Photo Credit: Michigan Tech

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Michigan Tech volleyball team had its season come to an end Thursday (Nov. 19) after falling to Indianapolis 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Division II NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament. The Huskies finish the season with a 14-15 record while the Greyhounds, the top seed in the region improve to 36-1 and will face No. 5 seed Hillsdale Friday (Nov. 20).

Indy controlled the match from both the defensive and offensive side, including a .241 to .101 advantage in attack percentage. The Greyhounds also finished with a 52-42 advantage in digs and a 7-5 lead in blocks. Offensively UI recorded 44 kills to Tech’s 31 and 40 assists to 28 by the Huskies.

“Indianapolis waits for a team to make mistakes and then capitalizes on them,” said Orlando Gonzalez. “Unfortunate for us we created some mistakes at some inopportune times and we were not able to recover from them.”

Indianapolis used a series of short runs to claim a 25-20 win in the opening set. Set two saw the home team once again shoot out to an early lead, 12-4. Tech answered with three straight points of it’s own to close within 12-7. The two teams would trade points for the remainder of the match with Indy claiming set two, 25-19. The Greyhounds started with a 6-1 lead in the third set but the Huskies rattled off a trio of runs to earn a 10-8 lead. Indy capitalized on a series of Tech errors in the later stages of the match to earn a 25-20 set win and the match victory.

Kristina Kerrigan recorded a match-high 13 kills for the Greyhounds.

Senior Veronica Armstrong led the Huskies with 10 kills, and four blocks (one solo, three assists) in her final match for Tech.

Freshman Madeline Haben accounted for 26 of the team’s 28 assists and senior Kaari Nevanen finished with a team-high 12 digs.

“Overall I was really happy with how the season turned out. The team over came a lot of adversity through out the season. The women competed every night and exceeded expectations on many occasions. I am really excited to see what the future holds for this program.”

Notes: Five players played their final match for the Huskies. Career stats are below.

Veronica Armstrong: Sets Played – 432; Kills – 1,145; Assists – 96; Service Aces – 134; Digs – 1,155; Total Blocks – 198;
Alison Greene: Sets Played – 204; Kills – 48; Assists – 1,060; Service Aces – 54; Digs – 275; Total Blocks – 4
Amanda Vogt: Sets Played – 24; Kills – 21; Assists – 4; Service Aces – 0; Digs – 8; Total Blocks – 12
Lyndsey Dixon: Sets Played – 156; Kills – 155; Assists – 42; Service Aces – 22; Digs – 231; Total Blocks – 38
Kaari Nevanen: Sets Played – 310; Kills – 309; Assists – 58; Service Aces – 94; Digs – 751; Total Blocks – 34