Volleyball Huskies Close 2014 with a 3-1 Win
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lake Superior State (2-23 (1-16 GLIAC)) | 25 | 22 | 12 | 16 | 1 |
|
Michigan Tech (11-16 (7-10 GLIAC)) | 23 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. — Michigan Tech defeated Lake Superior State 3-1 to close out its 2014 season today at the SDC Gym. The Huskies finish the year with an 11-16 overall record and 8-10 mark in GLIAC play.
Jacqueline Aird had 23 digs to give her 491 for the season—enough to tie the Tech record held by Kristin Klock, who had 491 in 2003.
Offensively, three Huskies put up 13 kills apiece. Stephanie Dietrich, Lauren Emmert and Kendall Ward all tied for match-high honors in kills. Dietrich hit a stellar .571 with only one error on 21 attempts.
For the second straight day, the host Huskies got off to a slow start. Lake Superior State (2-23, 1-16 GLIAC) took the first set 25-23 by hitting .226.
Tech responded in the second. The Black and Gold built a 19-14 lead, but were tied at 22-all. Sylvie Rokosh and Emmert then had back-to-back kills before a Laker error closed it out 25-22.
The Huskies dominated the third set with a 25-12 score. An eight-point run spurred by the serving of Aird turned a 10-5 lead into an 18-5 margin. Aubrey Ficek finished it off with a kill.
The fourth set was close through the first 10 points before the Huskies pulled away. Aird tied the digs record with just three points remaining in the match. Fittingly, it was the junior's service ace that closed out the win.
"I'm really happy about the match," said Tech coach Matt Jennings. "There was a lot of energy on the court today, and it was a great way to end our season.
"Not too many teams get to end the year with a win, and I think this will be really good for us as we head into the spring season.
"Congrats to Jacky on the record. I've been around a lot of liberos in my time as a coach, and she's as good as any of them."
Aird, who set the single-match record for digs earlier in the year with 36, owns 1,353 career digs after three years. The career Tech record is Klock's at 1,577.
Michigan Tech improved in both overall wins and GLIAC wins from a year ago (10 and six, respectively).
