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Sports
Tuesday, October 9, 2018 — 7

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: Ugh.

2. Georgia: Sick of these SEC schools
scheduling cupcake games against teams
like Vanderbilt.

3. Ohio State: Haskins directly translates
to “has families.” We prefer loyalty to
one family.

4. Notre Dame: Old Dominion vs. Notre
Dame is gonna be a great playoff match-
up.

5. Clemson: Big bye week coming up for
Clemson to get Kelly Bryant back and
healthy for the rest of the season.

6. West Virginia: *Checks schedule*
Oh yeah, Iowa State is gonna beat them
somehow.

7. Washington: A 7-point win over UCLA
is actually a loss. Sorry, we don’t make
the rules.

8. Penn State: Congrats to James Frank-
lin, who likely took a huge moral stand
after his team’s win over the bye week.

9. Texas: The Burnt Orange River Shoot-
out, imo.

10. LSU: Crazy that the Tigers finally
have a quarterback and still lost a big
game.

Paige Jones’ serve powers ‘M’ past Purdue

Paige Jones has found a new
home inside Cliff Keen Arena.
Hailing
from
New
Bremen,
Ohio — a 158-mile drive from
Ann Arbor — Michigan’s 6-foot-
1 freshman outside hitter has
dazzled all season long.
In her debut campaign, she
has already notched 175 kills,
108 digs, and 12 blocks in the 55
sets she’s played. Perhaps even
more impressive, her 22 service
aces mark a team high. Jones is
the only Michigan starter with
a jump serve — a technique in
volleyball where the player adds
power and height to their serve by
using a leaping approach to strike
the ball. The jump serve is no easy
feat; the fact that the ball must
travel 30 feet from the service
line to the net and cross above the
7-foot-4 height of the tape makes
the skill tough to master.
The Wolverines (15-2 overall,
4-2 Big Ten), ranked No. 16 in
the AVCA Coaches Poll, relied
on Jones’ jump serve throughout

the match to power them past No.
14 Purdue (14-3, 3-3) on Friday
in front of a packed Cliff Keen
Arena. Jones stepped up when
she was called upon, delivering
a staggering five aces en route
to Michigan’s 25-15, 25-16, 25-14
sweep of the Boilermakers.
“Paige has been working hard
on
that
serve
—
she
hasn’t
done it since her
junior year of
high school until
this
season,”
said
Michigan
coach
Mark
Rosen.
“When
we played Penn
State, they had
a jump server
who was ripping
it, and I think her seeing another
jump server who was ripping it
was the best thing for her. She’s
been trying to get comfortable
with it, so she hasn’t really been
bringing the pace that we’d like,
but tonight she came blasting it.”
Added junior opposite Sydney
Wetterstrom with a smile and a

chuckle: “I’m glad she can serve it
like that, because I tried it and it
was not successful.”
Jones’ serve swings momentum
in Michigan’s favor when it
needs it most. Her five-point
service run in the first set put the
Wolverines ahead for good. The
run started with a bang — Jones
gave Michigan a
12-5
lead
when
she
unleashed
a
missile
from
the service line
that bounced at
the feet of the
opposing
libero
after
Purdue’s
first
timeout.
Following
the
clean ace, the six
Wolverines on the
court threw their arms into the
air and embraced each other in a
huddle at the center of the court.
When asked about the impact
Jones’ serve has on Michigan’s
entire approach, Rosen praised
his freshman.
“We really need her serve,”
Rosen said. “She’s going to be a

bit more prone to error than other
servers but I’m okay with that.
Tonight she was really bringing
it and certainly got into a good
groove.”
Jones comes from a family tree
full of athletes — her father played
college basketball, her mother
ran track, and both her older
sisters play collegiate volleyball.
Growing up, Paige competed in a
trio of sports that kept her busy
year-round before electing to
focus on volleyball at Michigan.
“Paige was a three sport
athlete from a really small town
in Ohio who played basketball
and ran track in addition to high
school volleyball,” Rosen said.
“She wasn’t a big name coming in,
but we’ve known about her for a
while. Those three sport athletes
are a bit of a dying breed, which
kept her off the national radar.”
With the Wolverines surging
in the AVCA Coaches Poll, Jones
has put her talents on full display.
Once Michigan volleyball fans
familiarize themselves with her,
they’ll see exactly why her serve
is the key to Michigan’s success.

