PREVIEW: Volleyball wraps up regular season on the road

THIS WEEK'S MATCHES
• Michigan Tech wraps up the regular season this weekend at Lake Superior State Friday and Saginaw Valley State Saturday.
• First serve in the Soo is 4 p.m. Friday with a 2 p.m. start against the Cardinals in the regular-season finale.
• The Huskies are 20-5 overall and 12-2 in the GLIAC. Tech is a half-game back of Ferris State in the GLIAC Standings.
• The Huskies won 20 matches three seasons in a row for the first time since 1997.

AVCA RANKING
• Michigan Tech is ranked No. 22 in this week's AVCA Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
• Tech was No. 20 last week, No. 21 on October 29, No. 22 on October 21, No. 24 on October 15, No. 21 on September 9, and has received votes in every other poll this season.
• The No. 20 ranking was the highest since the preseason poll in 1998 and the highest regular-season ranking since 1996.
• Tech was ranked in five polls in 2018. The Black and Gold spent two weeks at No. 24 and three at No. 25 last season.

REGIONAL RANKINGS
• Tech is ranked fifth in the Midwest in this week's NCAA Regional Rankings.
• Tech holds a 19-4 record against in-region opponents.
• Teams ahead of the Huskies in the regional rankings are Lewis (24-4), Hillsdale (21-3), Missouri-St. Louis (25-3), and Ferris State (21-5).

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
• SVSU is 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals are currently fourth in the GLIAC standings and 10th in the Midwest Regional Rankings. Sarah Tabit is second in the GLIAC in kills per set (4.18) and sister Hanna Tabit is fourth in the GLIAC in assists per set (10.66). Abbie Toland leads the team with 4.44 digs per set.
• LSSU is 8-17 overall and 2-12 in the GLIAC. The Lakers have dropped their last five matches. The conference wins are over Northern Michigan and Purdue Northwest. Abby Beachnau is fifth in the GLIAC averaging 4.44 digs per set. Amanda Reid leads the offense with 3.24 kills per set.

FIRST MEETINGS
• Tech swept LSSU on September 28 at the SDC Gym for the 17th straight win over the Lakers. Olivia Ghormley had a match-high 16 kills to and notched the 1,000th kill of her career. MacAulay Petersen added 11 kills while Anna Jonynas recorded 16 digs. Laura De Marchi set the attack with 41 assists.
• The Huskies swept SVSU on September 27 in Houghton. Petersen (13 kills), Ghormley (10 kills) and De Marchi (36 assists) led the offense. Petersen hit .348 in the match. Megan Utlak's 10 digs led the defense.

STATISTICAL RANKINGS
• Tech leads the GLIAC in hitting percentage (.254), assists per set (13.22) and kills per set (14.02)
• The Huskies rank third in the league in digs per set (17.64) and opponent hitting percentage (.169)
• Laura De Marchi is fourth nationally in career assists per set (11.72) and fifth amongst setters in all three divisions
• Olivia Ghormley is sixth nationally in career kills per set (3.81)
• De Marchi leads the GLIAC in assists per set (11.70), ranking seventh in the nation
• Ghormley leads the GLIAC in kills per set (4.31), ranking seventh in the nation
• Ghormley leads the GLIAC in points per set (4.72)
• Megan Utlak is third in the GLIAC in digs per set (4.67)
• Emilia Widen is fifth in the GLIAC in hitting percentage (.318)

MILESTONES THIS SEASON
• Junior Olivia Ghormley recorded her 1,000th career kill on September 28 against Lake Superior State at the SDC Gym.
• Junior Laura De Marchi tallied her 3,000th career assist on October 4 at Northwood.
• Junior Megan Utlak hit the 1,000-dig mark for her career on October 18 against Drury at the Crossover.
• Junior Anna Jonynas tallied her 1,000th career dig on November 8 versus Ferris State at the SDC Gym.

UPCOMING MILESTONE
• Junior MacAulay Petersen has 971.5 career points and 919 career kills

LAST WEEK
• Tech team splits its final home weekend. The Huskies fell 3-2 to No. 19 Ferris State Friday and bounced back with a 3-1 win over Northwood on Saturday.
• Olivia Ghormley (36 kills) and MacAulay Petersen (21 kills) led the offense with Ghormley averaging 4 kills per set. Laura De Marchi averaged 10.63 assists per set, totaling 85 on the weekend. Megan Utlak (54 digs), Anna Jonynas (37 digs), and Emilia Widen (6 blocks) led the defense.
• Kristine Fink, Courtney Kurkie, Rachel Ping, and Emilia Widen were honored before Saturday's match against the Timberwolves.

