Michigan Tech right side hitter Rachel Zurek (18) and middle blocker Kaycee Meiners (7) attempt a block during a match against Purdue Northwest on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After weeks of battling each other and a new head coach, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team is finally going to their energy on the road for official matches with the McKendree Tournament this weekend in Lebanon, Illinois.

New head coach Cindy Pindral liked a lot of what she saw in her team as they adjusted to her and she adjusted to them.

“I thought it went well,” she said. “There was a pretty big learning curve with all of the things that I threw at them, but I thought, for the most part, we handled it well. We just recently had a scrimmage at NMU (Northern Michigan University) this past Saturday, and performed very well at that. So, it was nice to see the girls take to heart the things that we’ve been trying to have them do, and see it in real time versus someone other than themselves.

“(We’re) feeling very confident coming into this weekend, at least with our side of knowing what to do, how to make shifts, and how to employ all the little things that we’ve been trying to preach.”

In a scrimmage against Northern Michigan last weekend, Pindral really liked what she saw in the way the team played together.

“I liked that we were together the whole time,” Pindral said. “Every set was a different lineup on both sides, as both (Wildcats coach) Mike (Lozier) and I were trying to filter through people, and get some different exposure and all that. So, it wasn’t a normal match by any means, where you’d normally see the same six or seven people the whole time, but I thought that we were composed the whole time, and even when there would be moments of shanking a few balls, or a couple aces against us, we would pick ourselves right back up and get right back into it.

“So, I was, overall, happy with the camaraderie that we had. It was a very even keel day. I felt like we were never too high, never too low. We just kind of marched along, and that’s exactly how we want to be playing.”

Pindral was an assistant coach with the Huskies prior to stepping in this season as the head coach. She admitted that she is excited to finally be playing meaningful matches this weekend.

“Absolutely. It’s been nine months of training and recruiting and all the things, and now we can finally get some results behind us, hopefully in the positive, of course,” she said. “But, we are going to be shifting our lineups quite a bit, wanting to get many people, as many people as we can, a shot, even at the expense of maybe a set loss here and there, or something like that. So, obviously, we want to be winning as many as we can, but we’re really treating this preseason as an opportunity to get people exposure, and battle through tough moments. We want to learn about people in the high moments, the low moments, (and) the things in between. We’re going to let people weather the storm a little bit.”

One area of the game where Pindral plans to continue to do what she has throughout the preseason is at setter, where junior Tess Hayes, senior Avery Brown, and freshman Madelynn Kreider are all going to get a chance to show what they can do.

“All three have really proven themselves as viable options in this preseason, and it’s awesome to be able to have the confidence to rotate through people and know that we’re still going to put up a pretty formidable squad,” Pindral said. “So we’re cooking up a couple of different lineups. You’ll see some repeat people from set to set, especially the middles. We’re a little bit short in the middle department right now. Not physically, but quantity. So, we’re going to rotate through our outsides, rotate through some of our setters, and some of our DSs (defensive specialists). So yeah, a lot of people are going to get playing time this weekend.”

Along with Kreider, freshman right side hitter Madelyn Torola and freshman middle blocker Amara Beaudoin are already pushing for playing time.

“These three freshmen have been a very welcome and pleasant surprise, in a good way,” said Pindral. “They came in a bit more ready than I anticipated, and that’s not a knock on them by any means, but yeah, they’re hanging in there right there with their teammates, and they’re doing well. A couple of days, Maddie Torala will just fire off a bunch of kills in a row, and people will be like, ‘Who? Where did this girl come from? Who is she?’ But then Maddie Kreider has beautiful hands, she plays great defense, and her serve is disgustingly good. So, it’s fun.

“They’re really getting to a point where, and this is a good thing, we have to put them in somewhere. They’re showing that they have a lot of value in a lot of different ways. So, it’ll be exciting to see kind of where they end up fitting up or fitting in.”

Pindral admits that since the Huskies have 15 upperclassmen, the trio can take whatever time they need to adjust to the game at the college level.

“At the same time, that group does not have any pressure on them at all,” she said. “We have such an elder statesman squad that it’s wonderful if the freshman can play, but some years when you’re really freshman heavy, like Tess’s freshman year, almost all of them needed to play right away.

“I think it’s probably a blessing that they don’t have to have that pressure right away. They can kind of come in and play freely and not feel the immediate pressure of things.”

Looking at the matchups

The Huskies will open the McKendree Tournament on Friday with the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons, who finished 19-9 last season. They made it to the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament, only to lose to Ferris State in their first game.

In their second match on Friday, the Huskies will take on the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs went 21-8 last season but saw their season end in the Great American Conference Tournament with a loss to Ouachita Baptist.

On Saturday, the Huskies will take on the host McKendree Bearcats. Last season, the Bearcats went 11-16 overall, falling to top-seeded Quincy in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament.