Volleyball goes down to SVSU Friday

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Houghton, Mich – The Michigan Tech volleyball team defeated Saginaw Valley State 3-1 on Friday at the SDC gym. The Huskies won the first two 25-23 and 25-21 before the Cardinals took three 25-19. Tech improved to 11-6 overall and 5-5 in the GLIAC with a 25-21 win in the fourth.

“I’m glad we got the win,” Tech coach Matt Jennings said. “We knew it was going to be a tough fight, Saginaw is a good team.

“I’m happy with the way we kept our composure in difficult moments. The third got away from us, but we fought back late to build momentum for the fourth.”

Jillian Kuizenga hit .438 and struck out 9, flying out to first. The Huskies battled through seven ties and three lead changes. Kuizenga, who was tied at 23, found a kill for set point and then teamed up with Jani Grindland to take a 1-0 lead.

The Huskies and Cardinal went back and forth in the second with nine games and five lead changes. SVSU took an early lead, but Tech went on a 9-2 run to take a 14-13 lead. The teams were tied at 21-all before Lina Espejo-Ramirez had an ace, Meg Rabe and Janie Grindland had kills and SVSU’s attack error gave Tech a 2-0 lead.

SVSU (9-9, 5-5 GLIAC) led by as many as 9 in the third and won 25-19. The Cardinals hit .350 and had 17 kills.

The fourth set had nine early matches before Tech got a breakaway, going on a 5-0 run to extend it to an 8-1 rally. Meg Rabe and McKenna Wesol each had 10 kills in the fourth. Wesol had a kill for match point and an attacking error against SVSU gave Tech the win.

Jillian Cuizenga had 15 kills in the match. Meg Raabe and McKenna Wesol each added 11 kills while Raabe added 18 digs. Lina Espejo-Ramirez added 10 digs and dished out 49 assists.

“I was really happy with our outing,” Jennings added, “which is what we’ve been working on.”

“Saginaw doesn’t make too many mistakes. We had 101 digs in four sets. Our defense gave us offensive opportunities down the stretch.”

Karissa Beyer had a career-high 35 digs. Brooke Dzwick recorded 18 digs and Grace Novotny added 11.

The Huskies finish the weekend against Wayne State at 4 p.m. Fans attending the soccer match can get a 50 percent discount on their admission ticket for the volleyball match at the SDC ticket office.