PREVIEW: Volleyball travels to Parkside's Tournament

HAMPTON INN INVITATIONAL
• The No. 19-ranked Michigan Tech travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin for Parkside's Hampton Inn Invitational this weekend.
• Tech opens against Upper Iowa (2 p.m. Eastern) and McKendree (6 p.m.) on Friday and then wraps up the weekend versus Illinois Springfield (10 a.m.) and Minnesota Crookston (6 p.m.) Saturday.

WATCH THE HUSKIES
• This weekend's matches, along with all home and GLIAC matches, will be streamed on FloSports.
• Michigan Tech fans can watch all home and conference games in volleyball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey with one subscription.
• Cost of a GLIAC FloSports subscription is $19.99 for the month or $149.99 for the year. Discounts are available for subscribers with a .edu email address.
• FloSports is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.

GLIAC SETTER OF THE WEEK
• Senior Lina Espejo-Ramirez is the GLIAC Setter of the Week the league announced on Tuesday.
• Espejo-Ramirez averaged 9.58 assists and 2.92 digs per set, leading Michigan Tech to a 4-0 record at the Otter Invitational in California—with all four wins in straight sets. She was named to the all-tournament team.
• Espejo-Ramirez had a pair of double-doubles on the weekend, including a Tech career-high 33 assists while adding 11 digs in a 3-0 sweep of Cal State Dominguez Hills. She tallied 115 assists, 35 digs, eight kills, six blocks, and four aces on the weekend.

AVCA POLL
• Michigan Tech is ranked No. 19 in this week's AVCA Division II Coaches Poll.
• The No. 19 ranking is the highest for the Huskies since 1996.
• The Black and Gold were ranked No. 23 in the 2022 Preseason Poll and ended 2021 at No. 22.

LAST WEEKEND
• The Huskies began the 2022 season by going 4-0 at the Otter Invitational on the campus of Cal State Monterey Bay—all in straight sets last weekend.
• Tech swept Cal Poly Pomona, Academy of Art, Cal State Dominguez Hills, and the host CSUMB.

OTTER ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
• Outside hitter Jillian Kuizenga was named the MVP of the Otter Invitational and was on the all-tournament team after she averaged 3.25 kills per set on the weekend while hitting .265.
• Setter Lina Espejo-Ramirez and libero Carissa Beyer were also named to the all-tournament team. Espejo-Ramirez averaged 9.58 assists per set and 2.92 digs per set. Beyer led the Huskies' defense with 3.8 digs per set.

PRESEASON GLIAC POLL
• In the 2022 Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Huskies were picked second in the GLIAC behind Grand Valley State.
• The Lakers had 68 points and the Huskies received 66 points. Wayne State was third with 64 points and Ferris State (62) rounded out the top four. Davenport (55), Northern Michigan (48), Saginaw Valley State, and Parkside (26) were also in the top eight. Lake Superior State and Purdue Northwester were ninth and tenth.

COACH JENNINGS
• Head coach Matt Jennings is in his 10th season and has won 175 matches overall.
• Under Jennings, the Huskies have gone from last place in the conference to nationally ranked and consistently in the NCAA Tournament.
• Jennings has coached the Huskies to four straight NCAA tournament appearances from 2017-21.
• He was named the GLIAC Coach of the Year in 2019 and 2017 and led the team to a program record of 10 straight wins to start the 2016 season.
• The 2021 spring team won a GLIAC Regular Season title for the second time in program history with the 2021 team repeating the feat in outright fashion.

COACHING PROMOTIONS
• Cindy Pindral was promoted to Assistant Head Coach in the offseason.
• Head Coach Matt Jennings was added to the NCAA Women's Volleyball National Committee and will represent the Midwest Region until September 2026.

LAST SEASON
• Tech finished the 2021 fall season with a 25-7 overall record and ranked No. 22 in the final AVCA Top 25 poll.
• The Huskies won the GLIAC Regular Season Championship for the second straight season and the third time in program history with a 14-1 conference record.
• The Black and Gold went to its fourth straight NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Midwest Regional Semifinal for the fifth time in school history.

ALL-GLIAC RETURNEES
• Carissa Beyer – Fall 2021 All-GLIAC Second Team
• Janie Grindland – Spring 2021 All-GLIAC Second Team
• Jillian Kuizenga – Two-time All-GLIAC Honorable Mention

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
• The GLIAC schedule gets underway next weekend with the first home matches of the season against Davenport (Sept. 9) and Grand Valley State (Sept. 10).
• A four-match homestand continues against Ferris State (Sept. 16) and Lake Superior State (Sept. 17).
• The first road GLIAC match of the season is on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at Northern Michigan.