The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, November 21, 2017 — 7
Wolverines force mistakes, ride them to upset
There were nothing but smiles
on the faces of the Michigan
volleyball
team’s
players
as
they
honored
senior
middle
blocker
and
outside
hitters
Claire Kieffer-Wright, Katherine
Mahlke and Adeja Lambert on
their senior night.
Ending a nearly eight-year
drought against Purdue, the
Wolverines (9-9 Big Ten, 19-11
overall) upset the 15th-ranked
Boilermakers (11-7, 21-8) in the
last home match of the season.
In doing so, Michigan showed
its recent season success was
no fluke as it claimed its second
consecutive win against a ranked
opponent, this time in four sets.
Retaining
the
winning
strategy
they
implemented
against
No.
8
Michigan
State
earlier
in
the
week,
the
Wolverines
emphasized
aggression and hustle to counter
Purdue’s imposing physicality
and size.
“One of the things we talked
about in our scouting of (Purdue)
is that their team gets really
physical and they do some
freakish things as attackers, but
what they don’t like is ... to get
blocked and they don’t like to
get dug,” said Michigan coach
Mark Rosen. “As soon as they
get blocked or as soon as they
get dug, they make some drastic
changes, and they try — we call
them avoidance errors — but
all of a sudden, they try to do
something really different, and
next thing you know, they’re
making errors. I thought we did
a good job of leading them into
making errors.”
It was evident as early as the
first set that Purdue could not
find a rhythm with Michigan’s
disruptive game plan.
Recording 20 digs and four
team blocks, Michigan forced
mistakes
from
the
Purdue
offense that had been otherwise
consistent. Ranked third in the
nation for team attack average
with
.316,
the
Boilermakers
finished the first set with a
percentage of .118.
Even still, Michigan failed to
capitalize, converting only seven
kills. Purdue eventually went on
a 9-4 run to win the set, 25-23.
The Wolverines looked to stay
aggressive though.
On the first play of the second
set, junior libero Jenna Lerg
chased a ball to the far sideline,
before quickly withdrawing her
arms in response to the pleas of
her teammates.
The ball landed out of bounds.
It was another mistake by
Purdue, and though it committed
less of them in the second frame,
Michigan took advantage of any
opportunities given to it. And
every opportunity was needed in
the back-and-forth set.
In
the
end,
the
more
offensively efficient Wolverines
pulled
through.
Michigan
finished with 18 kills on a .342
attack percentage and 18 assists,
more than doubling the offensive
numbers from the initial set to
win the second set, 25-22.
The set was highlighted by
junior and sophomore outside
hitters Carly Skjodt and Sydney
Wetterstrom,
respectively.
Skjodt had six kills off nine
attempts while recording a set-
high seven digs. She ended the
game with 16 kills and 16 digs,
her seventh double-double of the
season.
Wetterstrom had five kills in
the set, with two coming at the
end, where she scored back-to-
back points to clinch the frame.
She ended the game with 12 kills
and four digs.
The third set came in runs.
Michigan started with a 4-1 run,
allowing Purdue to score off of
an error by redshirt sophomore
middle blocker Cori Crocker.
However,
the
Boilermakers
quickly answered with a 3-0 run
to tie the game.
Despite the third set being the
cleanest error-wise for Purdue —
it committed just five attacking
errors and one serving error —
they were made at the costliest
times. Michigan capped off the
frame on a 3-0 run with two of
the last three points coming from
errors committed by Purdue.
The dynamic between Mahlke
and sophomore setter Mackenzie
Welsh was evident in the fourth
set. Recognizing Mahlke had the
hot hand, Welsh found her early,
allowing her to score back-to-
back points to set the tone for the
frame.
Down 13-6, Purdue mounted
a comeback, going on a run to tie
the game at 18.
But
Mahlke
scored
three
straight points for the Wolverines
out of a Michigan timeout before
the Boilermakers ended the set
with three straight errors.
“She’s just got such a live arm,”
Rosen said. “She swings fast and
high when she gets going. And I
thought (Welsh) did a great job
of using her at the right time,
really, managing her hitters. And
(Mahlke) was just delivering. I
thought (Mahlke) was just super
relentless tonight; she was just
going after it. That’s just how she
approached the match tonight;
she was just going after it.”
Mahlke ended the game with
14 kills on .500 attack percentage,
leading the game in efficiency.
Despite putting up a fight,
Purdue’s errors proved too much
to overcome, committing a total
of 33 attacking errors and nine
service errors. Michigan, not
taking any point for granted,
took the opportunity at hand as
it sent off its seniors with a win.
