Volleyball drops five-setter to Ferris State Friday
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Ferris State (20-5, 12-2 GLIAC) | 25 | 21 | 23 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
|
Michigan Tech (19-5, 11-2 GLIAC) | 16 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 8 | 2 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – The No. 20-ranked Michigan Tech volleyball team dropped a five-set thriller to No. 19 Ferris State Friday (Nov. 8) at the SDC Gym. The Bulldogs won 25-16, 21-25, 23-25, 25-21, and 15-8.
"I'm proud of the way our team fought," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "Ferris is a good team, and they played really well when it mattered most.
"We played hard and really well at moments. I would like to have the fifth set back, and we started off slow in the first one. We came up short against a good team. It's disappointing."
Anna Jonynas tallied her 1,000th career dig Friday, finishing with 16 on the evening. She has 1,010 digs to rank 12th in Tech history after she tallied 293 as a freshman, 434 as a sophomore, and 283 so far this season.
"Anna's a great volleyball player," added Jennings. "She was our team MVP last year for a reason. She's a true six rotation player, and we wouldn't be having any of the success we're having this season without her."
Down 1-0, the Huskies took control early in the second set and led 15-9. The Bulldogs came back to tie it up at 16, but Tech held its composure and tied the match after scoring eight of the final 11 points for a 25-21 win. Emilia Widen had five kills for the Huskies in the second.
Courtney Brewer piled up 10 kills in the third set for Ferris, but the Huskies built a six-point lead and held on for a 25-23 win. Rachel Ping, MacAulay Petersen, and Olivia Ghormley led the Black and Gold with four kills each.
There were four ties in the fourth set, but the Bulldogs never trailed and tied up the match with a 25-21 win.
In the fifth and deciding set, there were five early ties before FSU scored five straight points for a 10-5 lead. Widen had a kill coupled with a pair of attacking errors by the Bulldogs that gave the Huskies life. Allyson Cappel then had three kills for FSU's final three points to seal the win for the Bulldogs.
Petersen and Ghormley led the Huskies with 12 kills each. Ghormley added 16 digs. Widen and Ping tallied 11 kills and Jonynas added nine kills. Laura De Marchi set the offense with 49 assists while adding eight digs and six kills. Megan Utlak had a match-high 30 digs and Grace Novotny added 12.
Tech hosts Northwood Saturday on Senior Day. Kristine Fink, Courtney Kurkie, Rachel Ping, and Emilia Widen will be honored before the match against the Timberwolves.
"We need to get over tonight and move on," Jennings said. "We have to come ready to play. Northwood is a team that can sneak up on you and beat you. It'll be Senior Night so we're looking forward to it."
First serve is set for 3 p.m. in the home finale.
