4B - October 28, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com THE MICHIGAN DAILY TOP-10 POLL Each week, Daily sports staffers fill out ballots, with first place votes receiving 10 points, second-place votes receiving nine, and so on. 1. ALABAMA (18): Nick 2. FLORIDA STATE (3): 3. OREGON : How soon 4. OHIO STATE: Have S. BAYLOR: The Bears do Saban has never attended Jameis Winston? More until Chip Kelly regrets you ever heard Urban what Devin Gardner did a tailgate in his life. He (' like Jameis Wins-a- leaving? Meyer laugh? No? Lucky against Indiana pretty sounds really fun! ton. Good Lord, what a - you. Like a dying hyena. much every week. quarterback. 6. STANFORD: The 7. MIAMI (FL):- The Cardinal beat the Beavers NCAA is clearly afraid of and didn't give a dam. Hurricanes. Dam. Get it? Beavers... 8. OKLAHOMA: We're still mad at Oklahoma for stealing the Detroit Shock. Screw you, Oklahoma. .0 9. MISSOURI: The Tigers will be kicking themselves over this loss for a while. 10. AUBURN: Beat Florida Atlantic and snuck into this Top-10. Maybe we actually aren't so good at this. STAFF PICKS The Daily football writers do their best to predict, against the spread, what happens in the 2013 football season. Zach Everett Helfand Cook Matt Slovin Liz Vukelich Mike Proppe, CSG President Alebeeee Atebeme No.1Alabama(-28) vs. Tennessee No. 2 Florida State 0(32) vs. NC State No.3 Oregon(-23) vs.No.12 UCLA No.4Ohio state (-15) vs. Penn State No. 5 Missouri (-3) vs. No;21 SouthCarolina No. 6 Stanford (-4) at No. 25 Oregon State No, 7 Miami (FI)(-23.5) vs. Wake Forest No.8 Baylor (-35) at Kansas No.9Clemson (-14) at Maryland No. 10Texas Tech (+7) at No.15 Oklahoma No.11 Auburn (-24) vs. FloridaAtlantic No.13 LSU (-47) vs. Furman No.14 Virginia Tech (-14) vs. Duke No.16 Texas A&M(-7) vs. Vanderblt No. 17 Fresno State (-9) at San DiegoeState No.18 NorthernIllinois(-30) vs. Eastern Michigan No.19 Oklahoma State (13) at IowaState No.20 Louisville (-20) a South Florida No. 23 Central Flo-ida (-23) vs. Connecticut No. 24 Nebraska (-10.5) vs. Minnesota Iowa (-4) vs. Northwestern Michigan State (-10) at Iinois This Week Overall PennStaeot Wak rgete vylor C~tleo Freseo State Louisville Northweternd MichigneStae 11-0 Forida State Stanford Mi (L) Bayor Oklahomae Auburn LSU Tigexas A& Fesno Slate Northern Ilinois OklahomaeState Louisville Nebraska Aabma NC ,,Stae Stanford Baylor TCleso LSU Vanderbil San Diego Stae Nothernlllinoeis Oklahomae State Louisville CtrlFloida MihignState 11-10 126-78 Alabama NC State Oregon OhioState Missouri Stanford Miami (FL) Baylor Clemson Oklahoma Auburn L SU Duke Vanderbilt Fresno State Northern Illinois Oklahoma State Louisville Central Florida Nebraska Iowa Michigan State ,14-7 113-91 Alcbam Miami (FL) Texas Tech Auburn Virginia Tech Texas A&M Eatern,,Michign, OklhmaStae Louisville Northwetern Illnoi Lacking consistency, 'M' falls to Purdue By ZACH SHAW Daily Sports Writer Just three days after sinking No. 10 Michigan State in four sets in East Lansing, the No. 17 Mich- igan volleyball team found itself facing yet another ranked Big Ten opponent in No. 21 Purdue. Any momentum from the rivalry win on the road failed to carry over to Cliff Keen Arena Saturday as the Wolverines (4-6 Big Ten, 14-7 overall) fell to the Boilermakers, 3-1. The match began with a back- and-forth battle in the first set. The balanced and powerful Pur- due offense was countered time and again by the fearless Wolver- ine defense as the intensity rose with the score. Eventually, how- ever, Michigan gave way as the Boilermakers (6-4, 15-6) took five of the last six points for a 25-20 victory. "We came out, and Purdue played really well in the first TRACY KO/Daily Junior setter Lexi Dannemiller tied for the team lead with 17 digs on Saturday. Senior outside hitter Molly Toon had 16 kills in Michigan's to "(Erwin and Cross) didn't have as good numbers tonight, but they're human. They're playing hard, so they'll be fine. "Our goal is to be balanced offensively; we don't want to be a team built on one player that