DETROIT -- After a pair of road league matches, the Wayne State University volleyball team (5-7 overall, 1-3 GLIAC) will return home to host Michigan Tech (6-7 overall, 2-3 GLIAC) on Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Roosevelt (5-6 overall, 2-2 GLIAC) the following Saturday at 4 p.m.

Coach's Corner
"We're looking forward to being at home this weekend against a very good Michigan Tech team and a much improved Roosevelt program," said head coach Tim Koth.  "It should be fun competition in the Matthaei."

Warrior Strong
Starting on offense, three players have been the catalyst for Wayne State's attack.  Those three are junior outside hitter Saige Martin (144 kills, .157 hitting percentage), senior outside hitter Katie Smith (127, .220) and sophomore middle hitter Katerina Stout (110, .295).  Having just come back from an injury with seven matches played (four starts), junior opposite Kyleigh Weck is up to 67 kills and a .373 hitting efficiency to show for them.  Senior setter Kayla Dulgar continues to lead the Green and Gold in the two other major offensive categories, including 456 assists and 13 service aces.  Right on the heels of those 13 aces are 10 from both Smith, already four shy of the career high she set as a freshman in 2023, and freshman middle Doga Muhtaroglu.  Defensively for the Warriors, freshman libero Giselle Burlingame (157 digs) and Stout (44 total blocks) are the squad's frontrunners.

Recent Series History
Looking back at their last 30 head-to-head meetings, Wayne State and Michigan Tech have split them right down the middle at 15-15.  The two squads have also gone 5-5 against each other in their previous 10 showdowns.  With that being said, the final two matches at the end of that 10-match stretch favored the Huskies, capping a span in which they defeated the Warriors seven straight times.  Prior to that, WSU was on the right side of the scoreboard seven in a row in its own right.  Aside from those two streaks, neither team has bested the other more than twice in a row since the 2003 campaign.

Roosevelt, a GLIAC member since before the 2024 season, is 0-3 against Wayne State with just one set won in those three affairs.

Scouting Michigan Tech
Coached by second-year leader Cindy Pindral (18-23 overall record, .439 winning percentage), Michigan Tech has experienced an up-and-down campaign so far in 2026.  The Huskies have neither won nor lost more than two matches in a row yet and have gone exactly 5-5 in the last 10 matches.

Individually, senior outside hitter Rachel Zurek has been far and away the Huskies' most reliable attacker with a team-best 226 kills, 100 more than her next-closest teammate.  Sophomore setter Madelynn Kreider has been running point with 540 assists while freshman outside hitter Kayla Heinonen has been money behind the service line with a squad-best 18 aces.  Defensively, junior libero Keeley Nellis (218 digs) and senior middle blocker Tricia Kennedy (40 total blocks) have been the frontrunners.

Scouting Roosevelt
Having just started its third season as a member of the conference, Roosevelt comes in under first-year head coach Jasmine Chambers.  The hire came after Chambers spent the 2025 season as the associate head coach at Newberry College in Newberry, South Carolina, a fellow NCAA Division II institution.   Prior to working at Newberry, Chambers was an assistant coach at South Carolina State for two seasons and was the head coach at Lamar Community College in Colorado for the 2022 campaign.  She played collegiately at Alcorn State.

Offenslvely, the Lakers' attack has been spearheaded by sophomore outside hitter Abigail Wutka (76 kills), graduate outside hitter Alessia Isgro (74 kills), sophomore setter Merryck Brrackett (204 assists), and graduate defensive specialist Imani Lee (17 aces).  Switching over to the defensive side of the ball, junior defensive specialist Madison Howard (105 digs), Isgro (103 digs), Wutka (28 total blocks), and sophomore middle blocker McKenzie Bernard (26 total blocks) have provided the most fuel.

Up Next
Wayne State will get back on the road to face Grand Valley State on Friday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. in Allendale and Roosevelt the day after in Chicago at 5 p.m. eastern time.