Volleyball Falls in Five at Ashland for First GLIAC Loss

ASHLAND, Ohio – The Michigan Tech volleyball team dropped its first GLIAC match of the season with a five-set loss at Ashland on Friday (Sept. 23). The Huskies tied the match with wins in the second and fourth sets before falling 15-11 in the fifth to move to 5-6 overall and 2-1 in the GLIAC.

"It's tough to lose in five sets, especially when we give away so many points the way we did," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "What makes it even more disappointing is that we outplayed them in a lot of areas. Our serve and pass game was too inconsistent and it cost us in the end."

Knotted up at 12 in the first set, Ashland scored 13 of the next 17 points to gain an early advantage. The Huskies controlled much of the second set and three kills by Stephanie Dietrich and two by Courtney Kurkie evened up the match heading into the break.

Ashland (7-5, 1-2 GLIAC) led the whole third set, and again the Huskies responded in the fourth to knot it up with Aubrey Ficek putting down four kills. The fifth set favored the home team early. A pair of attack errors by the Eagles made it 14-11 Ashland, and Jordan Mackay finished it off with a kill.

"Again, our two middles were outstanding for us with Ficek scoring big points at times," added Jennings. "I also thought Halie was very good throughout the night."

Four Huskies had double digit kills lead by Dietrich and Ficek with 15 each. MacAulay Petersen added 11 kills, while Lauren Emmert finished with 10. Both had three block assists.

Halie Hart (18), Elle Heinonen (14), and Rachel Pohlod (11) led Tech in digs. Pohlod added 47 assists.

Tech had more kills and digs than Ashland and hit a better attack percentage.

The Huskies wrap up their road trip Saturday at Tiffin. Match time is set for 2 p.m. against the 7-4 Dragons who beat Northern Michigan 3-1 Friday.

"We'll pull it together and get after it tomorrow against a very tough Tiffin team," Jennings said. "I am totally confident in this group."