Huskies volleyball returns to GLIAC play with road trip
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HOUGHTON -- After defeating Findlay to open the Midwest Region Crossover tournament in Hammond, Indiana, last Friday, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team lost their next two matches, to Missouri-St. Louis and No. 22 Indianapolis, both in five sets.
With the losses, the Huskies fell to 10-11 overall and 1-9 in five-set matches. While those numbers are not ideal, coach Cindy Pindral was pleased with how a lot of the Crossover went.
"I thought it went really well," Pindral said. You know, obviously, 1-2, could have been better, but we played very well and were facing very tough opponents. Two out of the three opponents we faced are regionally-ranked, and I think Indianapolis might be nationally-ranked at this point, too. So, just very quality opponents."
Pindral felt that a lot of things fell their way, except for the final scores.
"It was an awesome tournament for us," she said. "Our focus was to enjoy the process and really embrace what’s right in front of us, whether it’s your touch, the single point, whatever it is. We were super competitive. We were very driven and focused. So, all of the intangibles were there.
"We keep telling the team, just continue to trust the process, and one of these five-setters will go our way eventually. We’ll get some good bounces eventually."
Pindral's message continues to be that the Huskies can control what they do, and that should lead to success.
"The only thing we can control is our process, and then the outcome should come, eventually," she said. "But it’s hard. All the what ifs are, I think, the hard part. So, the what if we could be, however, whatever our record is, we’re trusting the process. We’re enjoying the battle. We were so competitive last weekend, so overall it was a win for us."
One area where the Huskies' game was very strong was blocking, especially against Missouri-St. Louis.
"We played awesome," said Pindral. "It was really great to see all the things that we’ve been working on in practice really show up for all three of those matches. But UMSL in particular, our blocking came alive. That’s pretty much been the sole focus of our practices the last two weeks. So, all the little details, we're really doing those well. The 'Houghton Roofing Company' really came alive in that match, but it was really fun to see. It just ended up being a battle at the end. We were serving so much well on the weekend too. We took all three of the teams way out of system, so they weren’t able to run their best offense."
A big piece of that success was the play of senior middle blocker Tricia Kennedy. Kennedy posted four solo blocks and 11 block assists in the tournament.
"She has a natural knack for blocking," Pindral said. "Blocking, I feel like, is something that you, yes, you can teach, you can refine, but either someone’s a good blocker or they’re not. I don’t know. I feel like people are good defenders or they’re not. They either have that intrinsic motivation to go up and get the ball, or have a little stank to their attitude, and just kind of go get it. Then there’s some people that are just a little bit more passive.
"Tricia definitely wants the ball, and she likes to disrupt other offenses and all that stuff. Tricia just has a natural knack for it, and she works really hard in practice to refine things. She asks good questions. So she’s really developed that part of her game a lot, but she does have a natural knack for it."
Scouting Grand Valley State
The Grand Valley State Lakers are 17-5 overall and 9-1 in GLIAC play. At the Crossover, they went 1-2, losing to Cedarville, 3-1, before defeating Drury, 3-0. They dropped their Saturday match to Missouri-St. Louis in five sets.
Freshman outside hitter Finley Arp leads the offense with 213 kills. Senior middle hitter Paige Sanders has 192 kills. Senior middle hitter Kennedy Arp has 174 kills.
Finley Arp has been the Lakers' top performer in serve-receive. She has 33 aces, seven more than sophomore setter Gabby Orlet.
Scouting Roosevelt
The Roosevelt Lakers are 5-15 overall and 2-8 in GLIAC play. They had a tough trip to Hammond for the Crossover, as they lost to McKendree, 3-0, William Jewell, 3-1, and Missouri S&T, 3-0.
Junior right side hitter Braelyn Marshall-Northington leads the offense with 96 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Abigail Wutka is the only other Lakers player with more than 90 kills at 95.
Fifth-year defensive special specialist Imani Lee leads the service game with 20 aces. Sophomore setter Merryck Brackett has also been good, racking up 14 aces.
Game times
Friday, the Huskies and Grand Valley State will battle with opening serve set for 6 p.m. in Allendale. Saturday, the Huskies and Roosevelt are set to start at 3 p.m. in Chicago, Illinois.