Huskies volleyball earns another weekend split
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HOUGHTON -- With a win Friday and a loss Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team earned another weekend split. Friday, they found back from down two sets to defeat the Wayne State Warriors in five sets, their second straight five-set victory. Saturday, they started strong, but ultimately fell to the No. 21 Grand Valley State Lakers in four sets.
With the split, the Huskies are 13-12 overall and 8-6 in GLIAC play this season.
Lakers 3, Huskies 1
The Huskies won the opening set Saturday, 25-17, but could not sustain that effort the rest of the match as they fell to Grand Valley State at the SDC Gym. The Lakers won the next three sets, 25-21, 25-15, and 25-16.
"I thought we started off strong, and then we just kind of led up in a couple different areas over time," said Huskies coach Cindy Pindral. "It seemed like when one aspect of the game was on for us, like our serve-receive, then our attacking wasn’t quite crisp, or vice versa. Our attacking would be there, and then our serve-receive would kind of go away.
"So, just not our best outing. But, that’s OK."
Pindral pointed out how strong an opponent the Lakers are.
"This is a really good team that we played," said Pindral. "We knew that this would be a really tough match. Grand Valley has their record for a reason, so, obviously, we were hoping to sweep that series, but we’re good with the split."
Senior outside hitter Rachel Zurek had four kills in the opening set to pace the Huskies to put the Huskies in front right off the back. Junior middle blocker Paige Wagner added three kills.
Zurek added another four kills in the second set, with Wagner adding another three, but once the Huskies fell behind 10-6, they found themselves chasing.
They did manage to take a brief 18-17 lead after an ace by freshman outside hitter Kayla Heinonen, but that was the last lead they had in the set, as the Lakers raced ahead and never looked back.
"I felt like it was just a little bit more of a mentality thing," Pindral said. "It seemed like, over time, like we said in our scouting report, they go for ESPN-type swings. They’re very athletic. They’re very jumpy. We know this, but we have that capability too. So, it was just a little bit frustrating that it seemed like those types of swings got into our head a little bit more than we were anticipating they would.
"We just weren’t really able to respond with the competitiveness that I was hoping for."
After freshman outside hitter Reagan Lesley made it 4-4 in the second set, the Huskies fell behind and could never catch back up again in the third set.
The fourth set saw both teams battle to 11-11 before the Lakers found some separation and then never looked back. No matter what the Huskies did from there, they could not get closer than two points before the Lakers put the set and match out of reach.
Zurek finished with 14 kills. Lesley added 10. Senior middle blocker Tricia Kennedy had nine. Sophomore setter Madelynn Kreider had 45 assists. Heinonen finished her day with nine kills, four aces and an assist.
Huskies 3, Warriors 2
The Huskies pulled off its second reverse sweep in the past three matches, defeating Wayne State, 3-2, Friday evening at the SDC Gym. After falling in the first two sets, the Huskies won, 25-16, 25-17, and 18-16, to win their third straight match.
“It was another five-setter for us and I’m sure glad to be on the winning end, even after not playing well over the first two sets,” Pindral said. “Our seniors really stepped up and showed up. The mentality really shifted, and the players took it upon themselves to get the win.”
Trailing 2-0 at the break, the Huskies fought back and didn’t trail over the next two sets. In the third, five different Huskies had at least two kills, and the Black and Gold led by as many as 10. Heinonen had a kill for setpoint, and senior outside hitter Jacqueline Yancy put down the winner.
Tech hit .343 in the fourth. Wagner and Zurek each put down four kills, and both hit over .500. Wagner made it setpoint with a kill, and Kennedy added the winner to tie the match.
The fifth set had eight ties and four lead changes. Wayne State built a 7-4 lead before Pindral called a timeout. The Huskies fought back to tie it at 10. The Warriors fought through two match points by the Huskies and then swung it to 16-15 in favor of the visitors. A serving error tied up followed by an ace by Nellis for the third match point for the Huskies. Heinonen then put down the winner, surviving a challenge by Wayne State.
Zurek finished with 17 kills to lead the Black and Gold. Wagner added 14 kills while Heinonen went for 14 kills and 12 digs. Kreider set the attack with 57 assists while adding 16 digs. Nellis tallied a match-high 20 digs.
Katie Smith had a match-high 22 kills for the Warriors. Kayla Dulgar recorded 37 assists, and Lauren Essenpreis added 18 digs.
Up next
The Huskies are back in action Tuesday when they host rival Northern Michigan at 6 p.m. at the SDC Gym.