Huskies volleyball falls to Ashland

Ashland, Ohio – The Michigan Tech volleyball team lost for the first time in GLIAC play Friday (Sept. 19) night at Ashland. The Eagles won 3-0 at Kates Gymnasium to pick up their first win of the season.

Tech falls to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in the GLIAC. Ashland won 25-21, 25-22 and 27-25 to move to 1-6 and 1-2 in conference play.

“Given that we’re still battling through various injuries, we played tough,” Tech coach Matt Jennings said. “Our juniors gave us a lot of good stuff tonight, as did Rachel in her first game back.

“Credit Ashland for a strong performance. They have some fine players and an exceptional coach.”

In the first set, the Huskies battled back from a 14-7 deficit to take a 16-14 lead. Elle Heinonen served the run with Sylvie Rokosh having a couple kills and Annie Raisanen adding a kill in her first appearance as a Husky. The Eagles closed out the set with five straight points.

Tech tied it up at seven in the second after Ashland took an early 6-1 lead. Neither team led by more than three the rest of the way. With Tech trailing 22-21, Ashland scored three of the final four points to take a 2-0 lead.

The Huskies jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third. The two teams battled all the way to a 23-all tie, before an attack error by Ashland gave Tech a set point. The home team responded with two points to earn a set point of its own. Stephanie Dietrich tied it up at 25 with a kill but a pair of attack errors by the Huskies gave Ashland the win.

Aubrey Havlichek led the Black and Gold with a season-best eight kills. Rokosh finished with six kills while Lauren Emmert had five kills and four block assists. Dietrich had three kills on only five attempts.

Rachel Pohlod played her first match of the season and tallied 14 assists and 14 digs. Heinonen (15) and Jacqueline Aird (10) also had double digit digs.

“Steph and Lauren were strong out of the middle tonight,” added Jennings. “Elle had another nice night serving and on defense.”

Rylee Scott (15) and Casey Clark (10) both had double digit kills for the Eagles. Jacqueline Tanguay set up the offense with 36 assists. Jennifer Vander Meer had a match-high 16 digs.

Tech continues its road trip at Lake Erie on Saturday (Sept. 20). First serve is set for 1 p.m. in Painesville, Ohio.

(Information Courtesy of MTU Athletics)