Huskies Shutdown Purdue Northwest 3-0 Friday Play Video
Posted: Oct 21, 2017

Huskies Shutdown Purdue Northwest 3-0 Friday

HOUGHTON, Mich. –The Michigan Tech volleyball team swept Purdue University Northwest on Saturday (Oct. 21) to wrap up a successful home weekend. The Huskies won 25-19, 25-19, and 25-11 to move to 14-8 overall and 8-3 in the GLIAC.

"It was a really nice weekend for us," said Michigan Tech head coach Matt Jennings. "We had two home GLIAC wins which is always something you're shooting for when you go into a weekend. To win both 3-0 pretty decisively, and I think we kept them under 20 in all six sets; that's something we should be proud of."

Tech started out matching Purdue Northwest point for point and were tied 10-10, and again at 11-11 until the Huskies took command. A kill from Olivia Ghormley, and a big hit from Mariah Sherman advanced the Huskies to 13-12. The Huskies held a steady lead to finish the match 25-19.

The Black and Gold took an early lead in set two. The Pride battled back to tie up the set 8-8, but like the first set, the Huskies controlled late in the set for the win.

MTU found their rhythm early scoring five points in a row before the Pride could put a stop to them. The home team led by 10 points (15-5), and finished off the Pride 25-11 with a service ace from Elle Heinonen.

"We are pretty diverse offensively, so we can spread the ball around to different places and we are going to score," added Jennings. "Mariah Sherman again today, just had a fabulous match. She continues to dominate on the right side and our system is in part built around that. Olivia had another really nice match today for us and stepped up big." 

The Huskies led a balanced attack, hitting at .330 and totaling 48 match kills. Olivia Ghormley was key, leading the offense with 15 kills at .481. She added four digs and a block. Mariah Sherman pounded 13 kills and hit .478. Sherman also recorded a pair of blocks. Sophomore, MacAulay Petersen, tallied eight kills and a solo block and senior Lauren Emmert, chipped in seven kills, a solo block and three block assists.

Mariel Leibovitz set the Huskies offense with 44 assists and tallied five digs.

"Mariel came in and really held her own today and excelled wonderfully with the offense exactly as we needed her to," Jennings added.

Defensively, the Huskies were carried by senior captain, Elle Heinonen. Heinonen recorded 25 of Tech's 64 digs.

The Huskies are back on the road next weekend for two more GLIAC matchups. Tech will compete with the Saginaw Valley St. Cardinals (3-8) Friday, followed by the Lake Superior State Lakers (1-10) Saturday.

"We are looking for two more W's, these are two teams that we played here at the SDC earlier this season and we took care of business then, and we hope to do it again this weekend," said Jennings.

First serve at SVSU is set for 7 p.m.