Written by Daver Karnosky
dkarnosky@mininggazette.com
HOUGHTON — The Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team is 6-5 overall on the season and 2-2 in GLIAC play after a loss to No. 7 Ferris State and a win over Davenport. This weekend, the Huskies play two home games against Lake Superior State and Saginaw Valley State.
Last weekend’s second straight split wasn’t ideal for the Huskies, but coach Matt Jennings felt the team’s bounce back from a two-game losing streak on Saturday was important for the group moving forward. Ta.
“It’s very important,” he said. “Every game is important. We go out to win and compete every time we play, but that game was definitely when we needed it. Looking at the weekend, Ferris State Still undefeated and top 10 in the country.”
Jennings felt there were areas of the game that the Huskies showed in both games, and if they found a way to do it every time they stepped on the court, they would be hard to beat.
“There were actually parts of our game that I thought were really good against both teams,” he said. Ferris. I think it would definitely have been a match if there was something like that. And then the next day, I think we were the better team, and our offense just kind of carried through that day. ”
The Huskies saw sophomore outside hitter Jacqueline Yancey play all six rotations in the game against Davenport and found a way to split time between sophomore libero Amelia Albers and junior libero Alayna Corwin. It showed off the depth of the team. Some decisions made by Jennings and his staff proved wise.
“A couple of things, one is we took advantage of the two libero rule change this weekend, which is the first time this year,” Jennings said. “You can name two liberos. They kind of count as people, so they can come and go pretty informally. We want to get more out of the libero position and use their talent. I did a little experiment to see if I could get people to share Noh all at once.
And this weekend, we took Megan (Rabe) out of the back row and replaced her with Brooke (Zvik) full-time in the back row, and her (Zvik) defense was phenomenal. ”
While some aspects of the changes turned out to be positive for the Huskies, Jennings admitted he’s not very comfortable with the serve-receive game, which the Huskies have spent time working on this week.
“So I think the serve-receive side has been affected a little bit by some of the changes,” he said. “So I have to get back to being comfortable serving and receiving, no matter what the formation is there. But I think it helped more or less defensively.”
Part of the coaching staff’s desire to see how the Huskies could utilize their depth came from how Friday’s game played out against the Bulldogs. Jennings felt that the Huskies’ offense was too predictable, with sophomore setter Tess Hayes passing the ball to Rabe too often during games.
Jennings and his staff know Rabe is a key component of the Huskies’ offense, but being able to work with other attackers would ease her workload and make her more effective.
“Due to her position, Meghan will be carrying a heavy burden offensively, but we were starting to see some cracks in the defense in the back row, so we thought that might be beneficial for her. We both agreed and cooperated. We didn’t want this to affect the front row, so nothing really changed in terms of aggression. There aren’t many parts, maybe a little bit here and there. (But it’s) kind of kept her in the front row court where we needed her the most.”
scouting
lakers
The Lakers enter this weekend at 5-7 overall and 2-2 in GLIAC play after losing 3-0 to No. 16 Grand Valley State and Wayne State last weekend.
The Lakers are scrambling to find a comfortable lineup after senior middle blocker Maggie Morris was injured in the GLIAC opener against Saginaw Valley. Freshman middle hitter Gisele Witanen has stepped into that role and is learning on the fly.
Senior right side Mariana Velasque has stepped up this season and leads the team with 101 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Gia Waters also got off to a strong start with 93 kills.
“I think their right side is very good,” Jennings said. “They have an outside guy that takes a lot of swings and does some good things. (They) always play really poor defense. They’re trying to make you money and play as fast as possible. They want to run fast to some parts of the middle.”
Cardinals scout
The Cardinals are now 3-9 overall and 1-3 in GLIAC play after losing to Wayne State and Grand Valley State over the weekend and losing to Northwood in non-conference play during the week. Heading into the weekend.
Senior outside hitter Sarah Veal was the focal point of the Cardinals’ attack with a team-high 149 kills, or 3.73 kills per set. Senior outside hitter Sedona Kuhn also had a strong showing, recording 73 kills.
Both Veal and Kuhn have been important in their service games as well, with both tied for the team lead in service aces with 10.
Match time
The Huskies and Lakers are scheduled to begin play Friday at 7 p.m. at the SDC Gym in Houghton. Saturday, the Huskies and Cardinals are scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
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