Lake Superior State University middle hitter Gisele Wiitanen, 4, jumps for a block during a game against Saginaw Valley State University on Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Norris Center in Sault Ste. Marie. (Photo credit: Murrs Photos via Facebook)
SAULT STE. MURRAY — When the Michigan Tech Huskies volleyball team takes on the Lake Superior State Lakers at SDC Gym on Friday night, you’ll hear a familiar Copper Country family name on the Lakers’ side of the court. .
For freshman middle hitter Gisele Wiitanen, the opportunity to play against the Huskies in Houghton is something she’s looking forward to.
“From my childhood until high school, I always went to summer volleyball camp at MTU,” she said. “I’m really excited to be back and this time playing against the team.”
Giselle’s mother, Heather, and a significant portion of her extended family are from the Houghton area, and she spent much of her time in the area while growing up. That means this area has a special place in her heart.
“Since moving to Mount Pleasant, we still visit Houghton often,” she said. “Christmas, Thanksgiving (and) summer, I’m there whenever I can.”
Of course, she also has her favorite places to visit when she’s in town.
“Besides seeing my family, I love going to the breakwater and Agate Beach and then going to dinner with the ambassadors,” she said.
While at Mount Pleasant High School, Gisele was an All-Region honoree and All-Saginaw Valley League honoree. She competed in three sports at Mount Pleasant and also earned first-team All-Academic honors.
The reason Gisele, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall, settled in Lake Superior was because the school is located in Sault Ste. Marie, we are geographically about halfway between her mother and immediate family in Mount Pleasant and the rest of her family in Copper Country.
“I chose Lake State because it is central to my family,” she said. “My mom and brother live in Mount Pleasant and the rest of my family lives in Houghton, so I’m right in the middle.”
However, this trip will not be fun because she has work to do. The Lakers are off to a strong start, going 5-7 through the first 12 games of the season. In GLIAC play, they swept Saginaw Valley State University and Roosevelt University on the opening weekend and advanced to 2-2, but were swept by Grand Valley State University and Wayne State University last weekend.
“We didn’t do as well as we hoped in the preseason, but we won our first two conference games against SVSU and Roosevelt,” she said. “And (we) fell short this weekend against GVSU and Wayne.”
To make matters worse, the Lakers lost senior middle blocker Maggie Morris. Morris got off to a strong start in her fourth season with 43 kills in nine games. Morris’ injury gave Gisele a chance to prove herself.
“In the first conference game against SVSU, our senior middle went down and is now out with a season-ending knee injury,” she said. “So I became a starter.”
Gisele had not yet played in the game before Morris went down, but she played in the game and recorded the first two kills of her career in that game. She also had a block assist and added two digs as the Lakers dominated the Cardinals in three sets.
Less than 24 hours later, she was in the starting lineup against GLIAC newcomer Roosevelt. The Lakers again won in three sets, with Gisele recording two more kills, three block assists, one block, and two more digs.
She now has a better understanding of what the college game is like and knows it will take a lot of effort to get to where she wants to be.
“The transition from high school volleyball and club volleyball was huge,” she said. “Everything has become much faster. The speed of the game is the hardest to adjust.”
Despite the steep learning curve she faces, Lakers coach Zach Lambeau has faith that she will make the right adjustments on the fly. The third-year coach is looking to improve the program from its preseason record of 8-22, which included a 3-2 win over the Huskies to close out the regular season.
Last weekend, Gisele and her teammates lost two tough games against Grand Valley and Wayne State. He had a solo block and a block assist against Grand Valley. Against the Warriors, he had a career-high two solo blocks and one dig.
Wiitanen and the Lakers will try to spoil the Huskies’ homestand Friday night at 7 p.m.
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