With the hiring of the Michigan Tech Women’s Soccer coach, Michelle Jacob, we at the Lode wanted to have a chat with her to see what the plans are for next year’s team, and how things are progressing.

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Michigan Tech Women’s Soccer team has its coach, and now has a foundation on which to build.  Michelle Jacob was announced as the head coach on Jan. 27, coming off an 11-7-1 record last year with Marian University. The record looks deceiving, as prior to her reign as head coach at Marian, the soccer team was just a measly 4-12-1.  Jacob spent three seasons in the assistant coaching ranks at UW-Stevens Point after finishing a four-year playing career at the same university.  At UW-Stevens Point, Jacob was an All-America First-Team selection and the WIAC Player of the Year in 2001.  While playing with the Pointers, her teams racked up a 75-15-2 record and won the Conference title all four years.

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Michigan Tech volleyball heads back out on the road for the Homecoming weekend, where they will take on head coach Orlando Gonzalez’s former team, the Timberwolves of Northwood University and the Wayne State Warriors.
Splitting their matches this past weekend, Michigan Tech is always looking for ways to improve their play in anticipation of upcoming play.
“We come out really strong, but then we don’t finish,” said junior Kaitlin Wiza. “We need to finish games when we’re up and focus on siding out right away. We need to be more consistent in terms of not giving up sets of points. Maintaining an energy on the court and a sense of urgency to finish will assist with this.”
Northwood holds a 4-5 GLIAC record and a 6-11 overall record and will be coming off of a 3-2 victory over Lake Superior State University from this past weekend. The Timberwolves are led by Sladjana Matrovic’s 3.48 kills per set average and Ashley Carr’s 27 percent hitting accuracy that leaves her third on the team in kills with 2.08 per set. Lauren Chapman and Rachel Hamblin split setting duties with 9.19 and 6.32 assists per set. Samantha Matheson leads the team in digs with 3.71 per set, but the entire team seems to impact this aspect of their game play. Northwood holds a 2-1 home record.
Wayne State boasts a 6-3 GLIAC record, placing them just behind the Chargers of Hillsdale in the GLIAC South division. Fourteen and three overall, the Warriors have seen success this season. After a four game winning streak, Wayne State dropped a 3-1 game to Saginaw Valley State University this weekend, and they will be looking for redemption.
Wayne State compiled the numbers but fell victim to a hard hitting Cardinal team that saw three sets of the match with a 39 percent or better hitting accuracy. Sarha Gosselin leads Wayne State with 3.25 kills per game, but teammates Candis Jenich and Lauren Mallast are not far below three kills per game themselves with 2.95 and 2.87 kills per set on average. Mallast also serves the Warrior defense with 1.48 blocks per set. Like Northwood, Wayne State splits setting duties between Cydney Biessel (9.48) and Katy Westenberg (6.5). Maureen McDonald leads in digs with 3.33 per set.
Michigan Tech will have to work hard to be consistent and keep up their intensity for when they open the weekend in Midland, Mich., starting at 7 p.m. For more information on Husky volleyball, visit www.mtulode.com.

With three wins in their last three matches, the women’s tennis Huskies look towards this weekend as an opportunity to move into third in the GLIAC. The Huskies (4-2 overall, 4-2 GLIAC) travel this weekend to face the Findlay Oilers on Friday and the Wayne State Warriors on Saturday.
The Oilers (2-7 overall, 2-4 GLIAC) will be looking for their first win since September 20, having dropped five matches in a row. Head coach Tomas Menec’s squad is anchored by junior Gina Solis, who plays both number one singles and number one doubles. Classmate Haley Dudon is the number two singles player and Solis’ partner for doubles. Junior Candace Pahl, freshman Natalie Diorio, sophomore Holly Vietske, and senior Kari Rudduck round out the top six for the Oilers.
Sitting just above the Huskies in the GLIAC standings, the Warriors (6-2 overall, 5-2 GLIAC) have performed well against GLIAC opponents. Head coach Sheila Snyder has a veteran squad with junior Sharon Gill leading the way. Sophmore Kristina Goranskaya competes well in the number two spot. Rounding out the top six are junior Milena Vuksanovic, senior McCall Monte, junior Debora Correa, and junior Jennifer Bradford.
Huskies Earn Sweep on Weekend
The Huskies earned two important GLIAC victories over the weekend with a 9-0 win over the Tiffin Dragons and a 6-3 defeat over the Ashland Eagles. Sophomores Victoria Zhilkina and Ploy Suthijindawong both earned three points in helping the Huskies to the wins.
Against the Dragons, the Huskies earned wins at numbers one and two doubles and earned the sweep with a default decision at number three doubles.
In singles, junior Nathalia Rondelli and freshman Kira Eck both earned straight set victories where they didn’t surrender a game.
The Huskies took an early 2-1 advantage against the Eagles into singles play. All four of the Huskies’ top four singles players won in straight sets.
Only junior Asel Otunchieva struggled to finish off her opponent at number four singles as she needed a tiebreaker in her first set to earn the win.
For a complete recap of the action, check out our web site: www.mtulode.com.

