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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 5A

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycomThursday, October 24, 2013 - SA

Wolverines make
hostility their own

'M' stuns Spartans on road

By JAKE LOURIM
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - Six thou-
sand, one hundred and eighty-
three people stood, watched and
yelled. Every moment, whenever
the ball hit a Michigan State
player's hand, the crowd was
" ready to explode.
And it didn't faze Molly Toon.
"In my mind, I pretend they're
cheering for us," said the Michi-
gan senior outside hitter. "It's
just a little trick that I have. It's
fun."
Wednesday, the Michigan vol-
leyball team had to win by tak-
ing every one of Michigan State's
punches and punching back.
And that was difficult at times,
because 6,000 people were root-
ing for them not to do so.
On three set points and a
handful of others, the Michi-
gan State crowd thought every
bounce would go its way - every
attack attempt, every block
attempt, every set.
But every time, Michigan
had just enough to keep it alive.
At one point, the ball simply
bounced off freshman middle
blocker Abby Cole's hand by acci-
dent, right to senior outside hit-
ter Lexi Erwin.
"We have to win some like
that," said Michigan coach Mark
Rosen. "We're not going to win
every one pretty."
Michigan State pulled away
to win the first set, 25-20, and
looked like it could hand Michi-
gan its sixth Big Ten loss. It cer-
tainly had the chances to do it.
But the Wolverines wouldn't
die. They won the last three sets,
25-22, 26-24, 32-30.
When Michigan made the
60-mile trip to East Lansing, got
through the rain and cold and
stepped into a packed Jenison
Field House, it knew it was get-
ting into an all-out war. It was
a true test of willpower, of who
wanted the 26th point more, then
the 27th, then the 28th and so on,
until Erwin's final kill dropped
and 6,183 people stood stunned.
In that war, the Wolverines
were playing on the wrong turf
In that war, the Wolverines had
five match points - all they had
to do was finish one.
Of course, the atmosphere
didn't make it easy.
"This has always been really
loud," Toon said. "Ohio State
is really loud, but this is really
loud."

There were so many points at
which Michigan could have fall-
en apart on its rival'shome court.
Starting at 13-12 in the fourth set
- when a Michigan State serve
initially ruled out was overruled
by the referee - Rosen argued
into a yellow card, and then he
sent Erwin over to argue the call.
Of course, it was Erwin with
the kill on the very next point.
The Spartans had the first set
point, and all 6,000 rose and
cheered. Michigan State outside
hitter Lauren Wicinski hit a ball
to the corner. The referee ruled it
out, and the crowd erupted.
From there, everything
descended into turmoil.
A reporter asked Toon after
the game if the game ended up
being decided by who made
the last play. It ended up being
decided by who made the late
play, then another, then another.
"We ran out of subs, so some
people had to play back row that
normallydon't," Erwin said. "We
knew we had to figure out a way
to win."
Toon set up a match point with
a kill, but Michigan State fought
it off with another kill.
Toon set up another match
point with a tip, but Cole com-
mitted two straight hitting
errors to give the Spartans an
opportunity.
"You just have to let things go
really quick," Cole said. "I just
made a couple bonehead mis-
takes at the end, but myteam was
there to cover for me, and that's
what teams do."
Five tension-filled points later,
Erwin finished off the match
with back-to-back kills. Increas-
ingly, as the final points contin-
ued, the fans could not believe
what they were watching.
Yet, 15 minutes later, Rosen
emerged from the locker room,
appearing calm and collected.
"I don't really notice that
(noise)," Rosen said. "I didn't
notice if our band played tonight.
Somebody said they did, but I
don't remember them playing at
all."
The game started off as a
coach's worst nightmare - a
sloppy, gritty slugfest. More than
two hours later, his team won
that sloppy, gritty slugfest.
He took it. He knew his team
kept fighting back. The Wolver-
ines stole the match from the
Michigan State players and the
6,183dfans who witnessed it in
wonder.

