KENOSHA, Wis. – The No. 19-ranked Michigan Tech volleyball team began two matches Friday at the Hampton Inn Invitational at Parkside but only finished one. The Huskies played Upper Iowa in the afternoon but the match was canceled and ruled a no contest after extreme heat at De Simone Arena. Tech lost 3-1 to McKendree in the evening.
“Today was simply not our day,” Tech coach Matt Jennings said. “We were sluggish in our earlier match, which was canceled, and poor tonight in this one. Credit to a good McKendree team that flat out beat us in nearly every part of the game.”
The Huskies suffered their first loss 27-25, 20-25, 23-25, and 18-25. There were 13 ties and seven lead changes in the first set. Meg Raabe had a kill to knot it at 25 before back-to-back attack errors by the Bearcats put Tech in front. Jillian Kuizenga and Lindy Oujiri led the Huskies with four kills each in the opening set.
McKendree (4-2) led from start to finish in the second set and outhit the Huskies .235 to .071. Raabe had four kills and nine digs for the Black and Gold in the second.
The Bearcats scored four of the final five points in the third to take a 2-1 lead. The set had 15 ties and eight lead changes. Brooke Dzwik was the Huskies leader with five kills and six digs.
Tech held an early three-point lead in the fourth but the Bearcats had runs of 8-0 and 7-1 to take command. Carissa Beyer registered six digs in the fourth.
Kuizenga led Huskies with 12 kills in the match while Raabe finished with 11 kills and eight digs. Lina Espejo-Ramirez set the attack with a career-high 37 assists and added 13 digs. Beyer finished with a team-high 16 digs.
Upper Iowa led 2-1 after three sets in the afternoon match before it was canceled.
Tech wraps up the tournament on Saturday against Illinois Springfield at 10 am and Minnesota Crookston at 6 pm
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