8 — Friday, December 2, 2016
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ wins opener: ‘Five more rounds’
It started with a block on the
left side, followed by another
on the right. When American
gathered
for a third
attempt,
the
Wolverines swatted that one,
too, this time into the floor to
take a commanding 12-5 first-
set lead. The towering front line
of sophomore Claire Kieffer-
Wright,
sophomore
Carly
Skjodt and freshman MacKenzi
Welsh rejoiced along with the
hometown Crisler Center crowd.
It was that kind of night for
the Wolverines, who made quick
work of the Eagles in their 3-0
victory in the first round of the
NCAA Tournament.
Nearly three months ago, the
Michigan volleyball team (11-9
Big Ten, 23-10 overall) defeated
American (15-1 Patriot League,
27-7 overall) in the Panther
Invitational,
3-0.
Thursday
night, the Wolverines picked up
right where they left off. No. 12
Michigan came out in its NCAA
Tournament debut with a 25-13
first-set
victory
behind
the
strong play of Kieffer-Wright
and senior outside hitter Kelly
Murphy, who each tallied five
kills in the set.
“It’s always hard in that first
match of the NCAA Tournament
to see how the nerves are going
to be for the team, how we’re
going to get into a rhythm,”
said Michigan head coach Mark
Rosen. “And I thought we did
that really well.”
In the second set, though,
the Patriot League champions
fought back.
Trailing 17-14 and later 20-17
in the second set, Rosen was
forced to call timeouts to get his
team refocused.
“I don’t think in timeouts
it’s about what we say, it’s more
giving them a break, them talking
with each other
and just calming
down,”
Rosen
said.
“I
think
they responded
really
well
to
the change in
momentum
(at
20-17).”
From
there,
the Wolverines
came
back
to
win the second
set, 25-23, and cruised to a third-
set victory, 25-12, completing a
win full of power and efficiency.
Michigan finished with 51 total
kills, only one shy of its season-
high in a three-set match. The
attack was multi-dimensional,
with three different Wolverines in
double-digit kills — senior middle
blocker Abby Cole (10), Murphy
(10) and Kieffer-Wright (13).
Going
forward,
Michigan
will face Oregon on Friday night
at Crisler Center again, with a
potential showdown with fifth-
seeded Kansas looming afterward.
“We’ll spend a lot of time in
the next 24 hours preparing for
(Oregon),” Rosen said. “They’re
fast, they move around a lot.
They’re very elusive in the way
they come at you, and they’re
athletic.”
But Rosen and his team don’t
seem to be intimidated by any
opponent going forward. They
believe playing in the Big Ten
— the conference with each
of the top three seeds in the
tournament and six of the top 16
— has been the ultimate primer.
“I think playing in the Big Ten
is the best way to prepare for the
tournament,”
Kieffer-Wright
said. “I really think that the
teams in the Big
Ten are the best
you’re going to
see all year.”
It
was
a
routine
win
that took a bit
of resiliency for
Michigan.
But
after the game,
Rosen and his
team clearly had
their sights set
on bigger things.
In case there was any doubt,
the
Wolverines
harbor
the
ultimate goal.
“National
champions,”
Kieffer-Wright said.
Added Rosen: “Five more
rounds.”
In its first home NCAA
Tournament match since 2009,
the Michigan volleyball team
put its offensive balance on full
display.
Fifth-year
senior
outside
hitter Kelly Murphy or junior
outside
hitter
Carly
Skjodt
would rise up from the left side
of the court to power a shot
past American’s front line. Or
senior middle blocker Abby
Cole or junior middle blocker
Claire Kieffer-Wright would
elevate and thunder a kill
down the middle. Anything the
12th-ranked Wolverines tried
offensively
worked
against
the overmatched Eagles on
Thursday night.
The first time these two
teams met — in September at
the Panther Invitational in
Pittsburgh — Michigan swept
American, 3-0, recording its
most kills of the season for
a three-set match with 52.
They nearly equaled that total
Thursday night, registering 51
kills to the tune of a .406 kill
percentage.
“That’s
a
lot
of
earned
points,” said Michigan coach
Mark Rosen. “You’re going to
get a certain number of points
from your opponent making
mistakes or from errors, or
you’re going to get points from
blocking or serving aces. But 51
kills in a three-set match is a
big number. That just tells me
how smooth we’re playing on
offense.”
It was that way from the
beginning of the game. Cole,
a
unanimous
All-Big
Ten
selection and the Wolverines’
leader in kills per set at 3.16,
didn’t add to the kill total until
the Wolverines were up 20-8 in
the opening set. Instead, it was
Murphy, Kieffer-Wright and
Skjodt who carried most of the
responsibility on offense. But
a player of Cole’s caliber was
never going to stay silent for
long.
“She was playing fine, we
just didn’t set her much,”
Rosen said. “Had we set her,
she’d have been fine. We were
creating some other stuff that
then opened her up for later.”
It was clear that the third set
was Cole’s turn to dominate,
and she did just that. She opened
the set with a kill and tallied
another four points in close
succession midway through the
set to help the Wolverines pull
away for good.
Overall, Michigan saw three
players
with
double-figure
kills – Cole, Kieffer-Wright
and Murphy with 13, 10 and
10, respectively, with Skjodt
chipping in with eight of her
own. All told, it was one of their
most well-rounded attacking
efforts of the season.
“We did a great job with
rhythm and tempo,” Murphy
said. “All the hitters did a great
job tonight.”
While American came in
with just two players averaging
at least two kills per set, five
such players — Cole, Kieffer-
Wright, junior outside hitter
Adeja Lambert, Murphy and
Skjodt — can be found on
Michigan’s roster. The contrast
between the two teams in this
regard was evident Thursday
night in Crisler Center. When
the
Wolverines
managed
to limit the production of
sophomore Aleksandra Kazala,
who came in averaging 4.37
kills per set, the Eagles didn’t
have anywhere else to turn.
Judging by Thursday night’s
performance, as well as the
entire season, the multitude of
attacking options appears to be
one of the Wolverines’ greatest
strengths, and they hope that it
can lead them on a special run
through the tournament.
Michigan cruises
in first round of
NCAA tourney
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Writer
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
The Michigan volleyball team took an early lead in the first set and then overcame a late deficit in the second, coasting to a first-round win against American in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Diverse attack leads Wolverines to their second-highest kill total of the season
ARNOLD ZHOU/Daily
Michigan’s offense spread the ball around throughout the night Thursday.
JACOB SHAMES
Daily Sports Writer
AMERICAN
MICHIGAN
0
3
“I think they
responded
really well to
the change.”