Huskies volleyball prepares for final regular season match
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HOUGHTON -- With just one match left in the regular season, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team continues to pursue a possible home quarterfinal playoff spot in the GLIAC Tournament. They are currently 13-13 overall and 8-7 in conference play, which puts them in a tie with Northern Michigan for fifth.
Both squads have clinched playoff spots, but where they will be playing is still undecided.
Prior to facing the Wildcats Tuesday, Huskies coach Cindy Pindral was clear about the fact that the Huskies were in a position to control their own destiny.
"This entire week is all about opportunity," she said. "We are in a very good spot, standings-wise, but we have to take care of business in order to achieve our goal of hosting a quarterfinal. So, obviously, for lots of reasons, this match is a very important one.
"You can kind of go through each person on the team, and they’ve got their own reason and their own why for, why this is really an important one. But, ultimately, for the team, it’s achieving that goal that we set for ourselves of hosting that quarterfinal match."
After dropping the second matchup against Northern Michigan Tuesday, the Huskies' chances of hosting a playoff game have become much more murky. They need a number of things to happen for a chance to be that fourth home seed, since Ferris State, Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State are all well-positioned to be the other three home seeds with Davenport, the Huskies, and the Wildcats all within striking distance of each other.
Pindral lamented that the Huskies have not played as well as they could the last few weeks.
"I feel like we haven’t had a full-on, this-is-us-the-entire-way-through-type match in a couple weeks," she said. "Honestly, crossover was probably the last time we had a really great match and that was against UIndy (Indianapolis). Even though we lost, Indy was a fabulous team and we played lights out against Finley as well. So, we’re kind of looking to just put together a really complete match, and, hopefully, everything will fall our way."
Pindral described the Huskies as a team that needs to have attention to details in order to be successful.
"We’re a process oriented team, so outcome is a byproduct of the process," she said. "We were talking in our team meeting last night (Monday), we’re going to have little goals throughout the way, and we do this every time, like first to five, first to 10, first to 15. 'When I go back to serve, I’m going to try to score two points.' Everyone’s got their little goal that they’re working on, and, hopefully, the accumulation of those little goals, and achieving those little goals, will reach to the win."
A big piece of the success the Huskies have had during the season has been the play and leadership of the team captain, junior middle blocker Paige Wagner. Wagner sits third on the team in kills with 215, third in hitting percentage at .271, fourth in aces (20), second in solo blocks (13) and second in block assists (40).
"She’s a very steady captain," Pindral said. "She’s very nurturing, and she’s very competitive in her own right. But, she’s very much like a motherly-type captain. So, she does a good job of kind of clucking her hens along. She’s very good at that. She’s always open to talking to people. She’s very helpful when teammates need to turn to her for whatever it is."
Another player who has been key down the stretch for the Huskies has been junior defensive specialist Madelyn Elsen. Elsen has played in just 59 sets, but she sits fifth in digs (95), and sixth in aces with 13.
"Growth has been Madelyn Elsen’s thing since I started coaching her," said Pindral. "What was that, two January’s ago? She started off very much as an underdog, a little bit under-recruited, and just looking for an opportunity. Then she took it upon herself to really dive into the training. She’s so meticulous with everything that she does. She’s very much a Type-A person. But, even with our training too, she’s very detail-oriented on our self-scout sheets. She gives excellent notes, and her feedback, sometimes a little bit too hard on herself like everyone else. But, she’s very detail-oriented, and she very much cares about the process, and making sure things are done correctly."
Scouting the Lakers
The Roosevelt come into Saturday's Senior Day festivities with a 5-19 record overall and 2-12 in GLIAC play after dropping matches in sweeps to Wisconsin-Parkside Tuesday and Ferris State Friday.
Junior right side hitter Braelyn Marshall-Northington leads the offense with 96 kills. She is in a tie with sophomore outside hitter Abigail Wutka. Fifth-year defensive specialist Imani Lee is third with 91 kills. Lee also is the team's top server with 21 aces.
Game time
The Huskies and Lakers are set to start Saturday at 3 p.m. at the SDC Gym in Houghton.