DANIEL DASH
For the Daily

EVAN AARON/Daily
Freshman outside hitter Paige Jones used her newly-developed jump serve to help Michigan power past Purdue in straight sets on Friday night.

“She’s been
trying to get
comfortable
with it.”

A victory marked by kills and comebacks

Spurts of intense cheering
followed by bouts of focused
silence characterized a thrilling
fifth set that saw six lead changes
and eight ties.
The crowd couldn’t help it.
It was the first five-set match
the No. 16 Michigan volleyball
team played all season. Despite
an early three-
point
deficit,
the
Wolverines
clawed their way
out thanks to a
service ace from
junior
setter
MacKenzi Welsh
and
kills
from
freshman outside
hitter Paige Jones,
junior
outside
hitter
Sydney
Wetterstrom and senior outside
hitter Carly Skjodt.
Michigan took the lead, but
the teams fought a back and forth
battle. Indiana then regained
some momentum and scored
three of the next four points,
bringing the game to match point.
But, the Wolverines prevented
one match point on account
of Skjodt’s kills and persisted
through another after a Hoosier
attack error was held up after
review.
Then
it
happened
again.
Another kill from Skjodt coupled
with an Indiana attack error gave
Michigan the victory, 16-14.
“I would like to set Carly as
much as I can,” said Michigan
coach Mark Rosen. “That was
certainly the game plan. At the
end we made sure that was our
game plan; she’s our senior.”
Skjodt effectively bolstered the
Wolverines’ offense, achieving
a career-high 71 swings and
committing only four errors
while hitting .352 en route to her
personal-best 29 kill total that
included six kills in the deciding
set. And to top off the career

night, she added 10 digs for the
20th double-double of her career.
Indiana started the first set
strong with a 3-0 run, which
Michigan countered with its own
four-point run. Still, no team
gained an advantage, until a 5-1
run allowed the Hoosiers to take
a three-point lead. Indiana then
quickly gained an additional
point — emphasizing its new edge.
The Wolverines called a timeout.
Even
with
10
kills
from
Skjodt in this
set, Michigan’s
.082
hitting
percentage
could
not
combat
the
Hoosiers fierce
momentum.
Indiana won the
first set, 25-19.
Between
the first and second sets, the
Wolverines appeared to find their
stride and momentum. They
opened with a carefully balanced
offensive attack comprised of a
.351 team hitting percentage that
stems from kills mounted by a

variety of players, such as Jones,
Welsh, Skjodt and sophomore
middle back Kiara Shannon.
Following a kill by Wetterstrom
paired with a Hoosier attack
error, Michigan secured a lead,
which it held for the rest of the
set. The Wolverines won the
second set, 25-19.
Indiana came back in the
third set with a fraction of
its
momentum.
Though
the
Hoosiers
jumped
out to an early lead,
they soon fell prey
to a serving streak
from Skjodt and
a series of attack
errors.
Michigan
enjoyed this lead
for a time, but
Indiana
worked
from behind and
regained its former
lead. In response,
the Wolverines called a timeout.
After the timeout, freshman
middle back Kayla Bair fired up
the team with a kill succeeded
by three more during a 10-2 run
that allowed Michigan to take the
third set.

This fiery spirit persisted into
the fourth set. The Wolverines
consistently maintained a four-
point lead. Despite this, Indiana
managed to cut the gap, rack
up four points in a row and take
the lead. Michigan attempted a
comeback, but Hoosier Breana
Edwards closed the game with
three kills. This play sent the
Wolverines and Hoosiers into a
thrilling fifth set.
The
crowd,
stunned
by
Indiana’s
comeback,
cheered
nervously
as
they
prepared
themselves
for the game-
deciding
set
ahead.
But
the
Wolverines, led
by Skjodt, made sure the crowd
went home happy.
“These guys competed really
well,” Rosen said. “You know,
when the match was on the line
and we needed big points, we
came through.”

