Huskies fall in five at Minnesota Duluth Tuesday

DULUTH, Minn. – No. 20 Michigan Tech wrapped up nonconference play with a 3-2 loss at Minnesota Duluth on Tuesday (Oct. 26). The Bulldogs defeated the Huskies 25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 15-25, and 15-10 at Romano Gym.

"It was a tough loss against a good team," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "A few too many mental mistakes, particularly in the third and fifth sets, cost us. We didn't play horribly by any means. We simply came out flat and didn't execute on a few plays that ended up making a difference in such a close contest. This will be a nice little wake-up call for us as we make our push into the second half of the season."

Down 2-1, the Huskies slowly built a five-point lead and then used a 6-1 run to take a commanding 17-8 advantage. Four different Huskies had at least three kills in the fourth and Tech scored five of the last six points to win 25-15 and tie up the match again.

UMD (15-7) never trailed in the fifth. Tech battled back to three ties, but the Bulldogs won their fifth in a row by going on a 7-2 run to close out the match with a 15-10 win.

Anna Jonynas had a 20-20 match with match-highs of 21 kills and 21 digs while hitting .341. Olivia Ghormley tallied 15 kills while Morgan Radtke had 11 kills, two solo blocks, and three block assists.

Laura De Marchi had her seventh 50-assist outing with 55 assists and added 15 digs. Carissa Beyer had 16 digs and Grace Novotny added nine digs.

The teams battled through nine ties in the first set before UMD went on an 8-2 run to close out the set and win 25-19. Jonynas had five kills and 10 digs in the first set alone.

Tech (17-5) held UMD to only nine kills in second while Ghormley and Jonynas combined for 11. The Huskies trailed for only one side out and had a 6-2 run to take a 19-15 lead. Ghormley had a late kill before three straight errors by the Bulldogs tied the match.

The Bulldogs won the third 25-23 to regain the lead. The teams were tied at 22 before kills by Grace Post and Grace Daak along with a hitting error by the Huskies put the home team back in front. Ghormley had five kills in the third.

Four different Bulldogs had double-digit kills with Cianna Selbitschka's 19 leading the way. Madison Gordon had 53 assists and Selbitschka also led the way defensively with 19 digs.

Michigan Tech wraps up its seven-match road trip on Saturday (Oct. 30) at Northern Michigan. First serve at Vandament Arena is set for 4 p.m.