Huskies meet top seed Ferris State in semifinal Saturday in Big Rapids
DETROIT – For the eighth straight season, Michigan Tech has advanced to the GLIAC Volleyball Tournament Semifinal after defeating Wayne State 3-1 on Wednesday. The fifth-seeded Huskies dispatched the Warriors on their home floor, winning the final three sets, 17-25, 25-18, 25-22, and 25-13.
“What a treat it was to be part of this one. This was a match that I will never forget,” Tech coach Matt Jennings said. “After a sluggish opening set, we went out and put together three of our best sets of the season. I can’t really put into words how much it meant for us to catch fire like that and play with so much joy and confidence. It was a sight to see.
“During pregame, we talked about how our seniors deserve our best effort every time we play to keep our season going. This one was for them. We were our best selves here tonight.”
Tech improved to 17-11 overall and now travels to the nation’s No. 1 ranked team, Ferris State, on Saturday for the next round. First serve is set for noon at Bulldog Arena in the first semifinal. The Bulldogs are undefeated at 29-0 and swept No. 8 seed Purdue Northwest in their opening playoff match.
“We have two days to reset, make our way to Big Rapids, and prepare to play one of the best teams in the country,” Jennings added. “If we play with the passion and togetherness that we did tonight, we’ll have a great battle on our hands.”
The Warriors (14-13) closed out the first set on a 9-1 run to take the lead, but Coach Jennings used a late challenge to gather his Huskies together and prepare them for the rest of the match. The Huskies never looked back after that.
The Black and Gold built a nine-point lead in the second and tied the match, 25-18. The Huskies hit .412 in the second and had five different players put down two kills—led by Meg Raabe’s six. She made it setpoint and then the Huskies got the final point on a hitting error by WSU.
Tech carried the momentum into the third and never trailed. Brooke Dzwik served the Huskies to an early six-point lead with Paige Wagner putting together another serve run later in the set. Kate Loch had a kill for setpoint, and Tess Hayes finished off the 25-22 win with a dump kill.
The fourth set was tight early before the visitors put together a 12-3 run to take control. The Huskies cruised to a 25-13 win after forcing nine attacking errors by the Warriors and hitting .542 on the other side of the net. Meg Raabe was dominant with seven kills in the fourth.
Meg Raabe finished with a match-high 18 kills while hitting .486. Kate Loch tallied a season-high 11 kills while Kaycee Meiners (6), Rachel Zurek (5) and Paige Wagner (5) also contributed to the offense. Tess Hayes set the attack with 35 assists while adding 11 digs and seven kills. Amelia Albers led with 18 digs. The Huskies racked up 12 blocks with Meiners tallying five block assists, Wagner adding two solo blocks and two block assists, and Zurek tallying a solo and three assists.
Katie Smith, Kayla Giroux, and Molly Miller each had a dozen kills for the home team. Kayla Dulgar tallied 38 assists.
Northern Michigan and Grand Valley State advanced to the 2:30 p.m. semifinal. The Wildcats advanced over Parkside and the Lakers defeated Davenport.
The winners of the semifinals will play on Sunday for the GLIAC Tournament Championship and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
