Huskies volleyball sweeps Warriors in Detroit Friday

DETROIT -- The Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team swept the Wayne State Warriors 3-0 Friday at the Matthaei Center. The Huskies won 25-17, 26-24, and 26-24, and improved to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in the GLIAC.

“It was a fantastic win for the Huskies tonight,” Huskies coach Cindy Pindral said. “I’m very proud of the team for responding with positivity and determination after a tough loss earlier in the week.

"We were loose and competitive and showed the best version of ourselves this evening. Rachel had a very strong offensive performance again, and Kreider distributed the ball so well tonight, allowing all of our other attackers to hit at high efficiencies.”

The Huskies never trailed in the opening set and used a 5-0 run early in the frame to take command. Michigan Tech hit .515 and four different players had at least three kills.

There were 12 ties and four lead changes in the second. Tech got the first setpoint after a kill by senior outside hitter Rachel Zurek. The Warriors responded to tie it, but Zurek put down another kill for the second setpoint. Senior outside hitter Jacqueline Yancy and senior middle blocker Tricia Kennedy teamed up for a block for the winning point. Zurek had nine kills in the second.

Wayne State (5-8, 1-4 GLIAC) jumped out to an early lead in the third before the Huskies battled back to tie it at nine. The home team continued to lead into setpoint at 24-22.

Freshman outside hitter Kayla Heinonen had three straight kills to swing it to match point for the Black and Gold.

Senior defensive specialist Amelia Albers had a diving dig to keep the last play alive. Albers then served an ace to complete the sweep.

Michigan Tech hit over .300 in all three sets and finished at .368. Both teams had 48 kills, and the Huskies only scored one more point but won all three sets.

Zurek tallied a match-high 18 kills while hitting .390. Heinonen tallied nine kills and 11 digs. Yancy hit .429 with six kills. Junior middle blocker Paige Wagner added five kills.

Sophomore setter Madelynn Kreider set the attack with 38 assists.

Albers led with 13 digs, including tallying her 1,000th career dig.

Katie Smith tallied 16 kills for the Warriors. Kayla Dulgar recorded 42 assists, and Giselle Burlingame notched 16 digs.

Up next

Michigan Tech returns to the SDC Gym next weekend, hosting Lake Superior State Friday and Purdue Northwest Saturday.