VOLLEYBALL
‘M’ seniors exorcise
demons, top Purdue
Beat Purdue.
That
is
something
the
senior class of the Michigan
volleyball team, and several
before it, haven’t been able to
do.
“We talked about it,” said
coach
Mark
Rosen.
“We
don’t have a lot of secrets in
our program, we don’t skirt
around things. We haven’t beat
them since 2010. I asked them,
‘where were you guys in 2010?’
and a lot of them were in sixth
grade. So it’s a long time ago.”
But
the
streak
finally
ended Saturday night, as the
Wolverines
disposed of No.
15 Purdue in
four sets. The
three seniors —
outside
hitter
Adeja Lambert,
middle blocker
Claire Kieffer-
Wright
and
opposite hitter
Katherine
Mahlke — all
contributed immensely to the
win in their final game at Cliff
Keen Arena.
Lambert finished with seven
digs, while Kieffer-Wright had
7.5 points and ended a few
long volleys with pivotal kills.
Offensively, Mahlke led the
way, finishing the game with
a team-high 14 kills and a .500
hit percentage.
“Kat really came out with
some major kills when we
needed them,” said junior
outside hitter Carly Skjodt.
“She stayed aggressive the
entire match.”
Added Rosen; “She just has
such a live arm. She swings
fast and high when she gets
going. Kat was just delivering,
and one of (the) things we
talked about against a team
that big and that physical was
you have to be aggressive.
“If you flinch or pull back a
little bit on your swing, they’re
going to block you. I thought
Kat was just super relentless
and going after it.”
That aggressive play paid
off for the Wolverines, as the
senior class capped off an
impressive home record of
49-16. Michigan will certainly
miss the leadership and play
of Lambert, Kieffer-Wright,
and Mahlke next season, as
they have all been regular
contributors
since
their
freshman years.
“You don’t know what you
miss until you don’t have it,”
Rosen said. “We know we’re
going to miss a lot, but we
won’t know the specifics until
they’re not here.
And we’re not
really in a hurry
to figure that
out. We want to
make this go as
long as possible,
and enjoy their
experience
here.”
It’s
an
experience that
may last a little
longer, as the Wolverines —
who finish up the regular
season with two away games —
seem to have clinched a spot in
the NCAA Tournament after
Friday’s result and a victory
over No. 8 Michigan State on
Wednesday.
But
regardless
of
their
postseason fate, the seniors
can rest easier knowing that
they closed out their home
careers with a win against a
formidable foe in front of a
sold-out crowd.
“I say this every year, but
this is my least favorite night,”
Rosen said. “I mean, we beat
Purdue, that’s great, but it’s
just hard to say goodbye to
those guys. Four years go by so
fast and it never feels like it’s
enough time. And I guess that
that’s a good thing. The year we
want our seniors to graduate,
that’s probably a bad sign.”
Michigan finishes in top-10 at NCAA Championships
The six fifth-year seniors on
the Michigan men’s cross country
team had careers defined by ups
and downs. In their freshman
and sophomore seasons, the
Wolverines finished ninth and
11th in the nation.
But last year, Michigan failed
to even qualify for a spot in the
NCAA National Championship
race.
Coming into this year, it wanted
to regain some consistency.
Thanks in large part to those
fifth-year seniors, the Wolverines
returned to churning out strong,
consistent
performances,
culminating in a 10th-place finish
at the NCAA Championships in
Louisville.
Michigan ended the race with
the best finish of any Big Ten
team, scoring 328 points — 254
points behind national champion
Northern
Arizona.
Fifth-year
senior Ben Flanagan led the
Wolverines by finishing 20th
overall, ending an excellent senior
season in which he was named
the Great Lakes Region Athlete of
the Year by becoming Michigan’s
first All-American since 2014.
“He’s got a fierce desire to
win,” said Michigan coach Mike
Sullivan. “And he’s a guy who’s
not really satisfied with anything
less than being on the podium.”
Fellow
fifth-year
senior
Connor Mora also turned in an
excellent
final
performance,
finishing 48th — just eight spots
out of All-American qualification.
In the final two kilometers, he
maneuvered past seven runners.
He was one of several Wolverines
to move up the field toward the
end of the race, as both redshirt
senior
Aaron
Baumgarten
methodically brushed past 61
runners and freshman Jack Aho
moved up 15 spots over the last
four kilometers.
