Volleyball sweeps NMU for seventh straight win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Northern Michigan (5-11, 2-6 GLIAC) | 25 | 13 | 18 | 0 |
|
Michigan Tech (12-4, 7-1 GLIAC) | 27 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team swept Northern Michigan Saturday (Oct. 9) at the SDC Gym. The Huskies won 27-25, 25-13, and 25-18 to pick up their 10th sweep of the season in their seventh straight victory.
"I'm always glad to win and always glad to win against Northern," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "It's a great rivalry and they're a good team. We were the better team today, and I'm certainly pleased with the win."
There were 14 ties in the opening set with neither team taking more than a three-point lead. Olivia Ghormley gave Tech its first setpoint lead at 25-24 after a kill. NMU tied it up before a kill by Kaycee Meiners and an attacking error by the Wildcats gave the Huskies the 27-25 win. Carissa Beyer had nine digs in the first set and Anna Jonynas tallied six kills.
Tech never trailed in the second and used an early 8-2 run to take a 13-6 lead. A 5-0 run ballooned the lead to 22-11 before kills by Lauren Richards and Janie Grindland closed the set. Tech hit a blistering .632 in the middle frame and forced NMU into seven attacking errors.
"I was proud of the poise we showed in the first set," added Jennings. "We just needed to get in our groove and trust ourselves to get through it. Our offense looked on point in the second set, and we're hard to stop when we play like that."
NMU (5-11, 2-6 GLIAC) held a 9-8 lead early in the third before Tech went on a 7-2 run to lead 15-11. The Huskies closed out the match, scoring five of the final six points with a kill and an ace by Jonynas and three errors by the visitors. Jillian Kuizenga notched five kills in the third.
Jonynas had a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs while hitting .500. Kuizenga also had double-digit kills with 11 on only 18 swings. Laura De Marchi set the attack with 36 assists. Carissa Beyer finished with 14 digs while Grace Novotny added 10.
Anna Jonynas was honored before the match for tallying her 1,000th career kill last Saturday to become the only player in program history to hit the 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig mark for her career.
Tech is now 12-4 overall and 7-1 in the GLIAC and steps away from conference play next weekend for the Midwest Regional Crossover Tournament. Opponents, dates, and times will be announced early in the week.