EVAN AARON/Daily
Senior outside hitter Carly Skjodt notched a career-high 29 kills in Michigan’s win over Indiana on Sunday.

Michigan’s win over Indiana on Saturday involved multiple clutch moments

MEGAN CHAPELLE
For the Daily

“At the end we
made sure that
was our game
plan.”

“When the
match was on
the line ... we
came through.”

Michigan bounces back,
sweeps the Boilermakers

How do you bounce back from
the toughest loss of the season in
one of the most highly-anticipated
matches of this year?
The No. 16 Michigan volleyball
team (3-2 Big Ten, 14-2 overall)
answered
that
question
in
resounding fashion on Friday night,
grabbing a dominant, straight-set
home victory over No. 14 Purdue
(2-3, 13-3), 25-15, 25-16 and 25-14.
The win over the Boilermakers
came just five days after the
Wolverines were handed their
first home defeat of the season, a
straight-set loss to No. 9 Penn State.
Playing
in
the
familiar
compounds of Cliff Keen Arena,
Michigan jumped on Purdue from
the very beginning of the match
and cruised to its first victory of the
season against a ranked opponent.
Some familiar faces led the way
for the Wolverines on Friday night,
with senior outside hitter Carly
Skjodt and freshman outside hitter
Paige Jones leading the team with
11 kills each.
In addition, junior outside hitter
Sydney Wetterstrom came up with
arguably her best performance of
the season, notching 10 kills on 12
attempts for a sparkling .833 hitting
percentage. The trio of Skjodt,
Jones and Wetterstrom combined
for 39.5 points on the day, 6.5 better
than the team total of 33 for the
Boilermakers.
“Cliff Keen is a place where we
are able to work hard together, on
and off the court,” Skjodt said. “The
stands and the fans in the stands are
a big part of that. They know when
to get loud and rowdy, and they
know when to pull it back a little bit.
I think that’s one thing that really
attracted me to this school, even
while going through recruiting, was
the fan base and how passionate
they are to represent Michigan.”
As has happened time and time
again, the defense came through

with a dominating performance by
stifling the Purdue attack early and
never allowing it to gain any sort of
point-scoring momentum.
The Wolverines came into the
match ranked fifth in the country
and second in the Big Ten in
holding opponents to a .144 hitting
percentage. They limited fifth-year
senior outside hitter Sherridan
Atkinson, who came into the match
leading the Big Ten with 4.25 kills
per set, to only three kills on 16 total
attempts throughout the match
for the Boilermakers. Senior libero
Jenna Lerg once again spearheaded
the defensive performance, pacing
all players with 16 digs. Skjodt
added another seven from her
outside spot, and junior setter
MacKenzi Welsh followed up with
six of her own.
“We’re able to use the energy (of
the home fans) and take that with
us when we’re up by a lot. It was still
fun to play, and we appreciate how
the fans don’t get quiet when we’re
well ahead, which allows us to keep
rolling,” said Wetterstrom. “That’s
part of what has made this year so
much fun, and we’re hoping that it
only continues.”
After losses to the first two
ranked opponents that it faced in
conference play, the victory on
Friday night was a welcome sight
for Michigan and its coaching staff.
“(After the Penn State match),
the girls were pointing out in the
locker room that ‘we need to be
better in these areas.’ They were
solution-minded,
and
I
think
when anyone can do that, they’re
moving in the right direction,”
said Michigan coach Mike Rosen.
“(Associate
head
coach
Leisa
Rosen) did a great job of putting
them in pressure situations this
week in practice, which helped us
for this match.
“This is a talented team, and
these guys believe that, which was
a big key for us this week, and it will
remain that way for the rest of the
season.”

JAKE KARALEXIS
Daily Sports Writer

VOLLEYBALL