HOUGHTON---The Michigan Tech volleyball team swept Northern Michigan 3-0 Tuesday (Sept. 24) to win its fourth straight match and remain unbeaten in GLIAC play at 3-0. The Huskies used a late second set surge to keep the sweep intact, winning with scores 25-16, 27-25, and 25-23.

"To sweep your rivals is always a good thing," Tech coach Matt Jennings said. "Northern's a team that's going to press a lot of other teams this year.

We're still working on some things on our side of the net. We're looking to get better every game, and I think we did that here tonight."

The Huskies found themselves down 22-19 in the second set before battling back. MacAulay Petersen and Emilia Widen buried a kill each to bring the home team within one. Widen added another kill while NMU got points off a service error and kill by Lizzy Stark to go up 24-22 and set point.

Olivia Ghormley added a kill on the next play and then Widen and Laura De Marchi teamed on a block to tie it at 24-all. Ghormley added another kill and it was set point in favor of the Black and Gold. NMU got a point back before a Widen kill and another block by the Huskies—this time by De Marchi and Rachel Ping—sealed the 27-25 victory.

"That second set could've been a decisive one, and I'm glad we were able to pull it out," added Jennings. "Laura came up with a pair of late blocks. That's just a great player making great plays."

In the third set, Tech got a pair of kills by Ghormley late after being tied at 21. Anna Jonynas pounded down one of her four kills in the frame for the final point as the Huskies improved to 4-1 at the SDC Gym.

Tech scored eight of the final 10 points in set one with Ghormley tallying five kills. The Huskies hit .615 in the first with 17 kills to NMU's 11.

Ghormley led a balanced offensive attack with 13 kills in the match. Jonynas (9), Widen (7), and Petersen (7) also had over six kills. De Marchi—the GLIAC North Player of the week—had 37 assists while tallying six blocks and six digs.

"Our offense can be pretty overwhelming once we get things going, especially with a setter like Laura," said Jennings.

Jonynas and Grace Novotny tallied 10 digs each. Widen added four blocks.

The Huskies improved to 8-3 overall and continue the three-match home week with Saginaw Valley State Friday and Lake Superior State Saturday.

"We need to control the ball," Jennings added. "Control it in serve receive and control it in the backcourt. We need to make more stands on defense and continue to work to score on offense to keep the other team on its toes."

First serve Friday is set for 7 p.m.

This story was written by NMU Sports Information

HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Northern Michigan University Volleyball team faced Michigan Technological University but fell to the Huskies 3-0 in Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference action.

In the first set, the Wildcats took an early lead but were unable to hang on as the Huskies went on a run to close out the set, winning 25-16.

Tech then managed to win the second set, 26-24.  The third set saw the Wildcats fight back from a 21-18 deficit to tie it at 21-21.  Tech scored two points but a kill by sophomore Lizzy Stark (Minneapolis, Minn.) made it 23-22.

After another Tech point, freshman Abigail Durecki (South Lyon, Mich.) made the score 24-23.  However, the Huskies managed to score the winning point and took a 3-0 victory.

Stark finished the night with a team-high 15 kills while Durecki chipped in with 12 kills but just three errors on the night. 

Sophomore Hailey Wickstrom (Calumet, Mich.) contributed six kills while senior Sarah Kuehn (Green Bay, Wis.) added five.

Freshman Lauren Van Remortel (Carmel, Ind.) notched 34 assists.
Defensively, sophomore Lauren Caprini (St. Charles, Ill.) tallied nine digs. Sophomore Alli Yacko (Oak Lawn, Ill.) had six digs while Stark and Wickstrom both finished with four.

The Wildcats fall to 5-6 on the season and 2-1 in the league while Michigan Tech improved to 8-3 and 3-0 in the GLIAC.

NMU will now get set to host their first games of the season in Vandament Arena this week as they host Lake Superior State University on Friday and Saginaw Valley State University Saturday in GLIAC action.