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Y E A R B O O K
8 — Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines
take two
of three
at CSU
Invitational
At this point in the season,
the
Michigan
volleyball
team has only participated
in tournaments instead of
regular matches. According
to coach Mark Rosen, there
are both pros and cons to the
early stretch of tournament
play.
“It’s good in the sense that
you get to play more matches
and you get to play different
level teams, you can try some
different things. The Big Ten
is so competitive that every
match is just a battle. So you
can’t really experiment much
or try something different in
those matches because you
really have to be at your very
best,” Rosen said.
The team traveled to Fort
Collins, Colo. to participate
in the CSU Invitational this
past weekend for its third
tournament of the season.
Over the course of three
days, the Wolverines played
three matches against Idaho
State, Colorado State and
Ball State, winning two.
While
the
ability
to
experiment can be beneficial,
tournaments can create an
accelerated
environment
for
matches.
On
Friday,
the Wolverines played two
matches in one day.
“It’s
a
little
more
physically
challenging,”
Rosen said. “When you have
that turnaround, you don’t
get to know as much about
the opponent and you don’t
have time to do as much
detailed scouting.”
The
weekend
started
out strong for Michigan. It
opened at 10 a.m. on Friday
with a clean 3-0 sweep
against Idaho State. Later
that
day,
the
Wolverines
played
against
Colorado
State and ended up with a
3-0 loss.
The team then had a day off
to prepare for their Sunday
match against Ball State.
“It was tough on Friday
night,” Rosen said. “But the
team knows that throughout
the course of the season we
have to be resilient. I thought
we had a great practice on
Saturday and we worked
some things out.”
The
Wolverines
started
the
match
off
Sunday
morning with a 25-17 loss in
the first set.
“They’re
a
good,
competitive team and they
came out really aggressive
early on,” Rosen said. “We
were maybe a little residual
from Friday night. You start
to doubt yourself.”
That did not last long,
however. Michigan picked
itself up and took a 25-20
victory in the second set.
The third set proved to be
the most dominant set of the
match for the Wolverines, as
they won 25-11.
Rosen was most impressed
by
the
team’s
ability
to
adjust, not only physically
but mentally. He praised
the team for their ability
to switch their mentality,
which allowed them to be
more successful in the later
sets.
“We were really frustrated
in the first set and really on
our heels to flipping that
within a one set period of
time where all of the sudden
we were the aggressor in a
big way,” Rosen said.
Michigan went on to win
the fourth set 25-18 and
close out the weekend with
a come-from-behind victory.
“We stopped looking like
we had to be perfect to be
successful,” Rosen said. “…
You need to let yourself
be a little more free and
comfortable with knowing
that there is going to be some
mistakes and you can fight
through that.”
SARAH HURST
Daily Sports Writer
VOLLEYBALL
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RYAN MCLOUGHLIN/Daily
Michigan coach Mark Rosen was impressed by his team’s adjustments.
‘M’ on the brink of new test against Air Force
So far in 2017, Michigan’s
defense has been its saving
grace.
While
the
offense
and
special teams have dealt with
their fair share of growing
pains, defensive coordinator
Don Brown’s unit has suffered
no such fate.
Even
the
fact
that
the
Wolverines’
first
two
opponents
have
scored
31
combined
points
is
highly
misleading — 14 of those points
came off Florida pick-sixes.
Meanwhile, the defense has
accounted for 21 of Michigan’s
69 total points. In short, it has
has scored four more points
than it has allowed.
“That’s a good statistic,”
said fifth-year senior defensive
tackle Maurice Hurst. “We’ll
try to keep it as long as
possible.”
For a unit absorbing the
losses of all but one starter
from 2016 — all while adopting
Brown’s new 3-3-5 scheme —
the Wolverines’ learning curve
would have been expected to
be much steeper.
But that has been far from
the case. Just ask coach Jim
Harbaugh.
At his media press conference
Monday, Harbaugh was asked
about
the
performance
of
cornerback Lavert Hill. He said
the sophomore had “asserted
himself,” and was rewarded for
his efforts with a pick-six that
closed out Saturday’s win over
Cincinnati.
But rather than stop there,
Harbaugh kept naming players
who had impressed him with
their performances against the
Bearcats.
The list went on and on.
They all happened to play on
the defensive side of the ball.
Junior safety Tyree Kinnel
had a “spotlight” on him after
a nod as the Big Ten Defensive
Player of the Week for his
team-high nine tackles and
first career interception that
he returned for a touchdown.
Sophomore end Rashan Gary
had “one of his best games”
with
a
three-tackle
outing
that was highlighted by a big
hit on Cincinnati quarterback
Hayden Moore in the fourth
quarter. When the officials
called a roughing the passer
penalty and then reviewed
the play for targeting, Gary
got riled up on the field, and
the Michigan Stadium crowd
responded in kind.
“That was the loudest I’d
heard it in a while,” Hurst said.
“I think that was the loudest
part of the game.”
Sophomore
linebacker
Devin Bush Jr. had “another
big game” after tallying seven
tackles, a sack and a pass break-
up. Hurst, for his own part,
received the highest praise.
“(He) probably played the
best of the up front defensive
players,” Harbaugh said.
And that’s not even all of the
players who received a mention.
For a coach who usually keeps
the details to himself, the
gesture spoke volumes about
the early success of his defense.
“(I) attribute that to hard
work, good scheme and good
players,” Harbaugh said.
While the Wolverine defense
is trending upward, it will
face a unique challenge when
Michigan welcomes Air Force
to Ann Arbor this week.
The Falcons frequently run
a hybrid triple-option offense
that almost no other team in
the country does.
“They go back and forth
between the conventional and
the option,” Harbaugh said.
Though
the
Wolverines
aren’t
particularly
familiar
with it, Hurst joked that he
had some understanding of it
because he sometimes played
with the formation on the
NCAA Football video game.
However,
they
spent
a
significant amount of spring
camp ironing out a specific game
plan to handle the challenge.
“We prepared a lot in the
spring practices to get ready
for what we’re going to face
this week,” Hurst said. “So
it’s not a complete shock to
us. And I think we’ll be ready
to have our scout team give
us a look that we need — that
they’ve been practicing and
have done before — so I think
that all helps you understand
the offense better.”
While that experience could
be helpful, Hurst admitted that
there is still a lot Michigan’s
defense will need to learn
before Saturday.
“There’s a lot of things that
go into it, and there’s a lot of
people you have to account
for in the option game,” Hurst
said. “It’s just really tough for
any defense to have to sort of
switch what you’re doing on
defense just to play this one
week and then go back to a
normal team.”
After such a strong start to
the year, the Wolverine defense
now has a new challenge to rise
up to this week. If the offense
and special teams units remain
a work in progress, Michigan
will need to lean on its defense
to maintain its high level of
play despite working out the
kinks of a unique Air Force
offense.
SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily
Fifth-year senior defensive tackle Maurice Hurst joked on Monday that he knew a lot about Air Force’s triple-option because of the NCAA Football video game.
BETELHEM ASHAME
Managing Sports Editor