The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 10, 2002 - 13A

Blue spikers sweep first match
of 'Pride Series' against Spartans

By Albert Kim
Daily Sports Writer
In the first match of the annual "State Pride Series",
there probably wasn't much pride left in the No. 18
Michigan State Spartans after the Michigan volleyball
team finished with them last night. The Wolverines dom-
inated every aspect of the game, and swept the in-state
rival 3-0 (30-25, 30-20, 30-24) in front of a raucous Cliff
Keen Arena crowd.
With the win, Michigan jumped into sole possession
of third place in the Big Ten. Leading Michigan was
sophomore Jennifer Gandolph, who finished with 13
kills and 12 digs, both team highs. At one point, she was
on pace to break the all time Michigan record for hitting
percentage.
"I've never been so fired up for a game," Gandolph
said. "This year, I was way more comfortable, and the
sets were great"
Michigan seized control early in the first game by
building a 14-8 lead and never looking back. The Spar-
tans closed the gap to as few as two points, but Michigan
came up with clutch blocks and kills. The left outside
hitters of Michigan continually came up big, especially
junior Chantel Reedus, who led the team with seven kills
in the first game.
"Everybody, when they had the ball, was ready to go,"
Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
Michigan showed emotion and hustle early. On a
seemingly unplayable second ball that most teams would
have given up on, four Wolverines dove after it. Michi-
gan State, on the other hand, seemed listless and con-
fused, making unforced errors and failing to cover up
defensively.
"We were running on all cylinders," Rosen said. "I
think when you have as many people (as we did) on their

best match, it makes it pretty easy to be able to control
things."
The Spartans put up a better effort in the second
game, hanging close at 17-17. But the Wolverines made
a huge run behind the serve of freshman Alicia Boswell
and junior captain Erin Moore and some spectacular
defense.
The Wolverines forced the Spartans into a measly .027
hitting percentage. Not only that, but some unconven-
tional serving from Moore seemed to confuse the Spar-
tans. Moore served to the front right corner of the
Michigan State court, and other Michigan servers fol-
lowed suit after the Spartans were unable to adjust.
"One thing we noticed was Nikki Colson, their setter,
does not like to set the ball when the ball comes from
behind her short," Rosen said. "We were just kind of try-
ing to control their offense a little bit."
It worked to perfection, as the Spartans' offense sput-
tered down the stretch in both game two and game three.
After the intermission, the Spartans came out with
more emotion in the third game, but it fizzled quickly.
Much like the second game, Michigan pulled away in the
middle stages of the game, picking up its defense to a
point where it seemed impenetrable.
The offense was effective as well, particularly the
deep cross court sets by sophomore Lisa Gamalski,
who caught the Spartans off guard more than a few
times to get one-on-one matches for Michigan's strong
outside hitters.
"They pretty much commit on one hitter every play, so
Lisa just kind of has to guess which one they're not
going to commit on," Gandolph said. "She got us one-
on-one plenty of times."
With two straight wins over ranked Big Ten opponents
in Ohio State and Michigan State, the Wolverines have
put themselves in great position heading to Penn State

BRENDAN O'DONNELL/Daily
The Michigan volleyball team upset archrival Michigan State last night at Cliff Keen Arena in the first match of the State
Pride Series. Michigan won both matches last year including a come from behind win in Ann Arbor.

on tomorrow. Confidence will be a key for the Wolver-
ines - and after tonight there's no lack of that.
"I think (our confidence) is pretty high right now,"

Gandolph said. "We played great with them two times
last year, and we don't have any reason to have doubts
right now."

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Mills will suit up for
Lions despite injury

PRACTICE
Continued from Page 11A
with how the team responded to the
week off.
"While we were practicing, I thought
that we did a good job of keeping up
the tempo and making sure that we
weren't sluggish," Joppru said.
Michigan coach Lloyd Carr "did
a good job of organizing our prac-
tices and giving us time when we
could watch film," Curry said. "A
lot of it wasn't mandatory, but many
of the guys were there doing it on
their own because we are in this try-
ing to get to the championship. If
we don't dedicate ourselves, then
we won't be successful."

Defensive linemen Shantee Orr and
Norman Heuer, who both sat out the
Illinois game due to injury, had a
chance to lick their wounds. Carr
would not say whether they would be
available to play against the Nittany
Lions.
ZACK ATTACK: Penn State quarter-
back Zack Mills, who did not prac-
tice earlier this week due to an
injury to his right (non-throwing)
shoulder, said yesterday that he will
play Saturday.
Mills is used to playing through
pain.The redshirt sophomore hurt him-
self in the second quarter at Wisconsin,
went to the locker room before the half
was over, but then came back to com-
plete the Nittany Lions' victory in the

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