Volleyball Sweeps Again for 6-0 Start

FAYETTE, Iowa — Michigan Tech won its sixth match in a row to open the 2015 season with a 3-0 victory over Minot State today at the Upper Iowa Invitational. The Huskies won by scores of 25-14, 25-18 and 28-26 to push their streak of consecutive sets won to a school-record 18.

The Black and Gold turned a 7-6 lead into a 19-7 advantage in the first set and polished it off with a Stephanie Dietrich kill.

Tech controlled set two throughout. Mariah Sherman had seven kills by herself including the set-clinching point.

Minot battled back from a 21-17 deficit in the third set to earn three set points. The Huskies fought off the first two with Sherman kills. Down 26-25, Aubrey Ficek pounded back-to-back kills for a 27-26 advantage. Courtney Kurkie served out the match with an ace. 

"Start to finish, we played team ball," said Tech coach Matt Jennings. "Credit Minot St. for making that late set three rally, which caught us a bit off guard. Fighting off two set points after having a nice lead was great to see, especially considering how we did it.

"Once again, we spread out the offense and got a lot of our attackers involved. In addition, our serving game kept a solid team out of system for most of the match. 

"This start has been a lot of fun. We've played a lot of solid volleyball and have been playing with confidence."

Sherman and Ficek both had identical numbers with a match-high 13 kills and just four errors on 30 attempts. Jacqueline Aird and Elle Heinonen both reached double digits in digs with 15 and 12, respectively. 

Tech hit .265 as a team compared to the Beavers' .213. The Huskies also benefitted from eight service aces.

Michigan Tech will continue play at the Upper Iowa Invitational tomorrow with two matches—a morning tilt vs. St. Cloud State and an evening affair vs. South Dakota Mines.