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Huskies fall in five in GLIAC opener

Huskies fall in five in GLIAC opener Play Video

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The No. 19-ranked Michigan Tech volleyball team dropped its home and GLIAC opener in five sets to Davenport Friday at the SDC Gym. The Panthers won the final three sets.

"It's incredibly disappointing," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "We had a good team almost beat, but we gave them life. Serve receive in the third set is what did us in tonight and in our other loss this season."

Tech (6-2, 0-1 GLIAC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead with 28-26 and 25-13 wins in the first two sets.

The Huskies racked up 17 kills in the first set with Jillian Kuizenga carrying the load with seven. There were 14 ties and five lead changes in the opening frame. Tech held three set points before DU battled back to take set point. Kuizenga had a late kill and then Meg Raabe and Morgan Radtke teamed up for a block to get the 28-26 win.

Tech forced the Panthers into 13 errors in the second and went on a 9-0 run on the serve of Raabe to take a 20-12 advantage. The home team then scored the final five points to take the lead going into the break. Three different Huskies had a pair of kills.

The Panthers (8-2, 1-0. GLIAC) never trailed in the third after hopping out to a 7-1 lead and winning 25-15. The visitors forced a fifth set after a 25-20 win.

In the fifth and final frame, DU jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The Huskies found their footing and tied it, but the Panthers wouldn't go away, leading 11-9 and then scoring the final four points to take the win.

Kuizenga led Tech with 16 kills while Lindy Oujiri added 12. Lina Espejo-Ramirez set the offense with 36 assists while adding 26 digs. Carissa Beyer (18), Meg Raabe (17), and Kate Walch (11) also had double digit digs.

The Huskies wrap up the weekend on Saturday at 3 p.m. against Grand Valley State. The Lakers were swept at Northern Michigan Friday.