Huskies Win Sixth Straight in 3-0 Sweep of Parkside

PARKSIDE, Wisc. – No. 25 Michigan Tech picked up its sixth straight win as they swept Parkside 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-14) inside the DeSimone Gym. The Huskies improve to 16-3 overall and 10-1 with the sweep, their 10th of the season and 10th win in as many three-set matches.

"I thought today's match was well played from start to finish," said head coach Matt Jennings. "We came out with a lot of energy and established the pace we wanted to play at early on."

Michigan Tech started off the second set with a narrow lead over the Rangers (5-14, 3-8) before falling behind 12-11 midway through the action. The Huskies kept the match tight, not letting the Rangers pull ahead for more than one point until the Huskies exploded for nine unanswered points to pull ahead for good, leading 24-16 before Parkside could respond. Sophomore Olivia Ghormley secured the win with a kill, giving the Huskies a 25-17 win in the second set.

The Black and Gold opened the first set by scoring five of the first six points to lead 5-1 and they never looked back. Piling pressure on the Rangers with precise attacks and solid defending, the Huskies pulled ahead by as many as 12 points and would eventually win 25-13.

MTU led from the start of the third set, but the Rangers hung with them for most of the early action. It wasn't until they scored seven consecutive points did the Huskies have the third set in the bag, leading 16-7 with Ghormley scoring four of their seven kills. The Huskies never let up and finished the stanza by scoring five of the last six points to take the set and the match.

Ghormley finished with 16 kills and a hitting percentage of .433, tops among all players with 10 or more attack attempts. Jonynas ended the day second on the team in kills with 11. Sophomore Laura DeMarchi finished the day with 46 assists and 10 digs, recording her ninth double-double of the season. Freshman Grace Novotny tallied two of the team's five service aces.

On the defensive side of the action, sophomore Megan Utlak led the team with 21 digs, followed by Novotny (10) and DeMarchi. Senior Mariah Sherman and junior Rachel Ping combined for the lone block on the day for Michigan Tech.

As a team, Michigan Tech was dominant against Parkside. The Huskies finished with significantly more kills (50-27), assists (49-21), digs (60-37), and a much higher hitting percentage (.400 - .096). Tech also finished the match with half as many attacking errors (8-16).

"It was a clean performance altogether and we're glad to be headed back with two more wins on the weekend," Jennings said.

Michigan Tech will take a break from GLIAC competition and head to Indianapolis, Indiana for the 2018 Midwest Regional Crossover. The Huskies and the rest of the GLIAC teams will square off against the GMAC and GLVC in a two-day, three-match weekend. The Huskies will play two matches on Friday (Oct. 12) and one match on Saturday (Oct. 13).