Michigan Tech libero Julia Fledderjohn prepares to deliver a serve during a match earlier this season. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University)

HOUGHTON — Mired in a five-match losing streak, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team is happy to be home after two tough trips to Hammond, Indiana, first to play the Purdue Northwest Pride, who beat them 3-1, and then for the Midwest Region Crossover, where the Huskies played Indianapolis, Ohio Dominican, and Walsh, where the Huskies won a combined two sets in the three matches.

“We were playing in the top division of Crossover,” said Huskies coach Cindy Pindral. “We earned a spot in the top six of our conference, which allowed us to be in the top tier. We played some very quality opponents across the three opponents that we played. All three of them had only a handful of losses on the season. They’re near, or at the top of, their conference in statistical categories and wins and stuff like that. So, we had a very challenging schedule.”

Pindral felt that the Huskies (7-11 overall, 4-3 GLIAC) did do some good things, even if the results weren’t there at the end of the day.

“I thought, at times, we rose to the occasion, we battled hard, but then we showed other moments where we kind of crumbled, or let the teams kind of walk all over us,” she said. “We have so much talent on our team, but, right now, it’s just putting it all together and then believing that we can hang with some of these big dogs.”

One thing the Huskies were able to do, with some success, was work senior setter Avery Brown into the match against Ohio Dominican, and then also into the Walsh match. The University of Akron transfer only saw action in seven sets last season. She has already played in 15 sets this season.

“We made a couple of lineup adjustments,” Pindral said. “We threw in Avery Brown, who hasn’t had a ton of playing time, but she has been working very hard in practice, and she was executing the game plan that we asked, and that game plan was set the middles. Our middles are so efficient, and they’re excellent players, both on offense and blocking, that, at times, our setters just go away from them.

“The message all year has been that we are a middle-first offense, and we’ve really gone away from that. Avery had been executing that in practice. So, we threw her in, gave her a shot. She played great defense to back up her good setting decisions, and we were able to be competitive in that match.”

As a senior, Brown is one of five Huskies in their final season in Black and Gold, and Pindral could not ask more of her as her collegiate career nears its end.

“I think Avery realizes, and so do the rest of the senior crew, that time is ticking, and we’re nearing the end of senior seasons for four or five of us,” said Pindral. “So, I’m proud of her for stepping up in a big moment, and taking advantage of her shot. We’ll see if she can maintain some momentum there.”

At the same time, Pindral would love to see more growth from junior outside hitter Jacqueline Yancy. Yancy had just three kills against Indianapolis, but then had 10 against Ohio Dominican and 13 against Walsh.

“For the most part, Jackie was our most efficient hitter,” Pindral said. “She had the most attempts, I believe, and she did well with the majority of them, I’ll say. We put a lot on the outside hitter position. Just the sport in general requires a lot of load on the outside hitter position. So, she’s kind of experiencing that this season where she is the go to. She’s receiving a lot of serves, and taking a lot of attempts, as well as a lot of blocking attempts. So, it’s a lot of jumping, a lot of defense. We’re just working with her to find stamina, and be able to make it through a whole match. But, she’s certainly very competitive.”

This weekend, the Huskies are going to host Wayne State and Grand Valley State, two teams they have not seen yet this season.

“Finally back at home,” said Pindral. “We’re starting to get to the part of the schedule where we are home heavy. We were saying back in August that we’ll be thankful for this time of year. So, yeah, we’re excited to have home play again, and have three out of the next four at home, which is nice, not including the midweek away at Northern (Michigan) coming up next week, I believe.

“But yeah, we’re excited to be back at home. We face two very tough opponents in Wayne and Grand Valley. They are both leading the conference in certain statistical categories that we’re going to have to practice this week. They are very experienced teams. They’ve got a huge roster, and yeah, just a lot of firepower, and very talented middles, on both of those teams.”

Scouting the Warriors

The Wayne State Warriors are 14-4 overall and 6-2 in GLIAC play. They come into this weekend fresh off defeating Rockhurst and Hillsdale in the Crossover, and losing to Missouri-St. Louis.

They are led offensively by senior middle blocker Kayla Giroux, who has 246 kills. She is second in blocking with 62 blocks.

Junior outside hitter Paige Glehtbrock is also having a nice season, with 202 kills in 18 matches.

Scouting the Lakers

The Grand Valley State Lakers are 13-5 overall and 6-2 in GLIAC play. They lost to Cedarville and Lewis at the Crossover before defeating Hillsdale on Saturday.

The Lakers are deep offensively with five players having racked up over 100 kills. They are led by senior setter Meghan O’Sullivan, who has 176. Redshirt junior middle blocker Brianna Stawski has also been very good, with 168 kills.

Game times

The Huskies and Warriors will face off Friday at 5 p.m. at the SDC Gym in Houghton. Saturday, the Huskies and Lakers will play at 2 p.m.