Tech volleyball season ends in GLIAC Semis

ALLENDALE, Mich. – The 2023 Michigan Tech volleyball season came to an end with a 3-1 loss at No. 25 Grand Valley State in the GLIAC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday. The Lakers advanced 25-13, 25-10, 23-25, and 25-16. The Huskies ended their season with a 15-16 overall record after their seventh straight trip to the GLIAC Semis.

"Certainly not the way we wanted to go out, but credit should go to coach Jason and his team," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "Grand Valley is one of the strongest teams in the nation this year and today showed why. Their offense was more than on point. They're super physical and played good enough defense to stifle our offense, which at times can really get going."

Trailing 2-0 after the break, the Huskies got back into the match with a 25-23 win in the third. Tech fought through 13 ties and four lead changes to get on the board. Meg Raabe had seven kills in the third and Lindy Oujiri added five. A kill by Jacqueline Yancy made it setpoint with Oujiri putting down the final point.

GVSU (26-3) responded in the fourth to close out the match 25-16. The Lakers hit .389 and got a balanced offensive attack with six different players putting down at least two kills.

The Lakers were dominant in the first two sets hitting .394 in the first and .429 in the second. Lindy Oujiri had three kills in the opening set for the Huskies, but the offense totaled only three kills in the second.

Meg Raabe led the Huskies on the day with 13 kills, while Lindy Oujiri added 11 in her last match for the Black and Gold. Tess Hayes set the attack with 27 assists and added 13 digs. Amelia Albers led Tech with 15 digs, anchoring the back row in double figures for the 16th straight match.

"I'm grateful for all our seniors have done for us in their time here and am grateful for them pushing us this year," added Jennings.

Saturday marked the final match for seniors Lindy Oujiri, Zoe Rhines, Lauren Richards, Leiya Rybicki, and Kate Walch.

"What an interesting season," Jennings said. "We had our moments with the quarterfinal win versus Northern, the reverse sweep at Ferris, and our early season sweep against this same Grand Valley team. We battled injuries and played one of the toughest schedules in the region.

"We return so much and bring in another really strong class next fall. This season may have been a bit of a transition year for our team, but there was a lot to be proud of. We put ourselves in a position to advance again in the postseason, had some big wins, and had a bunch of players recognized by the GLIAC. The future is very bright."

GVSU advanced to the GLIAC Tournament Championship Match on Sunday at 2 p.m.