Huskies sweep Panthers Saturday Play Video

Huskies sweep Panthers Saturday

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team got back into the win column with a 3-0 sweep of Davenport Saturday (Sept. 18) at the SDC Gym. The Huskies won 25-8, 25-20, and 26-24 to improve to 6-4 on the season.

"I'm really happy with the way we responded today after a tough loss last night," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "We came out strong in that first set. Davenport is a team that can put up some points and we were able to neutralize them early."

The Huskies jumped all over the Panthers in the first set, taking a 5-1 lead and then scoring 13 straight on the serve of Grace Novotny. Lindy Oujiri found her groove early with five kills in the first and Morgan Radtke had the clinching kill for the 25-8 win.

The team battled through 10 ties in the second. Knotted at 17, the Huskies scored five of the next six points to lead 22-18. Kills by Janie Grindland, Jillian Kuizenga, and Kaycee Meiners put the Huskies up 2-0 at the break. Anna Jonynas had six kills in the second set.

Davenport (5-4) led for most of the third set. Tech trailed 21-17 before scoring five straight to take the lead. The teams each traded back-to-back points with Tech getting set and match point after kills by Grindland and Kuizenga. The Panthers tied it at 24 with a kill by Riley Groves. Laura De Marchi went back to Kuizenga for match point and then Oujiri finished the sweep with her fifth kill of the set.

Oujiri talked about her performance, "I think having my team supporting me was big. They were super excited for me to go in and then just being patient and confident in myself."

"We have a lot of faith in Lindy," Jennings added. "She did a great job and we're excited about her future. She responds very well and directly to her teammates getting behind her. When she's aggressive in her mindset and approach she is very hard to stop, and we saw that here today."

Oujiri finished the match with a match-high 13 kills and a .385 hitting percentage. Jonynas and Kuizenga each added nine kills and Grindland finished with eight while hitting .583.

De Marchi set the attack with 42 assists and added seven digs. Megan Utlak led the Huskies with 11 digs.

Megan Herr and Hayley Kreiger led the Panthers with seven kills apiece. Grace Hayes had 23 assists and Kenzy Corstange led with 14 digs.

Tech wraps up the three-match weekend against Ferris State on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the SDC Gym. The Bulldogs are 5-2 and fell at Northern Michigan 3-1 on Friday.