Traveling Huskies volleyball team takes against Rangers and Pride

SOMERS, Wis. — Without senior defensive specialist Kate Walch, sophomore outside hitter Makena Wesol, and sophomore right side hitter Meg Raabe, Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball coach Matt Jennings has been preaching a next-Husky up mentality from his team.

Friday night, that mantra worked perfectly as the Huskies stunned the Grand Valley State Lakers in three sets. Unfortunately, with the highs come the lows. On Saturday, the Huskies dropped a three-set match with the Davenport Panthers.

The Huskies are now 3-7 on the season overall and 1-1 in GLIAC play. The good news for Huskies fans is that you cannot win or lose the GLIAC in the first weekend of the season. Jennings is very aware of that, and he and his staff have spent the week working on areas of the team's game as they get ready for their first conference roadtrip of the season.

The collective high of defeating the Lakers in straight sets was something that Jennings was very proud of.

"We felt really good about Friday's match, and we've been playing somewhat shorthanded here for the whole season so far," he said. "We're trying to adjust accordingly, and make the right change, and the right adjustments.

"(We) looked good on Friday. I think we followed the game plan very well. We had some big performances and I think caught a good team a bit off guard and knocked him on their heels a little bit. I thought we served well. I thought we passed very well, and the defense was good enough to win the game. Our offense is, when we're in-system, we do good things, and I think we saw a lot of that on Friday."

At the same time that Friday's win felt very good for the Huskies, the loss to the Panthers are Saturday felt like a huge letdown for the whole group.

"I think primarily the serve-pass game in that one was quite different than Friday," said Jennings. "I thought we served poorly, and I thought we passed well at times, and then, at inopportune times, passing kind of broke down. We had some positions on offense that weren't the same.

"I think the big part was defense. We just let a lot of balls land, and it didn't seem like we were putting up a fight on defense.

"We kind of walked into that trap, maybe patted ourselves on the back a little too much after Friday night's win."

Jennings said that the focus has been on making sure the team takes care of the ball.

"We've taken a good look at that on film, as you can imagine, and we're working on it here this week in practice," he said. "I'd like to be more aggressive on defense, and more consistently make plays on the ball. You have to be in the right spot to do that."

On the positive side of things, the Huskies' two freshmen middles, Rachel Zurek and Tricia Kennedy, are continuing to find their way as they continue to earn more playing time.

"Rachel and Trisha are doing great in their first year, for sure," Jennings said. "Trisha is playing as a middle, and lined up as a right side. We're asking her to do even more in terms of adjusting to a new position.

"I think that our blocking can get cleaner there in both spots, but in terms of offense, especially at serve-receive, we look really good there. They're just delights to have on the team, and they work incredibly hard."

Another bright spot for the Huskies continues to be the play of senior outside hitter Lindy Oujiri, who has been tasked with taking, perhaps, more swings than she has at any other point in her career. While she had only five kills and a negative hitting percentage, Jennings felt that it was necessary to continue feeding her the ball, because what she did was open up the Lakers' defense so that junior middle Kaycee Meiners, along with Zurek and Kennedy, could attack at will.

"Lindy is arguably one of our most consistent players right now," said Jennings. "She's taking big cuts, and making adjustments, as we go here. The Friday night game, like I said, in the rare occasion that statistics don't really match what was going on out there, she took almost 50 cuts in the ball on Friday, and had some points.

"They just had a couple of rotations where their block was ready to go. That's a big block. But again, they were systematically going for her in a way that opened up everything. I think Lindsay's been taking the cuts we need all year."

SCOUTING THE

RANGERS

On Friday, the Huskies will face a tough Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers squad that is 6-4 on the season and 1-1 in GLIAC play. They are coming off a weekend where they swept Saginaw Valley State on Friday, but then got swept by Ferris State on Saturday.

They are led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Ava Irwin, who has 104 kills in 10 matches. Freshman middle Sam Fisch has also been good. She has 82 kills in 10 matches.

"Parkside is, I think, pretty similar to what we've seen in a couple of years past," Jennings said. "Some of those same pieces are back. (They are) a team that could always take it to you. Coach (Leigh Barea) has them prepared. (She is) just a great coach, great person. (It is) not easy to play there."

SCOUTING THE PRIDE

In his second year at Purdue Northwest, coach Sean Douglas has his team playing extremely well, with a 7-3 record and a 2-0 record in GLIAC play. They come into this weekend having beaten Lake Superior State and Wayne State, 3-1, in both matches. nike air huarache black and white mens

Freshman outside hitter Anika Huelskamp is leading the offense with 114 kills in 10 matches. Sophomore right side hitter Arra Cottrell is also off to a great start with 105 kills in 10 matches.

While their offense looks great on paper, Jennings feels there is another area of their game that makes them very tough to play against.  nike air huarache sail/light bone/fossil stone women's shoe

"Their serving is maybe one of the best serving teams in the country," he said. "There's some things that we see matchup-wise that we like." black grey nike air huarache trainer