2B — December 12, 2016
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN

A hopeful ride, and the end of the road

A

fter his team’s first 
weekend of the 2016 
season, Michigan 

volleyball 
coach Mark 
Rosen said he 
doesn’t like 
to compare 
teams from 
different 
seasons. 
There are 
too many 
variables: 
different 
players, different circumstances, 
different schedules.

But last week, with this 

season nearing its end, when 
asked to compare, Rosen 
couldn’t help but see the 
resemblance. His team finished 
above .500 in the Big Ten for the 
first time since 2012, reached 
the Sweet 16 for the first time 
since 2012 and was on a collision 
course to play Texas for the 
first time since the Longhorns 
eliminated Michigan from the 
NCAA Tournament in 2012.

There were more similarities: 

Rosen’s 2012 team and his 2016 
team had a core group of veteran 
players, but also a handful of 
freshman contributors. Two of 
his freshmen on the 2012 team 
were fifth-year senior leaders 
on the 2016 team. And that 2012 
team made the program’s only 
Final Four.

The Wolverines landed in 

Austin, Texas, on Wednesday 
looking to get back to that level. 
It didn’t happen. Friday night in 
the Sweet 16, Creighton ended 
Michigan’s season by winning 
the decisive fifth set, 15-7.

When Rosen spoke on 

Wednesday, he knew that might 
happen. He knew Creighton 
had a good team. He knew the 
Wolverines had lost 10 times 
before this season, and had 
lost other NCAA Tournament 
matches before. He did not claim 
that his team was infallible. He 

had one belief about how the 
weekend would go.

“I think we’ll play our best 

volleyball,” he said. “Whether 
it’ll be enough or not, I don’t 
know. But I’m confident that if 
we play our best volleyball, then 
in some ways — I wouldn’t say I 
don’t care, because we all want to 
win — but again, we can’t control 
that.”

Inside what he could control, 

he tried to treat everything as 
normal. Some things were not, 
of course: For the postseason, 
the NCAA logo was printed 
on the court. The court itself 
was brought out just for the 
weekend. Thursday, the NCAA 
held a special pre-regional media 
session.

“There’s instincts in you to 

want to go, ‘Hey, we gotta make 
this more important,’ or ‘We’ve 
got to do this differently,’ but I 
think that’s the wrong approach. 
I think for us, we want to just 
make it normal.”

Michigan knew how to do 

that — it had done so all year. In 
Rosen’s eyes, that was one of the 
qualities that made this team 
so successful. Led by fifth-year 
seniors Kelly Murphy and Ally 
Davis and senior Abby Cole, the 
Wolverines kept their perspective 
all season.

They had to, in the ruthless 

Big Ten. The Wolverines lost 
five matches against top-three 
teams, including two in five sets, 
most recently Nov. 20 at No. 2 

Minnesota.

Rosen did not try to make that 

feel normal. “This hurts a lot, but 
it should,” he recalled telling his 
team. “If you care a lot and you 
put a lot into it, it’s gonna hurt.”

Earlier this season, he 

compared the nation’s toughest 
conference to a “meat grinder,” 
and his team’s schedule was 
never tougher than in the last 
three weekends. That span 
consisted of five matches against 
top-15 teams — No. 1 Nebraska, 
No. 2 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin 
and Michigan State twice — and 
only one win, against the then-
14th-ranked Spartans at home. A 
1-4 finish to the regular season 
was not an ideal way to enter the 
NCAA Tournament.

“But you would have never 

known from looking at our team 
in the way that they practiced, or 
the way they prepared or the way 
they even played in matches,” 
Rosen said. “They never looked 
down. We were a little worried 
about that going into it — how’s 
that going to be with our 
confidence if we don’t win more 
of these? And our team never 
once looked affected by it in a 
negative way.”

That stretch told Rosen all 

he needed to know heading 
into the postseason. His team 
hosted the first weekend of the 
NCAA Tournament for the first 
time since 2009 and dispatched 
American and Oregon to move 
onto the Sweet 16. It moved onto 

Austin, where it hoped to have 
the chance to avenge the loss 
from four years ago and return to 
that level.

Rosen did not know how 

it would go. About half of his 
team played in the NCAA 
Tournament last year, but his 
eight freshmen didn’t. They 
were all playing in a new gym. 
They knew they were playing 
a good team, but they hoped 
that if they played their game, it 
would be good enough.

For most of the year, that 

worked. They prepared the same 
way, played the same way and 
split the first four sets with the 
21st-ranked Blue Jays.

They fell behind in the fifth 

set, 9-3, and yet in the timeout, 
their mindset was the same. 
Rosen took a knee in front 
of his team and calmly gave 
instructions, trying to keep 
spirits up. “All that matters is that 
we win the next point,” he said. 
“All night long, the next point is 
all we can win. Let’s just win this 
point.”

Michigan did, forcing a lift 

call on the ensuing play. But 
the deficit was too much to 
overcome, as Creighton landed 
a kill just inside the boundary 
to end the match. Again, the 
Wolverines’ demeanor was the 
same. Rosen shook the opposing 
coaches’ hands, high-fived his 
players one by one and then 
turned and walked to the locker 
room, head down.

The tournament run that had 

so much promise, that looked like 
it could bring back memories of 
2012, ended for the Wolverines. 
They knew what they had to 
do, and they did it; it just wasn’t 
enough. Their season ended short 
of the 2012 level they thought 
was possible. That hurt. And as 
Rosen said, it should.

Lourim can be reached 

at jlourim@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @jakelourim.