can be stopped." On a team talented enough to beat the nation's elite over the - past two seasons, consistency has been the biggest obstacle for Michigan this season. Satur- day was no exception, as 20 of 28 Wolverine errors occurred in the last two sets. It was flashes of brilliance followed by futility. "Before we can look at other teams, we need to focus on us," Rosen said. "We need to focus on being more consistent in our execution, and that doesn't have TRKACYtO/Daily a lot to do with our opponents. ss to Purdue. We need to make sure that in practice, our players and coaches w unanswered are working to be more consis- thing you know tent in every phase of the game. ead and all the Whether it's passing, setting, heirside. Unfor- serving, attacking, defense, we rried over into can improve our consistency in nd we seemed a all of those areas." and were play- Halfway through the Big Ten tem. We fought season, Michigan finds itself at a at point we were crossroads. back against the With 10 games to go in the regular season, the Wolverines will face five "...at that point, teams they've already lost we were playing to, beginning next weekend with our back against No. 2 Penn State and against the -Wall." No. 24 Ohio State. With big rematches set," said Michigan coach Mark we didn't stop them. They hit Rosen. "I don't know that we .500 as ateam, and their offense didn't play well, but in the end, was really flowing at that point." E THELIOII As well as Purdue played in the first set, the Michigan defense buckled down in the second. The Wolverines played near-perfect volleyball, committing just two errors while never trailing en route to a 25-13 win. "I thought our team did an amazing job coming back in the second set," Rosen said. "It was a really good change that we made defensively. Our blocking, floor defense, we were getting digs, but we also managed to get a lot of points in transition and that was big for our team." The third set began as a mir- ror image of the second, and it appeared Michigan would go on to its fourth Big Ten victory in its last five tries. Led by flaw- less serves and unrelenting digs, the Wolverines cruised to a 16-9 lead, much to the delight of the 1,220 fans, many of whom stood up in anticipation of an easy vic- tory. But over the next several min- utes, Purdue scored eight unan- swered points to take the lead. It would be the final lead change of the night, as the Boilermak- ers won the third set, 25-22, and effortlessly clinched the match with a 25-20 fourth-set win in which they never trailed. "We got stuck in a rotation in the third set," Rosen said. "They rattle off a fe points, and next, they've got the 1 momentum'sont1 tunately, that ca the fourth set, at little frustrated ing out of our sys back in, but at tha playing with our 1 wall." In a rare fall to earth, the usually domi- nant offen- sive combo of senior outside hitter Lexi Erwin and senior middle blocker Jen- -nifer Cross struggled, committing a cot in the match. Spending mor court than usua nessed strong p senior outside hi and freshmanj Ally Davis, who 30 kills in the los how many power has leaves Rosen team's ability tor "Every player great potential, a dence in all of th' mbined 17 errors e time off the .1, the duo wit- erformances by tter Molly Toon middle blocker combined for s. Knowing just rful weapons he confident in his ebound quickly. on our team has nd I have confi- em," Rosen said. looming ahead, and potentially even bigger games on the postseason hori- zon, Rosen can only hope the good spurts outweigh the bad. "The first time through the schedule, we didn't see any teams in the first round that we didn't feel like we could beat," Rosen said. "We felt like we matched up talent-wise and had a chance to beat any team we played. "Now we get another shot at them, and we have to work hard to improve enough to beat them this time." visit store.michigandaily.com to place your order Posters are alo avilable for purchase Monday - Friday fom 9 Dm -5 pm Office of Student Publictons, 420 Maynard St ret.