Michigan Tech right side hitter Madelyn Torola and middle blocker Tricia Kennedy attempt to block a spike by Northern Michigan’s Kaysie Bakke during a match Thursday at the SDC Gym in Houghton. (David Archambeau/For the Gazette)

HOUGHTON — After losses this past week to Northern Michigan and to Purdue Northwest, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team is getting a chance this week to step out of their normal routine for the annual Midwest Regional Crossover in Hammond, Indiana.

First-year head coach Cindy Pindral was not happy with the way the Huskies competed in either match.

“I’m disappointed that we came out flat in both,” she said. “We picked our moments to fight, but we have to fight from Point One. It’s not that we played poorly, it’s just that we didn’t play to our potential, and these two matches were definitely the chance, or the opportunity, to play to our potential. So, it’s disappointing that we didn’t quite show up.”

Pindral said that she feels that part of the problem might be how she prepares the team for games.

“I’ll take that on me for not preparing them maybe adequately enough in practice,” she said. “But, we’ve had a couple of good team talks since the Northern match, and we’ve had some time together, too, off the court, to kind of figure ourselves out. So, we have an opportunity this weekend at Crossover, with some teams that we’re not very familiar with, to really rebound and make a statement. Our goal is to rebound for the second half of the season.”

The Huskies enter the weekend 7-8 overall and 4-3 in GLIAC play, which means they sit sixth in the conference, and will face Indianapolis and Ohio Dominican in their first two games of the tournament.

“The Crossover tournament is a very interesting one,” Pindral said. “It is completely unique in the sense that there are like nine matches going on at the same time and three conferences are represented. So, every team in those conferences are going to be there. It’s a chaotic event.

“There’s just so many people mulling around the facility. The facility is beautiful and they do a very good job of hosting it. But, it’s very unique in that you can look in any direction and you see a bunch of other matches going on. Usually you’re the only match going. The environment itself presents a level of difficulty that’s just different. It’s very similar to club tournaments that the student athletes used to do in high school.”

Both Indianapolis and Ohio Dominican will push the Huskies hard, according to Pindral.

“Looking specifically at the teams, Indy and ODU are both on six match win streaks,” she said. “They’re doing pretty well right now. We just started scouting ODU. We’ve done a couple of days on Indy. We’re going to be challenged, for sure, any way you shake it.

“Both teams seem to be very consistent. They have aggressive setters and good front rows. So, we are practicing quite a bit of things in practice this week, both to focus on our own selves, but also scouting a few things defending offensive setters and things like that. We won’t know who we play on Saturday until Friday night, because they reseed everybody. We squeaked into the top six of our conference. So, I’m happy that we’re going to be playing in the top portion.”

While the Huskies are in the top half for the Crossover, Pindral still wants to see more consistency out of nearly every player the Huskies dress on a nightly basis. One player who is taking that advice to heart is Calumet native Madelyn Torola, who set a new career high in kills Thursday against Northern Michigan with 18, then matched that effort again on Sunday against Purdue Northwest, leading the team for the first time in her young career.

“Maddie Torola has really come into her own in these last couple of weeks here,” said Pindral. “Her ability to adapt on the fly is amazing. If you would look at her shot selection, or her array of shots, and where she’s scoring, or even disrupting, it is all over the place. A lot of people have tendencies. Maybe someone likes cross, likes lines, something like that. She has every shot in the book, and then the lefty factor just makes it a different look that a lot of teams aren’t used to seeing.

“Her height obviously helps as well, but she’s got a really nice mix of hard-driven shots to off-speed, to line-cross, everything in the middle. So, she’s doing a really good job of adapting to whatever the situation is giving her.”

Pindral loves how coachable Torola continues to be.

“We talked about it a couple weeks ago, entering each attempt with an open mind and just finding what’s available, similar to a quarterback dropping back, doing the check down real quick of, ‘OK, which man is covered? What’s available? What’s over here?’

“Same thing with attacking, maybe you have an idea like you’d love to go cross on this next swing, but then the block is there. So, her ability to adapt in real time, in that fraction of a second that she has to make a decision, has been really impressive. She’s got a great range of shots, and I’m hoping that she can keep it up.”

Scouting the Greyhounds

The Indianapolis Greyhounds are 14-5 overall and 5-1 in GLVC play after beating Missouri S&T and Maryville last weekend. Their lone conference loss was to Quincy to open league play.

They are led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Maddie Lynch, who has 207 kills. Senior outside hitter Paige Parlanti is also over 200 kills for the season with 201. She is also deadly behind the service line, where she has 13 aces.

Scouting the Panthers

The Ohio Dominican Panthers are 13-4 overall and 7-1 in GMAC play after a weekend that saw them defeat Cedarville, 3-2, Saturday, and then follow that up with a 3-1 win over Wheeling in non-conference play later in the day. Their lone loss in conference play was to Findlay.

Senior outside hitter Jenna Peters leads the Panthers with 224 kills. She also has 13 aces.

Senior right side hitter Ashley Aselage has also been strong, with 166 kills. Freshman outside hitter Logan Rubel (155) and senior middle blocker Grace Zinchuk (146) are also over 100 kills each.

Game times

The Huskies and Greyhounds are set to face each other Friday at 12:30 p.m. Then the Huskies and Panthers will do battle at 5:30 p.m. The third matchup, which will take place Saturday, will be announced Friday evening.