olivia Henneman-Dallape, who had a match-high 13 kills, including five each in the second and third sets. She dominated things at the net, which made it difficult for the Huskies’ middles, Meiners, and freshmen Rachel Zurek and Tricia Kennedy to have a large impact on the contest. Zurek finished with four kills and Kennedy had three.

HUSKIES DEFEAT LSSU FRIDAY

The Huskies defeated Lake Superior State 3-1 Friday at the SDC Gym, defeating the Lakers for the 25th straight time, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21, and 25-13.

“That was a much-needed and nice win for us,” Jennings said. “We were down a little bit in the third set after losing the second, but I was really happy with the way we fought that off and got it rolling in the fourth.”

Tech trailed by as many as six early in the third and slowly chipped away at the margin. Brynn Erickson had an ace to tie it at 19 as part of a 4-0 run. Knotted at 21, the Black and Gold scored the final four points to take the important 2-1 lead after a pair of kills by Raabe and two errors on the Lakers. Raabe finished with five kills in the set.

The Huskies used their momentum from the third and jumped out a 9-2 lead in the fourth and never looked back. The home team closed on a 6-1 run to seal the win with Lindy Oujiri putting down the final kill–her fifth of the final set. Raabe also added five kills.

Tech jumped out to a seven-point lead to begin the match before the Lakers rallied with an 8-2 run. The Huskies didn’t relinquish the lead with kills by Meiners,Kennedy, and Raabe. Alayna Corwin had an ace for the set one winner. Tech had six blocks in the opening frame and Kennedy led with four kills.

LSSU tied it in the second, overcoming nine ties and three lead changes. Tech made a late push to cut the lead to one at 22-21 but the visitors scored the final three points before the break. Four different Lakers had at least three kills in the second.

Raabe tallied a season-high 16 kills to lead all players while hitting .342 and adding five block assists.

“Meg shows poise and is intelligent,” said Jennings. “Her block timing was really good tonight, and she’s just an all-around good player.”

Oujiri added 15 kills while Meiners tallied nine kills and five blocks. Tess Hayes set the attack with 40 assists while adding 13 digs. Amelia Albers and Corwin also dug up 13 attacks.

UP NEXT

The Huskies remain at home this coming weekend as they host Purdue Northwest on Friday at 6 p.m. and then take on Wisconsin-Parkside Saturday at 3 p.m.