Volleyball Announces Team Awards; Heinonen Named MVP

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech volleyball team announced its 2017 team award recipients and its new leadership for the 2018 season. Elle Heinonen was honored as the team MVP and clinched the Digger Award. Courtney Kurkie received the Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award, Kristine Fink was named Most Improved, Stephanie Dietrich earned the Scholastic Achievement Award, and Mariah Sherman and MacAulay Petersen were appointed to 2018 team captains.

Heinonen, senior captain and defensive specialist from Delano, Minn. is a four-year starter. Heinonen led the team in digs,  setting two program records this year; totaling the most digs in a season (571) and digs per set (5.05). Heinonen holds the second highest career digs per set (3.49) and the third most career digs in program history totaling 1,529 digs. She is a two-time recipient of the Digger Award (2016, 2017) and was named Honorable Mention on the 2017 All-GLIAC Team. With 308 total digs, she ranked third in the conference and third in digs per set (5.31). She is a three-time GLIAC Academic All-Excellence Team honoree who majored in exercise science.

"Elle had an incredible career as a Husky," said head coach Matt Jennings. "She has been a huge part of our growth and her influence on our team will be felt for a long time.  Her court presence made everyone around her better and it was clear that she was having fun competing for every point.  I'm so grateful for getting the chance to coach Elle and to have seen her grow into the leader she is." 

Kurkie is a junior right-side hitter from Plymouth, Mich. Kurkie studies exercise science and is a two-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team honoree. This is Kurkie's third consecutive season in a key role as a regular substitution for the Huskies, playing in 164 career sets.

"Courtney approached her role this season with a team-first attitude and came prepared to contribute each match," said Jennings. "Her spot in the lineup was not a glamorous one, but it was vital to our system and gave us what we needed when we needed it." 

Fink is a sophomore defensive specialist from Scarsdale, NY. In 2016 she received the Harold Meese Sportsmanship Award and was honored on the 2017 GLIAC All-Academic Team. Fink is majoring in mechanical engineering. 

"Kristine is one of a kind and a great teammate," added Jennings. "Her positive attitude is infectious and is a big boost to our team. That attitude also serves as her drive to improve and while I feel we had several players improve this season, Kristine's progress from start to finish was just too impressive to ignore. We have no doubt that Kristine will come to practice every day she's here and work to improve and have fun while doing it." 

Dietrich, of Stillwater, Minn. is a senior middle hitter and four-year starter. She held the highest hitting percentage in the GLIAC in 2016 and holds the third highest career hitting percentage in Tech's program history at .311. In 2016 she was named Honorable Mention on the All-GLIAC team and also received the Most Improved award twice (2014, 2016). Dietrich is a three-time GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team honoree. 2017 marks her third season with a 4.0 GPA and 3.9 cumulative GPA in Exercise Science.

"We have a lot of smart and high achieving players on the team, including a handful of girls with near-perfect grades," said Jennings. "Steph is one of those players, but Steph's senior year was really impressive.  She was one of the top student-researchers in her department, earned another 4.0 during the season, was admitted to PT school, and took her final semester this spring to go study abroad in Europe. She played in nearly every set of her four-year career and contributed in a major way. It's clear that Steph is committed to what she is doing, what she studies and enjoys learning in general." 

The 2018 season will be under new leadership as Mariah Sherman and MacAulay Petersen are set to step in as team captains. 

Sherman, a junior right-side hitter and three-year started earned First Team All-GLIAC in 2017. Sherman appeared in all 31 matches and tallied 317 kills this season. She achieved a season high of 18 kills vs. Northern Michigan to win the match 3-2. The Midland, Mich. native took home the Terry Wilson Award in 2015 and is a two-time GLIAC All-Academic Team honoree. 

Petersen is a sophomore outside hitter from Paw Paw, Mich. and has been a starter for two years. She led the team with 373 kills and 3.42 kills per set to rank fifth overall in the conference. Petersen was named to the Second Team All-GLIAC in 2017. 

The Huskies wrapped up the 2017 season with a GLIAC quarterfinal win over Tiffin, a semifinal win over Northern Michigan and an NCAA Appearance. Matt Jennings was named GLIAC Coach of the Year and Laura DeMarchi was named GLIAC Freshman and Setter of the Year. DeMarchi also earned All-GLIAC First Team Honors along with teammate Mariah Sherman. MacAulay Petersen was All-GLIAC Second Team and Elle Heinonen was Honorable Mention. Seven Huskies were named to the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team and two were named GLIAC All-Academic.