“For us, it was just about
being cautiously aggressive at
the beginning and then trying to
find a good spot to work up from
through the race,” Sullivan said.
“We didn’t plan much besides to
get out hard, and try to race from
5k onwards.”
Michigan’s
strong
performance
in
their final race
of
the
season
can
partially
be
attributed
to the excellent
leadership
of
its six redshirt
seniors.
“I think (senior leadership) was
really important in a situation
like today for a couple reasons,”
Sullivan said. “We were relying on
some freshmen and sophomores
that have never been at this stage
before and those guys had the
experience to kind of walk them
through it, walk them through
the emotions leading up to the
race. That type of leadership
is gonna help us as the seniors
graduate and our younger guys
take over the leadership roles.”
With the massive senior class
graduating,
the
burden
of
leadership
will
likely rest on Jack
Aho and redshirt
freshman
Isaac
Harding,
who
rounded
out
the
Wolverines
scoring five with
a finish of 132nd at nationals.
After failing to qualify for
nationals last year, Michigan’s
strong top-10 finish was certainly
a satisfying end for its fifth-year
seniors, who were able to close
out their careers on an upswing.
The No. 8 Michigan women’s
cross country team crossed the
finish line of its season Saturday,
finishing ninth at the NCAA Cross
Country Championships with 295
points.
In the 31-team competition,
fifth-year
seniors
and
All-
Americans
Jamie
Morrissey
and Gina Sereno anchored the
Wolverines, both finishing in the
top-30 individually in the tight
six-kilometer race. For the third
year in a row, the Wolverines
finished as one of the event’s top-
10 finishers, ending the race just
ahead of Wisconsin, and only 31
points behind sixth-place Boise
State.
“They
were
inspired
and
focused all year,” said Michigan
coach Mike McGuire. “I think we
set out and achieved most of our
goals. You can set goals and work
to those goals and we did that all
year. They displayed a good work
ethic and were there for each
other throughout the year.”
Next
year,
Michigan
will
lose
its
two
All-Americans.
Without
the
dynamic duo, the
Wolverines will
miss a steadily
improved runner
in
Morrissey
and one of the
best runners in
program history
in
Sereno.
Sereno specifically ran strong in
the beginning, hitting the two-
kilometer mark in the leaders’
pack, but gradually drifting to a
27th-place finish.
For the duration of the race,
the Wolverines’ fate was not in
doubt, due in large part to the
underclassmen
on
the
team.
Michigan started the race seventh,
fell to eighth at the four-kilometer
mark, and ended ninth. Junior
Claire Borchers and sophomore
Madeline Trevisian both placed in
the top-100 of the race and should
be
in
prime
position
to
be
key contributors
on
the
team,
along with other
familiar faces and
new blood.
“We’ll
have
several
athletes
that ran this meet
that will be returning next year,
so this will be a great growing
experience,” McGuire said. “With
graduating our first two runners
as fifth-year seniors, someone
has to assume the new role. That
(search) will begin tomorrow.
“We got a solid season from
Maddie
and
(junior)
Avery
Evenson, and Claire was hugely
improved over last year. Haley
Meier, a fifth-year senior who is
eligible for a 6th year, has shown
a lot of growth. … We got some
people who are waiting in the
wing and some incoming people
too.”
Each runner will continue to
develop over the winter, and many
of the cross country runners will
compete in the indoor track season,
trying to sustain Michigan’s streak
of top-10 finishes.
“The strength is depth and
the weakness, which we hope
to address and resolve through
growth, is that at this level, we
don’t have an established front-
runner,” McGuire said. “That’s
going to be the biggest question
moving forward.”
With a new recruiting class
and continued growth, Michigan
should find an answer to that
question soon.
The men’s cross country team delivered a strong
ending to the careers of its six fifth-year seniors
The women’s cross country team extended its
streak of finishing in the top-10 to three years
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Fifth-year senior Ben Flanagan finished 20th overall to lead the Wolverines.
EMMA RICHTER/Daily
Fifth-year senior Gina Sereno finished 27th overall to anchor the Wolverines.
DYLAN CHUNG
Daily Sports Writer
RIAN RATNAVALE
For the Daily
They were
inspired and
focused all year
That type of
leadership is
gonna help us
CONNOR BRENNAN
For the Daily
A lot of them
were in sixth
grade. So it’s a
long time ago
DARBY STIPE/Daily
Senior outside hitter Katherine Mahlke ended the game with 14 kills on .500 attack percentage, leading in efficiency.
TIEN LE
Daily Sports Writer