Huskies sweep Northwood for 19th win of the season
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Northwood (10-13, 4-9 GLIAC) | 19 | 23 | 13 | 0 |
|
Michigan Tech (19-5, 11-1 GLIAC) | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
HOUGHTON, Mich. – No. 22 Michigan Tech swept Northwood 3-0 Friday (Nov. 5) at the SDC Gym, winning its ninth straight GLIAC match to improve to 19-5 overall and 11-1 in the conference. The Huskies earned their 16th sweep of the season 25-19, 25-23, and 25-13.
"We're certainly very pleased to have picked up this key home win," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "We took a little time to get going there and spent what felt like two sets working to get cleaner and crisper with our first touches. That said, we hung in and fought off that run late in the second set and had been doing a good job executing and improving as the match went along."
The teams battled through eight ties in the first before the Huskies took control late, scoring the final four points with kills by Laura De Marchi and Anna Jonynas combined with a pair of errors by the Timberwolves. Lindy Oujiri had five kills in the first set while Morgan Radtke and Jonynas added four each.
There were six early ties in the second before the Huskies built a five-point lead at 20-15 after back-to-back kills by Jonynas and another by Kaycee Meiners. Northwood wouldn't go down without a fight and knotted it up at 23. De Marchi turned to Jillian Kuizenga for a kill and then the Huskies took a 2-0 lead after an error by Northwood.
Tech went on an 11-3 run in the middle of the third to build a 17-9 lead and never looked back. Jonynas got hot with six kills in the final set while Oujiri added five. Kuizenga had the clinching kill for the 25-13 win.
"The great thing about an experienced and veteran team like this is that they just kept at it, stayed together, and got it done," added Jennings. "After the break, we came out and played the way we wanted to, with confident energy, good defense, and taking good shots on offense.
"That doesn't happen without great leadership from your veteran players, and we're very fortunate to have some exceptional leaders on our side. I thought Laura and Anna were both very good tonight, both kept us going offensively and kept us ahead all match. Lindy and Jill did a good job scoring for us as well and rounded out a solid overall performance at the pins for us."
Jonynas finished with a match-high 15 kills while adding nine digs and three block assists. Oujiri added 11 kills while Radtke finished with eight and Kuizenga seven. Radtke was a force at the net with seven block assists.
De Marchi set the offense with 41 assists and added eight digs. Carissa Beyer (14 digs) and Grace Novotny (13 digs) led the backcourt.
"I liked the way Laura got her middles going too," said Jennings. "Morgan's presence at the net continues to play a factor for us. She's just so physical on both sides of the ball and it's great to see her setter get her the ball as much as she did here tonight.
"On the defensive side, I think Grace stood out in the backcourt, while Morgan and Laura's blocking gave us some valuable points that helped us separate."
Tech wraps up the regular season home schedule on Saturday (Nov. 6) against Lake Superior State at 2 p.m. The Huskies will honor seniors Ian Blair, MacAulay Petersen, Laura De Marchi, Olivia Ghormley, Anna Jonynas, and Megan Utlak after the match.
"I'm excited to get back after it tomorrow and take some time to honor a group of exceptional young people who have made quite a contribution to this program and who have accomplished a whole lot," Jennings added. "Tomorrow will be a beautiful day."