Passion seems to be the only word that can describe new women’s volleyball head coach Orlando Gonzalez’s feelings about the sport. After 10 years of working with USA Michigan Volleyball (competitive high school volleyball club) as both a coach and regional coordinator, Gonzalez found his way to the GLIAC, working for Northwood University’s team as an assistant coach. The Timberwolves were successful in claiming the South Division Championship and joining Michigan Tech in earning an NCAA tournament berth in 2008.
“I feel the GLIAC is a great conference to coach in and MTU has tremendous resources to build a great program. It just needs to be done right in order to be realized. And of course, I love snow. Who doesn’t?” said Gonzalez as he explained his reasons for applying for the head coaching position.
Gonzalez most looks forward to “making a significant impact on the lives of the kids and the sport of volleyball.” He has plans to improve and bring out the talents of the team through instituting his coaching philosophy. “You cannot execute tactically what you cannot do technically. I try to teach my players perfection in technique in order to maximize what we can do tactically. I believe we need to be accountable and responsible for our choices on the court and off. Everybody on this team, through their demonstrated, measured performance, has a chance to contribute.”
Husky fans can head to the SDC gymnasium this Friday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. when the women take on Ferris State University, to see the new head coach doing what he knows best, teaching elite volleyball play.

Head coach Mike Axford of the women’s tennis Huskies has the unenviable task of replacing two prolific winners in former co-captains Silvia Oliveros and Samantha Jang-Stewart. Fortunately, junior Nathalia Rondelli appears poised to take on a more important role this season after going 10-1 in the number two singles slot last spring.
“Nathalia is a really good athlete,” said Axford. “She’s a complete player. There are no weaknesses in her game.”
Rondelli’s 29 singles wins over her first two seasons are second only to fellow junior Asel Otunchieva’s 31 victories among returning players for Axford’s squad this season. She will return to the number three singles slot in the lineup, where she went 7-4 last season.
“Last spring, she was able to mix the game up and make it really difficult on her opponents,” said Axford. “She’s also a really good defender. She’s able to run the balls and always make her opponent play one more shot to win the point.”
The lineup spot paid off for Rondelli and the Huskies right away on Saturday, as Rondelli earned a straight set victory over Cortney Heileman of Saginaw Valley State.
Born in Belfold Poxo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Rondelli grew up with the opportunity to play tennis both in her home country and in the neighboring countries of Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina. This competition experience prepared her for life in the GLIAC.
Rondelli will be expected to take on a leadership role in doubles this season as well. She will start the season partnered up with sophomore transfer Ploy Suthijindawong. Over two seasons with Oliveros as a partner, Rondelli racked up 31 wins.
“Doubles and singles are different. You don’t necessarily have the same confidence in both,” said Axford. “Silvia and Nathalia worked well together. Ploy and Nathalia need to talk a lot and they need to work together.”
The duo has opened the season 1-1 after defeating Debra Hammond and Yunjiao Shangguan of Saginaw Valley State.
On top of being an outstanding player on the court, Rondelli is strong in the classroom setting as well. A psychology major, Rondelli carries a grade point average over 3.0.
“At Michigan Tech, we want athletes who are students first,” said Axford. “Those kinds of players are good fits in a lot of places.”

On Sept. 5, 2008, with a 39-16 lead over the Hillsdale Chargers with less than 12 minutes to play, the Huskies had the game all but won. The Chargers had a different idea, however, as they rattled off 20 points, and it took a defensive stop on a potential game-tying field goal for the Huskies to eke out the 39-36 victory.

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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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