Kenosha, Wisconsin. – The world-ranked 19th Michigan Tech volleyball team finished the weekend with two sweeps at the Hampton Inn Invitational on Saturday (September 3). The Huskies defeated Illinois Springfield in the morning and Minnesota his Crookston in the evening to earn his sixth sweep of the season.
Tech coach Matt Jennings said, “I’m very happy with my recovery today. We did what we wanted to do and came together to get it done.
“We still have a lot of work to do as a team. I hope we can do better with some small things, but generally speaking, we played well in both games today. We grow as a team and I am totally convinced of that.”
Michigan Tech 3, Springfield, IL 0
The Huskies swept the Prairie Stars 25-19, 25-23, and 25-18. Tech was unbeatable in the first set, with three different players scoring his three kills. The second had 14 draws and 11 lead changes. Janie Grindland and Meg Raabe teamed up to score the final points in their block. Jillian Kuizenga scored her 5 kills in her third to end the sweep.
Kuizenga finished with 10 kills and a .450. Lindy Oujiri also added his 10 kills, Grindland added her 9 kills and he added 2 aces. Lina Espejo Ramírez led the attack with his 31 assists. Kate Walch, Grace Novotny and Beyer dug her ten times.
Michigan Tech 3, Minnesota Crookston 0
The Huskies beat the Golden Eagles 25-15, 25-22, 25-18. Meg Raabe got her 5 kills in her first set. Black and Gold scored her six points in the final, and of her 14 in the final she scored 12 to take the lead. Tech was her second she trailed 20-15 and finished with a 10-2 run to lead 2-0. The Huskies built her 7-point lead and gave Tech the win with a late kill by Lauren Richards and an ace by Carissa Beyer.
Raabe led the Huskies with 12 kills while Kuizenga finished with 10 kills against UMC. Espejo Ramirez recorded his 31 assists and Bayer finished with his 16 digs.
Tech will host Davenport and Grand Valley at the SDC gym next weekend to kick off conference play and a four-game home stand.
“As we cap off a very successful pre-conference schedule, we turn our attention to what will be a very challenging first weekend of GLIAC play,” Jennings said. We will do our best for the opening weekend.”
The Huskies will host the Panthers on Friday at 6pm and the Lakers on Saturday at 3pm.
