Michigan Tech outside hitter Brooke Dzwik (6) celebrates with outside hitter Brynn Erickson (5) after earning a side out during a match this season at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — With 12 kills from junior outside hitter Meg Raabe and 10 from fifth-year middle blocker Kaycee Meiners, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team earned its first win over GLIAC-newcomer Roosevelt, 3-0, Saturday at the SDC Gym.

The Huskies hit .412 in the first set, a 25-21 win, then followed that up with scores of 25-20 and 25-16 to close out the match.

“First, it was a fun one, but we won,” said Huskies coach Matt Jennings. “I’m certainly happy that we took care of business.”

The Lakers had gone into Marquette on Friday night and took the first set from the Northern Michigan Wildcats, which Jennigs said was something that his team needed to be prepared for when his group took the court on Saturday.

“As they (the Lakers) kind of proved last night, they have some weapons that can really put you on your heels,” he said. “I thought they played really well in Marquette. We were watching that and we had our guard up.”

The matchup between the Huskies and the Lakers marked the first time that Jennings and Roosevelt coach Nicasio Paquiz Jr. have met on the court since Paquiz was an assistant under Jennings when he was first hired as head coach at Michigan Tech, which made the match more special for Jennings.

“Secondly, it’s just always fun,” said Jennings. “It was the first time Coach Nic and I ever got to coach against each other. That was just something special.

“I just think the world of him. Top-notch human being, a great teacher of the game. So, that was kind of a special moment. We had our moment before the match, and he and I used to coach here together, and just that was a lot of fun.”

The Huskies came into Saturday having lost to the Wildcats on Thursday in Marquette. They won the first set and then dropped the next three sets. So, Jennings was looking for a bounce-back out of his group at home, and got just that.

“It was important for us, very important for us,” he said. “This kind of marks the unofficial end of the first half of the season for us, right? We go into the crossover now, and you always want to end on a high note going into that, because it’s a bit of a pause for the GLIAC. Not to mention on the flip side of the crossover for us, we have a lot of away games, so it’s nice to get another win here at the SDC, and do one for our fans and the Pep Band.

“Emotionally, it was important for us to make a statement today, and I’m glad we came out in three.”

One big reason the Huskies were able to find success against the Lakers was the play of their serve-receive. The Huskies were served to 47 times in the match, and only made five return errors, for a .904 percentage on the day.

“My focus was to see where our serve-receive was,” Jennings said. “I thought it was pretty solid. We still had our moments. We still have these moments where we kind of go back-to-back or maybe three in a row. Not even just in serve-receive, but on the mistake side.

“I thought our passing was good tonight, good enough to win, good enough to get our hitters going.”

Jennings was also pleased with the efforts of sophomore Jacqueline Yancy, whom he continues to task with playing six rotations. She chipped in nine kills and added nine digs in the match.

“Happy to see Jackie have a good game today,” he said. “Meaghan continues to do what she does, but we’re a good team when the ball is mid-system or better. I mean, most teams are, but I thought (our) passing was pretty good today.”

CROSSOVER BOUND

With the win, the Huskies improved to 9-6 overall and 5-3 in GLIAC play. They are tied for fourth in the conference with the Wayne State Warriors. This weekend, they head to Hammond, Indiana, for the Midwest Regional Crossover. Jennings figures the Huskies will slot in as the fourth seed heading into the tournament, which is where they were a year ago.

“We don’t have, necessarily, any bad losses yet,” he said. “We’ve played against a lot of good teams. We’ve won a bunch of those games. We’ve dropped a few. I would like that (Wisconsin-)Parkside one back, but, look, Ferris (State) is rolling. The GLIAC is a strong league. I think we’re going to represent very well in the crossover.”

UP NEXT

The Huskies await their matchups for the crossover. They will play three matches at the tournament.