Peppers finishes fifth 
in Heisman balloting

Jabrill Peppers made highlight 

reels all season, but as expected, 
Louisville 
quarterback 
Lamar 

Jackson one-upped him and the 
other finalists Saturday night at 
the Heisman Trophy ceremony. 
By a large margin, Jackson won 
the Heisman Trophy, given to 
the best overall player in college 
football.

Peppers finished fifth in the 

voting and was one of five finalists 
at the ceremony in New York City. 
Jackson won with 2,144 points, 
followed by Clemson quarterback 
Deshaun Watson with 1,524, 
Oklahoma 
quarterback 
Baker 

Mayfield with 361, Oklahoma 
wide receiver Dede Westbrook 
with 209 and Peppers with 208.

With Jackson’s win, the last 

primarily defensive player to win 
the Heisman is still Michigan’s 
Charles 
Woodson 
in 
1997. 

Peppers has drawn comparisons 
to Woodson since he arrived 
on campus, and his numbers 
matched up earlier this fall after a 
torrid start to the season.

But opponents began to key on 

Peppers, and his numbers tailed 
off enough to hurt his candidacy. 
He finished the regular season 

with 27 carries for 167 yards and 
three touchdowns; two catches 
for three yards; 21 punt returns 
for 310 yards and a touchdown; 
10 kick returns for 260 yards; one 
interception, 72 tackles, 16 tackles 
for loss and four sacks.

He earned the title of most 

versatile player in college football 
by winning the Paul Hornung 
Award 
on 
Thursday 
night. 

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh 
often used that term to describe 
him this season, and he used 
Peppers all over the field to back 
that up.

Jackson, 
meanwhile, 
was 

electrifying on offense, racking 
up 3,390 passing yards with 30 
touchdowns and 1,538 rushing 
yards with 21 touchdowns. He 
was the favorite after a terrific 
September and maintained that 
title for most of the season.

Peppers will now turn his 

focus to the Wolverines’ matchup 
against Florida State in the 
Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. Another 
important question over the 
next month will be whether that 
game will be Peppers’ last in a 
Michigan uniform. The redshirt 
sophomore is eligible for the NFL 
Draft this season, and he would 
likely be a first-round pick in the 
spring.

Michigan’s season comes to an end 
in Sweet 16 of NCAA Tournament

The Michigan volleyball team 

was one set away from clinching 
a spot in the quarterfinals of 
the NCAA Tournament. But 
Creighton took an early lead in 
the fifth and final set that the 
Wolverines couldn’t overcome, 
and Michigan was eliminated 
from the tournament.

After a net violation was called 

on the Wolverines in the fifth 
set, the Bluejays were set up for 
the match point. It appeared 
Michigan thought the ensuing 
kill from Jaali Winters was going 
wide, but it clipped the sideline 
and simultaneously pulled the 
plug on the Wolverines’ season.

It 
was 
clear 
from 
the 

beginning that Creighton was 
in control of the match. Even 
though Michigan took the first 
set, the Bluejays ended the set 

with a .239 hitting percentage 
compared to the Wolverines .196.

“It became hard to stop them 

defensively because they were 
really balanced,” said Michigan 
coach Mark Rosen. “They were 
better at getting kills and that’s 
usually a big difference in our 
game, because kills are points.”

The Wolverines struggled to 

score against a strong defense, 
which finished with 20 blocks. 
Michigan could only muster 12 
blocks due to Creighton’s fast-
paced offense.

In 
the 
third 
set, 
the 

Wolverines made the necessary 
corrections to easily take the set, 
25-17. On the set point, senior 
middle blocker Abby Cole tipped 
the ball over the net, forcing 
a miscommunication on the 
Bluejays and giving Michigan the 
set.

The Wolverines trailed early 

in the last two sets, surrendering 

their 2-1 set lead. In the fourth 
set, Creighton led, 17-11, its 
largest lead of the match. After 
a lift was called on Michigan, 
Rosen called a timeout.

The Wolverines were then able 

to pull within four points, but 
after a long rally, it was Lauren 
Smith who forced the fifth set for 
the Bluejays.

With the fifth set only going to 

15 points, it was important to get 
off to a hot start.

Unfortunately for Michigan, it 

made too many unforced errors 
to compete with Creighton. The 
Wolverines were down, 9-3, and 
they seemed hopeless.

It was fifth-year senior Kelly 

Murphy’s last volleyball match, 
and fortunately for her, it was one 
to remember. She finished with 
17 kills and 13 digs, but her impact 
went beyond the scoresheet. As a 
leader of the team, she showed 
the underclassman how to not 

lose hope, even when faced with 
defeat.

In the waning moments of 

the fifth set, Cole re-entered the 
match. The Wolverines had all 
three captains on the court, and 
it was clear the team needed 
their guidance. Cole made a 
statement in those final points 
with two decisive kills. But it 
wasn’t enough to salvage the 
match, and Michigan fell in the 
fifth set, 15-7.

“I think our three seniors 

were phenomenal,” Rosen said. 
“They really brought so much to 
the table when it comes to how 
this team developed together. We 
talk a lot in our program about a 
growth mindset.

“Every game we’re going to 

get better. Every day, we’re going 
to follow the process and the 
outcome will take care of itself. 
And I thought this team stayed 
very true to that.”

GRANT HARDY/Daily

Redshirt sophomore Jabrill Peppers fell short of the Heisman Trophy.

JAKE LOURIM

Managing Sports Editor

PAIGE VOEFFRAY

Daily Sports Writer

RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily

Fifth-year senior Kelly Murphy finished with 17 kills and 13 digs in the final game of her Wolverine career Friday night against Creighton.

JAKE 
LOURIM

SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily

Michigan coach Mark Rosen’s team returned to the Sweet 16 forthe first time since 2012, but a loss to Creighton on Friday ended the Wolverines’ season.

