PREVIEW: Volleyball wraps up home schedule this weekend

FINAL HOME WEEKEND
• Michigan Tech wraps up its home portion of the regular season schedule this weekend.
• The Huskies host Wayne State at 5 p.m. Friday at the SDC Gym.
• The weekend wraps up against Saginaw Valley State at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
• The Huskies are 11-14 overall and 7-7 in the GLIAC.
• The week began with a 3-2 loss at Northern Michigan on Tuesday.

SENIOR DAY
• Michigan Tech will recognize its five seniors after Saturday's match against SVSU.
• Lindy Oujiri, Zoe Rhines, Lauren Richards, Leiya Rybicki, and Kate Walch will be honored in their last regular season home match.

KIDS DAY
• Saturday is the annual Tadych's Marketplace Foods Kids Day at Michigan Tech. Tadych's of Houghton has purchased 100 youth tickets for Saturday's volleyball match and 400 tickets for the hockey game.
• The volleyball Huskies host Saginaw Valley State on Senior Day at 3 p.m.
• Tadych's will give away the tickets on Wednesday at noon.
• Vollerth's will be giving away hot dog coupons for the first 100 at the volleyball match.

ON THE RADIO
• J&J Broadcasting airs select volleyball matches and will carry Friday's game against the Warriors on Mix 93.5 WKMJ.
• Mitch Lake will call all the action from the SDC Gym.
• Listen on 93.5 FM or online at Pasty.net or on the TuneIn app.

WATCH THE HUSKIES
• 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.
• FloSports provides each subscriber with access to all content and events with the purchase of a monthly or yearly subscription.
• Subscriptions are offered in two different billing packages - monthly and annual.
• Discounts are available for students enrolled at GLIAC member and associate member institutions. You must subscribe with a .edu email address to be eligible.
• FloSports is available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire, and Chromecast.

LAST WEEKEND
• Tech volleyball split its weekend downstate with a sweep at Davenport on Friday and a 3-1 loss at Grand Valley State on Saturday.
• Lindy Oujiri led the offense (3.71 k/s), Tess Hayes set the attack (10.71 a/s), and Amelia Albers (4.71 d/s) anchored the defense.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
• Wayne State is 10-15 overall and 5-9 in the GLIAC and head into the weekend eighth in the standings. The Warriors are 2-6 in road matches and they lead the GLIAC in assists and are third in hitting percentage. Kayla Dulgar leads the GLIAC in assists per set (9.92), Kayla Giroux is third in the conference in hitting percentage (.340), and Kendyl Andrews is fourth in digs per set (4.25).
• Saginaw Valley State is 4-21 overall and 1-13 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals are 0-8 in road games and sit in 10th in the standings. Kelsey Vittitow ranks third in the GLIAC in digs per set (4.26) and Elizabeth Bruschuk is fourth in aces per set (0.42).

FIRST MEETING
• WSU –Tech fell 3-2 at Wayne State on October 21. The Huskies came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the match before the Warriors won 15-11 in the fifth. Lindy Oujiri set a career-high with 21 kills. Meg Raabe tied a season-high with 16 kills and Tricia Kennedy also had a season-high with 12 kills. Tech racked up 22 blocks with Kaycee Meiners leading the way with six block assists and eight kills. Tess Hayes hit 50 assists for the fourth time this season while adding 12 digs. Amelia Albers led the defense with 16 digs.
• SVSU –Tech came back from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Saginaw Valley State 3-1 on October 20 at Hamilton Gym. Kaycee Meiners led four Huskies in double figures with a career-high 17 kills while hitting .615 and adding four blocks. Meg Raabe and Lindy Oujiri added 13 kills, and Rachel Zurek finished with 10. Tess Hayes set the attack with 49 assists and added 12 digs. Amelia Albers (14) and Brynn Erickson (11) also added double-digit digs.

CURRENT GLIAC STANDINGS
1. Ferris State, 13-1
2. Grand Valley State, 12-2
3. Parkside, 10-4
4. Michigan Tech, 7-7
    Davenport, 7-7
6. Purdue Northwest, 6-8
    Northern Michigan, 6-8
8. Wayne State, 5-9
9. Lake Superior State, 3-11
10. Saginaw Valley State, 1-13

200 WINS FOR COACH
• Head Coach Matt Jennings won his 200th game on October 14 against Findlay.
• He ranks second in the program history in career wins behind Mary Kaminski (258).

COACH JENNINGS
• Head coach Matt Jennings is in his 11th season with the Huskies and has won 202 matches overall.
• Jennings is on the NCAA Women's Volleyball National Committee and represents the Midwest Region.
• Under Jennings, the Huskies have gone from last place in the conference to nationally ranked and consistently in the NCAA Tournament.
• Jennings 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.

GLIAC STATISTICAL RANKING
• Kaycee Meiners – 1st in total blocks (106)
• Kaycee Meiners – 1st in blocks per set (1.13)
• Lindy Oujiri – 4th in total kills (326)
• Tess Hayes – 4th in assists per set (9.6)
• Kaycee Meiners – 4th in hitting percentage (.320)
• Lindy Oujiri – 5th in kills per set (3.62)
• Rachel Zurek – 6th in blocks per set (.85)
• Amelia Albers – 9th in digs per set (3.33)

GLIAC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
• Oct. 9 – Lindy Oujiri – GLIAC Offensive Player of the Week
• Oct. 9 – Tess Hayes – GLIAC Setter of the Week

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
• Lindy Oujiri was named to the Midwest Region Crossover All-Tournament Team. She helped lead the Huskies to a 2-1 record at the Crossover, leading the offense with 43 kills, averaging 4.3 per set while hitting .298.
• Kaycee Meiners was named to the UP Open All-Tournament Team after averaging 2.29 kills per set while hitting .410 and tallying nine blocks.
• Lindy Oujiri was named to the Up North All-Tournament Team after leading the Huskies with 3.62 kills per set while adding eight blocks.

GLIAC PRESEASON POLL
1.   Ferris State - 79 (7)
2.   Grand Valley State - 70 (1)
3.   Northern Michigan - 67 (2)
4.   Michigan Tech - 53
5.   Wayne State - 51
6.   Davenport - 44
7.   Saginaw Valley State - 34
8.   Lake Superior State - 24
9.   Parkside - 18
10. Purdue Northwest – 10

NEW ASSISTANT
• Mallory Nickelson was named an Assistant Coach with Michigan Tech volleyball in February.
• Nickelson was a four-year starting libero and setter at future GLIAC member Roosevelt University and was recently an assistant coach for two seasons at UW-Stevens Point.

CAPTAINS
Senior outside hitter Lindy Oujiri, redshirt junior middle blocker Kaycee Meiners, and sophomore defensive specialist Alayna Corwin are team captains for 2023.

LAST SEASON
• Tech finished the 2022 season 20-10 overall record, winning 20 matches for the fifth consecutive season.
• The Huskies went 11-7 in GLIAC play and advanced to the GLIAC Tournament Semifinal for the sixth straight season.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
• The regular season wraps up at Ferris State (Nov. 10) and Lake Superior State (Nov. 11) next weekend.
• The GLIAC Tournament begins on November 15 in the quarterfinal round with the semifinals on November 18 and the championship match the following day.