Volleyball Sweeps LSSU to Open GLIAC Play

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team opened GLIAC play with a 3-0 sweep of Lake Superior State on Friday (Sept. 16) at Bud Cooper Gymnasium. The Huskies won 25-23, 25-18, and 25-18 to move to 4-5 overall.

"I'm happy to start league play with a 3-0 road win," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "Victories don't come easy in college sports, particularly in the GLIAC."

Down 20-19 in the first set, and after a Tech timeout, Mariah Sherman had three kills and Stephanie Dietrich added a pair to set up Lauren Emmert for a set point. An attack error on the home team gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

Tech built a big lead early in the second set and controlled throughout for a 2-0 lead. In the third, LSSU had a 13-8 lead before the Huskies slowly climbed back in and then scored eight straight points to take a 21-16 lead. The visitors scored four straight to seal the victory, getting the final three on service aces from Rachel Pohlod.

Tech hit .364 on the night and had dominating performance from Sherman and Dietrich. Sherman had 12 kills and hit .545 while Dietrich put down nine kills with a .643 hitting percentage. Aubrey Ficek added 10 kills, while MacAulay Petersen had nine.

Pohlod finished the night with 35 assists, eight digs and four service aces. Courtney Kurkie had the first double-digit dig match of her career with 14. Elle Heinonen added eight.

"Lake State is a much-improved team, that plays fast and had an impressive crowd tonight," added Jennings. "In the end, our offense came through again for us along with some clutch serving from Halie and Rachel. Mariah and Steph were unstoppable on the attack for us, while I thought Courtney was really strong on defense."

The Huskies finish the GLIAC opening weekend at Saginaw Valley State on Saturday (Sept. 17). The Cardinals are 4-5 on the season and are coming off a loss to Northern Michigan on Friday.