DETROIT -- The postseason is here for the 2025 Wayne State University volleyball team (21-5 overall, 13-3 GLIAC) and it commences on Wednesday night inside the friendly confines of The Matthaei Center. Starting with the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinals, the second-seeded Warriors will host seventh-seeded Michigan Tech (12-15 overall, 9-7 GLIAC) with the opening serve scheduled for 7 p.m.
Coach's Corner
"We are looking forward to the challenge of playing Michigan Tech on Wednesday in the GLIAC Tournament quarterfinal," said head coach
Tim Koth. "They are a very talented team, and we will have to play well to be successful. We will be ready."
Familiar Territory
Wayne State will host a league tournament match for the second year in a row and fourth time in the last five seasons. The Warriors went 1-2 in the previous three including a 3-1 loss to Michigan Tech in 2024, a 3-0 loss to the Huskies in 2022 and a 3-0 sweep of Saginaw Valley State in 2021. As the head coach at WSU, Koth is 3-7 all-time in the GLIAC Tournament, but those 2022 and 2024 meetings against MTU were the only times he's seen them in this event as a Warrior.
Koth's GLIAC Tournament History
2016: L, 2-3 at Ashland
2017: W, 3-2 at Grand Valley State; L, 1-3 at Ferris State
2018: L, 0-3 at Saginaw Valley State
2019: W, 3-1 at Saginaw Valley State; L, 0-3 at Ferris State
2021: W, 3-0 vs. Saginaw Valley State; L, 1-3 vs. Ferris State (in Houghton)
2022: L, 0-3 vs. Michigan Tech
2024: L, 1-3 vs. Michigan Tech
Friendly Confines
With the win over Grand Valley State on Thursday, Wayne State reached 10 home wins (10-1) in a single season for only the second time in the past 27 years (2021, 10-3). Then with the Matthaei victory against Purdue Northwest on Friday, WSU won 11 times (11-1) inside the friendly confines for the first instance since 1998 (11-2). If the Warriors can win on Wednesday, they'll have won 12 home matches for the first time since 1997 (13-2).
Last Time Out - at Michigan Tech - Oct. 24 (3-1; -14, -20, 16-25, -16)
- Wayne State racked up 15 service aces, the team's most since that many against New Haven on Sept. 7, 2019.
- The Warriors hadn't had that many aces against a GLIAC opponent since Sept. 17, 2002 vs. Hillsdale.
- Wayne State hit .239 for the match with 50 kills, 16 errors and 142 total attacks.
- Michigan Tech countered with a .217 clip on just as many kills, 19 mishaps and 143 attempts.
- The Warriors' most efficient set was the second at .321 (12, 3, 28).
- The Huskies best period was the third at .412 (16, 2, 34).
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Kayla Giroux (13 kills, .400) and
Leigha Baldwin (11 kills, .364) paced the offensive attack and did so at a high rate.
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Kayla Dulgar was all over the floor with four kills (.571 hitting percentage), 33 assists, six aces (career high), one block assist and nine digs.
- Two other Warriors registered multiple aces including
Abby Macalaguim with six and
Kendyl Andrews with two.
- Giroux,
Lauren Essenpreis and
Amelia Klos each had an ace to their name as well.
- Defensively, Giroux racked up five blocks (one solo) while
Katerina Stout finished with three (one solo).
- Baldwin (two assisted) and
Paige Giehtbrock (two assisted) each had more than one stop as well.
Scouting Michigan Tech
Michigan Tech went 6-3 at home during the regular season, but way from their home court, the Huskies were 6-12, including 4-7 in true road matches. MTU ended the regular season with two consecutive wins and a victory in four of the final five. Michigan Tech is coached by Cindy Pindral in her first season, who was an Assistant Head Coach, Assistant Coach, and Volunteer Coach with the Huskies for seven seasons from 2016 to 2022.
Statistically, starting on offense, Michigan Tech is paced by junior right side Rachel Zurek (309 kills), freshman setter Madelynn Kreider (631 assists), senior outside hitter Brooke Dzwik (28 service aces) and sophomore middle blocker Paige Wagner (26 aces). Switching over to the defensive side of the ball, senior libero/defensive specialist Julia Fledderjohn (427 digs), junior middle Tricia Kennedy (96 total blocks) and Wagner (91 blocks) are the ringleaders.
