With a win over the Davenport Panthers on Friday, 3-1, and a loss to the No. 1 Ferris State Bulldogs, 3-0, Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team improved to 14-11 overall and 8-7 in GLIAC play.

HUSKIES DEFEAT DAVENPORT FRIDAY

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Huskies dropped the first set but came back for a 3-1 victory at Davenport on Friday. The Huskies won 22-25, 25-16, 25-13, and 25-15.

“I’m really happy with the way we played after set one,” Huskies coach Matt Jennings said. “To see Abbi (Perkins) go off the way she did tonight was quite a reward. Our offense really looked impressive and our serving was really on point.”

Despite four fewer kills, the Panthers edged the Huskies 25-22 in the opening set.

Tech never trailed after the first and tied the match after hitting .306 in the second. Seven different Huskies registered a kill with Perkins putting down five and Meg Raabe three. Rachel Zurek made it setpoint before Perkins hit the winner.

After the break, the Tech’s offense came out on fire, hitting .531. A balanced attack spread through six Huskies with Zurek tallying six kills on six attempts. She made it setpoint and gave Tech the 2-1 lead with the set winner.

The Huskies rode the momentum into the third. They led by as many as 11 and cruised to a 25-15 win to defeat the Panthers for the second time this season. Kaycee Meiners led the Black and Gold with five kills in the fourth, and Perkins again put down the winner.

Playing 45 miles from her hometown, Perkins was one of four Huskies in double figures with a Tech career-high 13 kills. Raabe had a match-high 15 kills and hit .333. Meiners went for 12 kills, four block assists, and two solo blocks while hitting .478. Zurek finished with 10 kills and a .389 hitting percentage.

Tess Hayes set the attack with 47 assists and added 11 digs. Amelia Albers (11) and Brooke Dzwik (10) were also in double figures defensively.

HUSKIES FALL TO BULLDOGS SATURDAY

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Huskies team fell 3-0 at Ferris State on Saturday. The Bulldogs won 25-19, 27-25, and 25-22 at Bulldog Arena.

“Credit to Ferris for being an exceptional team and playing very well tonight,” Jennings said. “There’s a reason they’re undefeated.

“It’s still frustrating to know we had opportunities to win in the second and third sets and didn’t finish. I thought many parts of our offense put us in a position to win late in sets, but again, credit to Ferris for closing it out.”

The Bulldogs used a 4-0 run to break a 7-7 tie and then a 5-0 rally later in the first to take command. Four different Huskies had at least two kills in the opening set with Meg Raabe putting down three.

There were 10 ties and nine lead changes in the second. The Huskies led 19-14 before the Bulldogs rallied to tie it at 21. The Huskies held setpoint after a kill by Zurek, but the home team answered and then held setpoint of its own. Jacqueline Yancy extended the set again, but the FSU got a kill by Claire Nowicki and an ace to take the 2-0 lead at the break. Perkins led Tech with four kills in the second.

The third set was more of the same with nine ties and six lead changes. The Huskies had a 21-20 advantage before the No. 1 team in the nation closed out the match, scoring five of the final six points to remain undefeated. The balanced Tech offense saw five Huskies with a pair of kills in the third.

Raabe led Tech with 10 kills while Perkins (8), Meiners (7), Zurek (6), and Paige Wagner (4) also contributed to the offense. Hayes tallied 32 assists. Brynn Erickson led the defense with eight digs.

UP NEXT

Tech’s final trip of the regular season is to Saginaw Valley State on Friday and Lake Superior State on Saturday.