Michigan Tech middle blocker Kaycee Meiners (7), outside hitter Meg Raabe (9), setter Tess Hayes (10), middle blocker Paige Wagner (4), libero Amelia Albers (15), and outside hitter Jacqueline Yancy celebrate a point scored in a match against Northern Michigan last season at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech volleyball team is the fifth pick in the GLIAC Volleyball Preseason Poll the conference announced on Tuesday (Aug. 26). The Huskies are behind Grand Valley State, Ferris State, Wayne State, and Northern Michigan.

The 2025 Michigan Tech volleyball season gets underway on September 5 when the Huskies travel down to McKendree for a three-match weekend. The Huskies, under first-year head coach Cindy Pindral, return 13 student-athletes from 2024, with three who earned All-GLIAC honors. Pindral was named the eighth head coach in program history and returns to the Huskies after being an assistant head coach, assistant coach, and volunteer coach with the Huskies for seven seasons from 2016-22.

“On the one hand, it feels like I never left, and on the other hand, it feels like everything’s different, in a good way,” said Pindral. “So, yeah, it’s been an easy transition. I’m glad that I was able to start in January, so I had a spring semester under my belt and I wasn’t thrown directly into competition.

“The spring was great. We had a lot of opportunities to kind of set our standards, and define our norms and expectations and all that stuff, and tons and tons of time to train, and really break down fundamentals and how we talk to each other, how we approached our different skills and things like that.”

In the 2025 Preseason Coaches’ Poll, the Lakers accumulated 98 points, including eight first-place votes. FSU were close behind with 92 points and three first-place nods. WSU (76) was third and NMU (68) was one point ahead of the Huskies (67). Parkside (59), Davenport (42), and Purdue Northwest (38) were also in the top eight. Saginaw Valley State (34), Lake Superior State (18), and Roosevelt (13) rounded out the poll.

On the court, Tech will lean on juniors Tess Hayes and Rachel Zurek, and sophomore Paige Wagner. Hayes was a First Team All-GLIAC selection last season after leading the GLIAC in assists per set (10.57). Zurek was a Second Team All-GLIAC choice after averaging 2.56 kills per set while hitting .288 as a right-side hitter. Wagner hit .346 as a freshman middle last season and averaged 1.92 kills per set. The roster also has three freshmen and NCAA Division I transfer Julia Fledderjohn from Charleston Southern University, where she was a member of the volleyball team for the past three seasons.

The Huskies will play 27 matches in the fall with 16 GLIAC contests and nine games at the SDC Gym. Six of their opponents went to the NCAA Tournament last season, and five were ranked in the final 2024 AVCA Top 25.

2025 GLIAC Volleyball Preseason Poll

1. Grand Valley State 98 (8)

2. Ferris State 92 (3)

3. Wayne State 76

4. Northern Michigan 68

5. Michigan Tech 67

6. Parkside 59

7. Davenport 42

8. Purdue Northwest 38

9. Saginaw Valley State 34

10. Lake Superior State 18

11. Roosevelt 13