The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Friday, November 7, 2008 - 9 JENNIFER KRON/Daily Sophomore setter Lexi Zimmerman and the Wolverines host Northwestern and Wisconsin this weekend. Protecting leads ey for 'M' this weekend By MARK BURNS ning, but at the same time we can't Daily Sports Writer try to do things too differently." Last Saturday, Michigan Michigan associate volleyball squared off against then-No. 20 coach Leisa Rosen was talking Purdue, the Wolverines took a to just one player, but she might well-deserved 2-0 lead heading as well have been talking to the into the intermission. entire team. "I thought we were playing well "You need to stop thinking and going into the break - serving just start playing," Rosen said tough and defending well," Rosen after Wednes- said. day's practice. Northwestern Michigan's comfortable lead The Wolver- at Michigan quickly evaporated as the Boiler- ines are coming makers showcased their offensive off a very disap- Matchup: prowess after the break, hitting pointing week- Northwestern an average of .359 in the last three end in which they gao 18-6 sets. gave away two The key to the match may have near-wins which When: Tonight been the wide margin in blocks, could have pro- 7 with Purdue notching 12 more pelled them into Where: Cliff than Michigan. third place in the Keen Arena Blocking has been a weakness Big Ten stand- TV: all season for the Wolverines. ings. Big Ten Net- In Big Ten contests, Michigan is But the team work averaging just two per set. had difficulty But Mark Rosen doesn't see it closing out its that way. opponents, a problem that has According to Rosen, his team plagued the Wolverines all sea- was losing the "serve-and-pass son. battle". Michigan (6-6 Big Ten, 18-6 "Whenever we serve, we'd like overall) is the only team in the to have their setter to be on the conference to squander a 2-0 lead run, where she is setting some- in a match twice this season. where outside the 10-foot line and And the 20th-ranked Wolver- making their passers pass the ball ines hope that won't happen a off the net," Rosen said. third time as they host Northwest- But in the match against the ern and Wisconsin this weekend. Boilermakers,, the Wolverines "After a weekend of going 0-2, were the ones serving the ball you're a little bit more urgent," outside the 10-foot line, giving the Michigan head coach Mark Rosen Purdue blockers time to set up. said. "You want to get back to win- The same thing happened against Wisconsin in the begin- ning of October. The Wolverines were up 2-0 on the Badgers and let the lead slip away. Wisconsin eventually came out on top in a five-set match. This weekend Michigan has a shot at redemption against the Badgers. The Wolverines hope to take what they have learned from these two heartbreaking defeats and turn it into two solid wins in the friendly confines of Cliff Keen Arena. "We don't want to forget (the losses) but we don't want to dwell on them," junior libero Megan Bower said. "We're focusing on finishing strongly, tryingto take as much positive out of the matches as we can." Over the course of the season, Rosen and the coaching staff have implemented game-like situations into practice. The team scrimmag- es itself, with the score starting tied at 17. "We do a lot of drills where we try to recreate that situation (close-out points) in a game when you're on the court and you get nerves," sophomore setter Lexi Zimmerman said. But Rosen doesn't attribute it to nerves. He thought his team is thinking a little too much on the court, instead of just playing. "Play hard, play hard, play hard," Rosen told his team. "If you guys just play out there, it will come to you." Expectations surge after last season's WNIT bid By TIM ROHAN Borseth knows it's a simple offense, Daily Sports Writer but is concerned about its execu- tion. The clock is ticking and the "You got to move the ball," Michigan women's basketball team Borseth said. "(You've got to) take is down by one point with 20 sec- care of it, make good decisions with onds to play. Wolverines coach it, get it to the point where you can Kevin Borseth calmly calls a tim- shoot it or score it, and you got to eout to fire up his players and strat- make it." egize. But he knows not to expect per- But who gets the last shot? fection right from the start of the "I don't know," Borseth said. season. "One of them takes it upon their "If there is a bunch of holes in shoulders to do it. ...They are prob- the boat, you jam a cork in one and ably going to determine (it) more that cork only holds for so long," than I am." Borseth said. And that's just one of the many He knows he'll have to keep offensive questions Michigan must pounding the corks down all sea- answer this year. son, but he also has a feeling for In his second year coaching in where his team's corks are going to Ann Arbor, Borseth finds himself pop up. One of those holes is forc- with a roster loaded with veteran ing turnovers, which gets the team leadership and poise. That's why he out in transition offense. Right now can trust his team so much with his the Wolverines aren't getting those freelance motion offense. easy opportunities. Borseth's offense generally posi- It's not just the transition game tions four players on the perimeter that needs work. Senior guard Jes- and one in the paint. It is less struc- sica Minnfield said getting the ball tured and dependent on movement. to the post more and driving to the basket is critical. Michigan has been known to liveand die by the 3-point shot. One of the big concerns going into the year for Borseth is if all five of his players can shoot the basket- ball. However, he wants his team to take advantage of what the defense is givingthem. Perhaps most importantly, with the loss of Janelle Cooper and Kris- ta Clement,last year's team's "glue", Borseth doesn't know who is going to step up to take the last shot and mold the identity of this team. The team starts its search in this week- end's season opening exhibition against Northwood. The team will need to find its identity fast - before the real prob- lems start and corks start popping out. "We don't know who we are," Borseth said."We don't know who's goingto take the last shot.We don't know where the big rebounds are going to come from, or where the big passes are goingto come from" "I just don't know," he added.