GLIAC NORTH PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Olivia Ghormley – October 21
• Olivia Ghormley – October 14
• Olivia Ghormley – September 30
• Laura De Marchi – September 23
• Olivia Ghormley – September 9

NUMBERS TO KNOW
• The 6-0 GLIAC start was the best for the Huskies in over 20 years
• Tech is 26-0 in the GLIAC against teams other than Ferris since the start of last season
• The Huskies are 38-8 in conference play since the start of 2017 with losses only to Ferris State, Grand Valley State, and Northern Michigan.
• Tech is 1-5 versus the current top 25. The Huskies defeated Southwest Minnesota State and fell against Upper Iowa, St. Cloud State, Minnesota Duluth, and Ferris State.
• Tech is 5-1 against opponents in neutral site matches.
• The Huskies went 8-3 against its nonconference opponents.
• The Huskies are 6-2 in road matches so far this season.

COACH JENNINGS
• Head coach Matt Jennings enters his eighth season and has won 131 matches overall.
• Under Jennings, the Huskies have gone from the last place in the conference to nationally ranked and in the postseason.
• Jennings has coached the Huskies to back to NCAA tournament appearances in 2017 and 2018.
• He was named the GLIAC Coach of the Year in 2017 and led the team to a program-record 10 straight wins to start the 2016 season.

SWEEPING THE COMPETITION
• Tech has 13 3-0 sweeps this season.
• The Huskies had six straight sweeps to begin the 2015 season and finished the season with 14.
• Tech had 12 sweeps in each of the last two seasons.

AT HOME
• The Huskies went 9-2 at the SDC Gym in the regular season with seven of the nine wins being sweeps. The losses were to current No. 21 Upper Iowa in the Keweenaw Classic and No. 18 Ferris State.
• Tech finished 7-1 at home in 2018.

CROSSOVER ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
• Laura De Marchi and Olivia Ghormley were named to the 12th annual Midwest Region Crossover All-Tournament Team for the second year in a row. Of 41 teams at the Crossover, Tech was the only team with two players honored.
• De Marchi set up the Tech offense with 139 assists, averaging 12.64 per set. She added 30 digs, averaging 2.73 per set, six kills, and five blocks.
• Ghormley led Tech with 58 kills on the weekend, averaging 5.27 per set. She hit .329 with only 12 errors on 140 attempts while adding 28 digs, four service aces, and two block assists.

PRESEASON GLIAC POLL
• In the 2019 Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Huskies were second in the North Division with 57 points, including four first-place votes.
• Ferris State (61) was the top pick after its fifth straight GLIAC Championship last year. Saginaw Valley State (44), Northern Michigan (33), Northwood (22), and Lake Superior State (14) round out the North.
• Ashland (57) and Wayne State (43) were selected to lead the South Division followed by Grand Valley State (41), Davenport (39), Parkside (24), and Purdue Northwest (12).

LAST SEASON
The Huskies are coming off back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament and three straight second-place finishes in the GLIAC North Division. Tech has won 20 matches in back-to-back season, including the fourth-highest win total and third-fewest losses in a single-season with a 23-7 record in 2018. The Huskies also posted a mark of 14-2 in the GLIAC, the second most conference wins in program history, and the second-highest winning percentage against GLIAC competition in team history (.875).

AVCA ALL-AMERICANS
Outside hitter Olivia Ghormley (Third Team) and junior setter Laura De Marchi (Honorable Mention) were AVCA All-Americans a year ago. Both earned major league awards as Ghormley was the GLIAC Attacker of the Year and De Marchi the GLIAC Setter of the Year for the second straight season. Ghormley tallied 518 kills with an average of 4.58 per set to lead the GLIAC and rank sixth in the nation. De Marchi racked up 1,254 assists and averaged 11.72 per set to lead the league. 

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
• The Huskies have clinched a home GLIAC Tournament Quarterfinal match on Wednesday, November 20 to begin the playoffs.
• The GLIAC Semifinals are on November 22 with the GLIAC Championship on November 23.
• The NCAA Regional is December 5-7.