ByJOHN KOPKO
For the Daily
EAST LANSING - The Mich-
igan volleyball team traveled
to East Lansing on Wednesday
night for abattle with rival Mich-
igan State. Brisk autumn weather
and patches of rain did nothing
to keep a huge crowd of Spar-
tan fans from packing into Jeni-
son Field
House, MICHIGAN ST
with lines
forming at
the gates more than an hour and
a half before the first serve.
The atmosphere was elec-.
tric, and the tension and energy
between the two teams demon-
strated the usual feelings of ani-
mosity so often associated with
the in-state rivals. Michigan
State used everything it had up its
sleeve in order to "Jam Jenison."
The Spartan cheerleaders, band,
and mascot all made appearances
to fire up the home fans.
A handful of Wolverine band
members sat nestled into the
upper deck of the arena, rally-
ing the small number of maize-
and-blue-clad spectators against
deafening cheers from the Michi-
gan State faithful.
Early on, it looked like the visi-
tors bit off more than they could
chew deep inside enemy terri-
tory.
But none of it ended up mat-
tering, as the Wolverines took
down Michigan State in four sets,
20-25, 25-22, 26-24, 32-30.
The Spartans (6-2 Big Ten,
17-3 overall) started the first set
strong, capitalizing on an early
6-0 runtotake a 13-7 lead. Michi-
gan State's balanced offensive
attack led by senior outside hit-
ter Lauren Wicinski put Michi-
gan (3-5, 13-6) on its heels. After
stretching the lead to 22-15, the
Spartans held off the Wolverines
to take the set, 25-20.
Four Michigan State players
registered multiple kills in the
opening stanza, including three
from Wicinski, and two apiece
for freshman outside hitter Chloe
Reinig and freshman middle
blocker Allyssah Fitterer.
The second set featured a reju-
venated Michigan attack. The
Spartans fought to a 16-12 lead

ALLISON FARRAND/Daily
Senior outside hitter Molly Toon had 11 kills and two digs in Michigan's hard-fought road victory on Wednesday night.

behind Wicinski and Reinig, but
this time the determined Wol-
verines wouldn't go away. Led by
freshman middle blocker Abby
Cole's five kills, Michigan began
to hit back.
After tying the score at 17, the
teams traded blows. Michigan
State earned a 22-20 lead and
looked ready to close out the set
and put a firm hold on the match,
but a five-point run by the Wol-
verines gave the set to the visi-
tors.
"We practiced a lot of those
pressure situations," said senior
outside hitter Lexi Erwin. "It
was just trusting every player to
do their job."
The third setbecame an all-out.
war to score points, highlighted
by 13 ties and 10 lead changes.
Neither team could build more
than a three-point advantage.
The set grinded on, the score
stayed locked at 20-20 and both
teams grappled for an advantage.
A kill by freshman middle
blocker Autumn Chirstenson
propelled the Spartans to a 24-22
advantage. After a service error
brought Michigan within one, a

Wicinski attack attempt found a
gap in the Wolverine block.
As Michigan State celebrated
what it thought was a successful
kill, the line judge gestured with
his flag, indicating the ball had in
fact landed out of bounds.
After the Spartans thought
they had clinched the third set, a
questionable call gave Michigan
new lifet
Energized by a break in their
favor, the Wolverines rallied
around senior, middle blocker
Jennifer Cross to steal the set,
26-24.
"It was huge. This is a two-
point conference," said senior
outside' hitter Lexi Erwin. "You
don't see teams winning by 10
points."
Added Michigan coach Mark
Rosen: "Early in that third set,
we decided as a team that it
wasn't goingtobe a pretty night."
As they entered the fourth
stanza, little did the Wolverines
knew they were entering into a
30-point slugfest that involved 23
tie scores and 11 lead changes.
Much like the third set, nei-
ther team could gain more than

a three-point lead. The Spartans
grabbed a 21-18 lead, but the
Wolverines struck back to tie the
set, 23-23. After a Wicinski kill
to give the Spartans a set point,
Erwin answered with akill of her
own.
With the score deadlocked,
the two rivals began a series of
vicious rallies, but neither team
could finish off the other. Michi-
gan State fought off four match
points and gave itself two chanc-
es to take the set, but Michigan's
attack led by Erwin and senior
outside hitter Molly Toon finally
overwhelmed the Spartans.
"We just (had) to find a way
to win those dirty, grinded-out
points," Rosen said. "I don'tthink
we played overly well, but in the
end of the day we competed well,
and that meant a lot. We have to
win some that way."
In the first match against the
Spartans of her Michigan career,
Cole anchored the Wolverines
with ateam-high 15 kills.
"It was just another Big Ten
game, we don't want to make
anything big ofit," Cole said with
a smile. "But it was wild."

RELEASE DATE- Thursday, October24
Los Angeles Times D
Edited by Rich Norris
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PATRICK BARRON/Daily
Senior outside hitter Lexi Erwin had 12 kills and 11 digs on the night.
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