DETROIT -- The 2024 GLIAC Tournament begins on Wednesday at 7 p.m. for the Wayne State University volleyball team (14-12 overall, 11-5 GLIAC) as the fourth-seeded Warriors will host fifth-seeded Michigan Tech (16-11 overall, 10-7 GLIAC) for the quarterfinal round.  WSU and MTU battled once in the regular season on Oct. 25 with the Warriors taking care of the Huskies in straight sets inside the Matthaei Center.

"We are very happy to be hosting a GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal match this Wednesday," said head coach Tim Koth.  "Michigan Tech is an outstanding team, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to play them in the Matthaei.  It's that win or go home time of the year, so both teams will be desperate, which makes for outstanding levels of play.  It should be exciting."

Wayne State will host a league tournament match for the first time since 2022 and the third time in the last four seasons.  The Warriors went 1-1 in the previous two including a 3-0 loss to Michigan Tech in 2022 and 3-0 sweep of Saginaw Valley State in 2021.  As the head coach at WSU, Koth is 3-6 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament, but that 2022 meeting against the Huskies was the only time he's seen them in this event as a Warrior.

Last Time Out - Michigan Tech - Oct. 25 (-17, -18, -22)
- Wayne State hit .237 for the match with 46 kills and 18 errors on 118 total attacks.
- Michigan Tech countered that with a clip of .132 including 31 kills and 17 mishaps on 106 swings.
- The Warriors played their most efficient set in the second with a .342 hitting percentage (17-4-38).
- The Huskies best stanza was the third at .182 (11-5-33).
- Molly Miller earned her fifth double-double of the season and first since Sept. 27 at Saginaw Valley State.
- That achievement gave Miller 12 double-doubles since becoming a Warrior prior to last season.
- Kayla Giroux (.517 hitting percentage) hit at least .500 in a match for the seventh time this fall.
- Ella Uganski also played efficiently with a .417 output on seven kills and only two errors on 12 attempts.
- With that being said, not a single player in the Green & Gold finished with a negative hitting percentage.
- Running the offense with 35 assists to her name was Kayla Dulgar.
- Miller was the lone Warrior with multiple service aces as she finished with two.
- Defensively, Giroux paced all players in blocks with six while Kendyl Andrews notched a game-high 13 digs.

Recent History
Recently, these two teams have alternated victories in their last five meetings with the Warriors winning three of them, all of which were in Detroit.  Prior to that five-match stretch, Michigan Tech won seven in a row against Wayne State, which came right after WSU had been on the right end for seven straight as well.

Scouting Michigan Tech
Michigan Tech enters the postseason having won two matches in a row and five of the last six.  Three of those five victories came on the road for the Huskies where they went 10-6 during the regular season (including neutral contests). 

Individually, MTU's offense has been spearheaded by two of the GLIAC's best in junior outside hitter Meg Raabe and sophomore setter Tess Hayes.  Raabe ranks third in the league in kills (360) and fourth in kills per set (3.71), totals that are at 46th and 52nd in the country, respectively.  Nationally, the attacker is also 41st in total attacks with 1,022, good for third in the conference.  As for Hayes, she leads the GLIAC in assists per set (10.65) and is slotted second for total assists (1,033).  Among Division II leaders, the second-year Husky ranks 23rd and 32nd, respectively, for those two categories.  Hayes has also churned out 42 aces at the service line, fourth in the league.

Defensively, six different Huskies have racked up at least 100 digs including sophomore libero Amelia Albers (323), sophomore hitter Brynn Erickson (285), Hayes (252), sophomore attacker Jacqueline Yancy (195), junior outside Brooke Dzwik (161) and Raabe (109).  Albers is eighth in the conference for both total digs and digs per set (3.51).  Above the net, senior middle Kaycee Meiners has accounted for 100 total blocks, fourth in the GLIAC, while her 1.04 blocks per set are good for fifth.

MTU's 13th-year head coach Matt Jennings (222-156 overall, 136-81 GLIAC) has led MTU to 10 consecutive GLIAC Tournament appearances and seven straight quarterfinal victories.  The two-time GLIAC Coach of the Year (2017 & 2019) has gone 11-9 all-time in the event including a 4-8 mark when playing away from Houghton.

About Wayne State
Offensively, Wayne State has used five primary attackers including Molly Miller (892 total attacks), Kayla Giroux (697), Katie Smith (552), Leigha Baldwin (375) and Ella Uganski (259).  Giroux leads the team in kills (358) and hitting percentage (.410) while ranking fourth and first in the GLIAC, respectively, for those departments.  Nationally, Giroux's .410 clip is good for seventh along with 36th in points per set (4.41) and 48th in total kills.  Running the show at setter has been Kayla Dulgar.  Dulgar has notched 981 assists and 9.91 of them per set, both of which get her to third in the league.  At the service line, the Warriors' leader has been Miller with 33 aces, but Maya Wegand isn't far behind with 30 of her own.

On the other side of the ball, Kendyl Andrews and Giroux have been two of the best for WSU.  Andrews is on top of the digs category with 360, while Giroux has tallied 111 total blocks.  That output of 111 is ranked first in the conference and 39th in the country.  The junior standout is also third in the GLIAC and 57th nationally for stuffs per set with 1.12.