Heading into the GLIAC Tournament on a six-match winning streak, the women’s tennis Huskies knew this year they had the chance to get to the championship match and face the Northwood Timberwolves. In order to do, the Huskies had to get past Ferris State and Grand Valley State on Saturday.
“I told the girls not to look beyond Ferris State,” said Huskies’ head coach Mike Axford.
The Huskies (9-2, 8-2 GLIAC), who came into the tournament as the number three seed, their highest seed ever, faced the sixth-seeded Bulldogs first. Grabbing two of three possible points from the doubles’ matches, the Huskies set themselves up to cruise through the singles’ matches en route to the 5-2 win.
Junior Asel Otunchieva and sophomore Victoria Zhilkina earned the first Huskies’ point at number two doubles. Junior Nathalia Rondelli and sophomore Ploy Suthijindawong needed a tiebreaker to win at number one doubles.
“Those three (Victoria, Ploy, and Nathalia) have been playing really, really well,” said Axford. “I think the other girls respect the fact that they were still coming through (in every match).”
The Bulldogs earned their second point of match at number five singles.
Zhilkina, Suthijindawong and Rondelli all won in straight sets at numbers one, two and three singles. Only Zhilkina needed a tiebreaker in her first set.
In their second match of the day, the Huskies were looking for some revenge against the Grand Valley State Lakers for a loss earlier in the season. Again, the Huskies grabbed two out of three points in doubles, but needed every singles’ match in order to come away with a 5-4 win.
“What we’ve been doing to win, we kept doing,” said Axford. “We were injured and sick this weekend and we still played through it.”
Otunchieva and Zhilkina won at number two doubles and Rondelli and Suthijindawong won at number one doubles. Both scores were 8-6.
In singles, the Huskies won at numbers one, two and three singles while dropping the matches at numbers four, five and six singles. Every single match finished in straight sets.
Both Zhilkina and Suthijindawong were stronger in the second set than they had been in the first set, only dropping one game in each of their second sets. Rondelli fought hard for the win in extra games in her second set.
On Sunday, the Huskies faced the Timberwolves, and could not muster more than one point from the doubles’ matches before dropping a 5-1 decision.
After the Timberwolves won at numbers two and three doubles, Rondelli and Suthijindawong earned the lone Huskies’ point at number one doubles, with an 8-6 win.
In the singles’ matches, the Timberwolves won at numbers four, five and six singles to earn the win.
The Huskies were in position to win at least two of the three unfinished matches at numbers one, two and three singles. Suthijindawong was the closest to a win, needing only one more game to finish off her opponent.
The second-place finish was the best in school history for the Huskies. After their performance at the GLIAC Tournament, the Huskies are in a great position to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament next spring.

At this point in the spring schedule, every win becomes a big one when attempting to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. On Wednesday, the women’s tennis Huskies had a tough dose of that as they dropped three three-set matches en route to a 6-3 loss to the St. Cloud State Huskies, who continued their hot spring run.

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This Saturday will mark the culmination of spring football practices for Head Coach Tom Kearly’s football squad, as they will take to Sherman Field for the annual spring game, with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.

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This year’s NCAA Frozen Four ended the way it should have with the No. 1 seed in the tournament winning, but not without fighting through a pair of one-goal games. The Boston University Terriers needed a comeback and overtime to get past the pesky Miami University Redhawks, 4-3, Saturday night in Washington, D.C.

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The Michigan Tech women’s volleyball team completed their spring season with a weekend tournament in Green Bay, Wis. this past Saturday.

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Frustrating could be a word used by head coach Mike Axford to describe the men’s tennis Huskies, especially since they started the season with such promise only to drop their first four GLIAC matches. The Huskies fell 6-3 on Saturday to the Ferris State Bulldogs and 9-0 on Sunday to the Grand Valley State Lakers.

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Both the Central Collegiate Ski Association (CCSA) and the NCAA Central Region named Joe Haggenmiller, coach of the men’s Nordic ski team, Coach of the Year. The honors were firsts for Haggenmiller. They came at the end of a season in which the men and women’s team, which he also coaches, sent a maximum of six skiers to the NCAA Skiing National Championships, the first time in school history. In another first, Jesse Lang was named All-American at those championships, the Huskies’ first male.

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Planning for fantasy baseball, I stumbled upon the best piece of baseball news I think I’ve ever seen: Brandon Inge will be the starting third baseman for the Detroit Tigers. Now, if you Google this, you will find this news to be about six months old (originally reported last September), but off seasons are long, and things change rapidly in the world of sports.

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The women’s volleyball team took a weekend in Duluth for tournament competition with the Bulldogs, St. Cloud, the University of Wisconsin-Superior, Bemidji State and a Duluth alumni team. With a format of two or three games competition, team scores remained unkempt.

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Women’s tennis coach Mike Axford suggested that a 3-2 record in Orlando, Fla., was a favorable outcome, but his girls did so much more, going 4-1, including four straight wins after dropping the opening match against Bethel, 9-0. With the wins, the Huskies are now 13-6 overall on the season.

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