SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – The Indiana Tech women's volleyball team saw their season come to a close Friday evening as they fell to No. 20-ranked Lawrence Technological University, 3-1 (20-25, 22-25, 25-18, 18-25) in the semifinals of the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Tournament at Don Ridler Field House.
Olivia Niekamp led the Warriors with 14 kills and hit .286 while
Havilyn Cummings added nine kills and seven blocks while hitting .471.
Madison Park dished out 21 assists and recorded 11 digs while
Genna Karbowski had 18 assists and nine digs.
Madeline MacDonald had 21 digs to finish the season with 770, just 10 behind former standout
Taylor Kelso for the most in a single season.
Lawrence Tech raced out to a 6-0 lead in the first to force a timeout from the Warriors, as both teams waited through a 40 minute delay following the first semifinal contest and awards ceremony. A kill from
Emma Westra sparked a 5-0 run for the Orange and Black to bring them within one, but the hosts responded with a 5-0 spurt of their own. LTU grew their advantage to 18-8, only to see the visitors come right back with a 10-3 to force a timeout by the Blue Devils. Lawrence Tech took three of the next five points though to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Blue Devils got out to another fast start in the second set with an 8-2 run. A 5-0 spurt from the Warriors capped a 9-2 run though to put the Orange and Black ahead 11-10. The regular season conference champions regrouped quickly however, going back up 16-14. Tech continued to battle back and take short leads and had the set all knotted up at 20-all, only to see the Blue Devils close out the set on a 5-2 run to take a 2-0 set lead.
The two teams would trade momentum early in the third and found themselves ties up at 6-6, but a 6-0 run capped a 10-3 spurt for the Warriors to give them a 16-9 lead. LTU took advantage of some Warrior errors though to cut the deficit down to 17-14, but that would be as close as they would get as the Orange and Black closed the set on a 7-3 run to make it a 2-1 match.
The fourth set would be all LTU though, with the 30-2 team racing out to a 9-3 lead and forcing the Warriors to call a timeout. The Blue Devils continued to hold serve as they pushed the advantage to 19-9 following a 6-1 spurt. Tech got itself back into the match though with a 5-1 run to make it a 20-14 game and put some additional pressure on LTU as they cut the lead to 23-18, but the lead would be too much to overcome as the Blue Devils won the set 25-18 to end the Warriors season.
Tech finishes the 2019 season 26-10, their most wins since the 2011 season when they went 34-8.
