Huskies volleyball hits the road for last trip before the crossover
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HOUGHTON -- With sweeps of Lake Superior State and Purdue Northwest in the SDC Gym, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team improved to 9-7 on the season and 5-3 in GLIAC play. They have won their last three matches by 3-0 scores.
Unfortunately, at the same time, the Huskies cannot seem to catch a break in the GLIAC standings. They entered the weekend tied with three other teams. Despite sweeping, they find themselves still in a three-way tie for third with Davenport and Northern Michigan.
"We’re very happy with our performance at home," said Huskies coach Cindy Pindral. "We said before the weekend, coming into it, that it’s a really good opportunity for us to move ahead in the standings a little bit, and kind of take care of business against some teams that have been struggling in the league. So, I’m really proud of our team for stepping up to the plate and delivering on what our goals were."
While the Huskies' defense has been much improved all season long, their offense has come and gone at various points in the campaign. Pindral feels the Huskies have several options internally.
"I like that we are finding different creative ways to play," she said. "We’ve got a lot of people that are contributing in a lot of different ways, and we never quite know who’s going to be the hot hand that day, which is kind of fun. It’s a little bit of a surprise.
"Like in the Lake State game, all of a sudden Paige (Wagner) popped off, and that was really fun. Tricia (Kennedy) can go a sneaky (run) hitting.600 on the night, and you never quite know who’s going to step up that night. Rachel (Zurek) is very consistent. Kayla (Heinonen) has been very consistent as well. Then with the addition of Jackie Yancy into the lineup, she’s been doing well. So, we have a lot of weapons."
Pindral feels there is still plenty of room for growth in her team's game.
"I do feel like they’re still quite a bit of room for improvement, which is great, because we still have six-ish weeks left to go of season," she said. "I would rather not be peaking right now. I would rather still have things on the docket to work on.
"So, I think our offense is one of our biggest things right now that we know, that we can continue to improve, and I think we can get a little bit more creative with how we run some of our plays. But, thankfully, we have a wonderful quarterback in (sophomore setter) Maddie Kreider, who knows what to do and she’s working through it as well."
One player who Pindral is not worrying about it is freshman outside hitter Kayla Heinonen, who has forced her way into being a six-rotation player.
"You can’t say enough good about Kayla," said Pindral. "She’s doing everything right, and she is so humble about the way that she plays. She’s never satisfied with any performance or anything like that. You could break down film with her. You can go point for point with like every single thing that she does or however she contributes. She’s still not super happy with how she plays, which is crazy.
"But, she’s such a big contributor to the squad. We have so much faith, and so much trust, in her with the ball. She’s so forward-thinking and so team-first. That is just really an awesome combination to have a player like that."
Heinonen was a key component of the Huskies' comeback in the third set against Purdue Northwest Saturday.
"She really shone in the very last part of the Purdue Northwest game," Pindral said. "We were down by, I don’t know, five or six or something like that towards the end of the third set. It was probably looking like we were going to go to four. Then Kayla went on a serving run sparked by a really nice kill in the front row. Then she rotated to the back. So, just really proud of her for stepping up when we needed her."
Scouting the Rangers
The Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers are 11-5 on the season, but just 4-4 in GLIAC play. They defeated Purdue Northwest last Tuesday, but lost to Northern Michigan Friday. Then they defeated Lewis this Tuesday.
They are led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Avary Polavin, who has 217 kills. Senior outside hitter Sierra Kilbourn has also reached 200 kills.
Freshman Emily Zaper (24) and freshman defensive specialist Lauren Peters (20) both have at least 20 aces in the service game to lead the way.
Scouting the Lions
After losing to both Wisconsin-Parkside and Michigan Tech last weekend, the Purdue Northwest Lions are 2-13 overall and 0-8 in conference play. However, they showed they are a difficult team to deal well, as the Huskies found out last Saturday.
Senior outside hitter Anika Huelskamp leads the team with 114 kills this season. Senior outside hitter Katrina Soto has the next highest total with 86.
Freshman setter Addison Smith (13) and freshman outside hitter Cecelia Goode (12) are the two players in the service game with double figures in aces.
Game times
The Huskies will face the Rangers Friday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at 7 p.m. Eastern. Saturday, the Huskies and Lions will battle at 3 p.m. in Hammond, Indiana.