SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Lake Superior State volleyball dropped their home opener to Michigan Tech, 3-0, to begin play in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The home opener at Cooper Gymnasium was attended by 313 people, many decked out in Hawaiian luau theme to support the Lakers (1-8, 0-1 GLIAC).

Both team produced respectable attack percentages throughout the match with the Huskies (4-5, 1-0 GLIAC) using a slight advantage of .364 percent to edge the total of .287 percent by the Lakers.

The first set went to the Huskies by a tight score of 25-23. MTU registered 19 kills and only four errors during the first set and had a sideout percentage of 65 percent, conversely, the Lakers had 15 kills and just two errors (.371 attack percentage) and a sideout mark of 60 percent.

Mariah Sherman led the Huskies with six kills on 10 attacks with no errors, while freshman Amanda Reid led the Lakers with seven kills on 16 attempts during the first frame. Both teams had a single block in the first set and the Lakers held a 3-1 set-advantage in service aces.

During the second set the Lakers fell 25-18 and committed four attack errors while MTU registered 14 kills and just two errors. Aubrey Ficek led the Huskies in the second set with four kills on seven attempts. Once again Reid led the Lakers attack, producing three kills in the middle frame.

The Lakers jumped out to a 4-0 lead to open the third set, causing Tech coach Matt Williams to signal for a timeout and rally his troops. LSSU eventually took a 9-4 lead before a kill by Stephanie Dietrich of MTU and a pair of attack errors by LSSU players closed the gap to 9-7. Later in the third, a kill by Lauren Emmert, three kills by MacAuley Petersen and a service ace from Halie Hart put the Huskies ahead 18-16, forcing LSSU coach Mallory Larranaga to take her second timeout of the set. Out of the timeout the Huskies added four straight points to cap a 7-0 lead and gave the visitors a commanding 21-16 advantage. Setter Rachel Pohlod finished off the final three points of the match with service aces to propel MTU to victory.

Overall, the Lakers were led by Reid's 11 kills and 21 assists from junior Madison Castle. Sherman led the way for Tech with a match-high 12 kills and Pohlod registered 35 assists for the Huskies.

LSSU closes the home-opening weekend by hosting Northern Michigan at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17.