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Tuesday, October 23, 2018 — 7
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Michigan wraps up road-trip with weekend split
The
No.
13
Michigan
women’s volleyball team hit
the road to take on two Big
Ten foes this past weekend.
The Wolverines (18-3 overall,
7-3 Big Ten) looked to pull
off an upset in Champaign on
Friday night while battling
No. 7 Illinois (18-3, 7-3) in
a thrilling match that went
down to the wire.
When
the
dust
settled,
Michigan fell to the Fighting
Illini, 22-25, 26-24, 24-26,
25-23, 13-15 despite arguably
the
Wolverines’
finest
defensive
showing
of
the
season. Senior libero Jenna
Lerg, senior outside hitter
Carly Skjodt and sophomore
defensive specialist Natalie
Smith all recorded double-
digit digs — finishing with
26, 17 and 16, respectively.
Ultimately,
attack
errors
dashed Michigan’s hopes of
taking down Illinois.
In addition to her season-
high 17 digs in the back row,
Skjodt led all players with
25 kills on offense while
only committing five errors.
The match marked Skjodt’s
fifth double-double of her
magical senior campaign to
this point. On a night when
Michigan struggled to gain
any momentum on offense
— yielding just a .185 attack
percentage for the match as
a team — it turned to Skjodt
when she was needed most,
resulting in a season-high 76
attempts for the Wolverines’
most powerful pin attacker.
Knotted at one set apiece,
Michigan and Illinois found
themselves
deadlocked
at
the back end of an intense
third set with the scoreboard
in Huff Hall reading 24-24.
In front of a crowd of 2,542,
the Fighting Illini used their
height
and
experience
to
stave off the Wolverines when
it mattered most. In the final
two points of the set, Illinois
looked to their two tallest
seniors
—
6-foot-2
setter
Jordyn Poulter and 6-foot-3
middle blocker Ali Bastianelli
— to secure a pair of crucial
kills and close out the set.
After that, the Fighting Illini
worked around a handful of
hiccups in the fourth set to
capture a 15-13 win in the
match’s decisive fifth set.
“Illinois is a really good
team
—
it
would’ve
been
a
great
win
for
us,”
said
Michigan coach
Mark
Rosen.
“Our kids played
well, and we had
a
really
good
chance
in
set
three,
but
we
couldn’t
quite
pull it out.”
Following
the
narrow
loss,
Michigan
made
the
trip to Evanston to take on
Northwestern
(11-11,
1-9)
less than 24 hours later.
With little time to digest the
previous
night’s
outcome,
the
Wolverines
put
their
resiliency on full display from
the start. Michigan jumped
out to a 9-3 lead — an opening
run that set the tone for the
Wolverines’ eventual 25-17,
25-23,
25-14
sweep.
After
splitting their two matches
over
the
weekend,
the
Wolverines are currently tied
for third place in the Big Ten
standings.
Freshman
outside
hitter
Paige Jones led all players
with 12 kills against the
Wildcats
while
registering
an impressive .450 attack
percentage — the highest clip
against a Big Ten opponent
of her young career. Jones’
stat line marked a major
improvement
from
the
previous
night,
when
she
committed nine errors on 32
swings against Illinois.
“Paige is a young player
who’s continuing to learn and
figure out what it takes to be
successful day in and day out
at this level,” Rosen said. “She
struggled
(against
Illinois)
last night, but I thought her
rebound tonight was really
good. You really have to like
that in a player
—
everyone’s
going to have
an
off
night
where
they
struggle a bit,
so it becomes a
matter of how
they respond. I
thought Paige
responded
really well in
practice
this
morning and then in the game
this evening for sure.”
Meanwhile, the Wildcats
held Skjodt, Michigan’s most
dangerous offensive weapon,
in check throughout most of
the match — limiting her to
just eight kills and forcing her
into five errors.
“We kind of expected that
(from Skjodt) a bit because
she took so many swings last
night,” Rosen said. “She was
feeling that soreness a little
bit today so she was trying
to be a smart, shotty player
tonight. For her, she can get
away with that because she
knows when she needs to dial
it up. She had a couple huge
kills at the end of the second
set when it was pretty tight;
she knew she had to take a
couple big swings.”
On the defensive end, the
Wolverines’ weekend at the
net was marked by two huge
performances by a pair of
young
middle
blockers
—
sophomore
Kiara
Shannon
recorded seven blocks against
the Fighting Illini on Friday
and
freshman
Kayla
Bair
notched six of her own against
the Wildcats on Saturday.
“They’re really getting to
a high level,” Rosen said of
Shannon and Bair. “One’s
a
freshman
and
one’s
a
sophomore so we know we’re
going to have to work through
that youth and watch them
continue to develop, but I
thought they took a really big
step this past week. Between
last night and tonight, but
have done a really good job
making an impact on the
match — they did a great job.”
After
setting
Skjodt
a
staggering
76
times
on
Friday night, one of the most
noticeable
adjustments
in
Michigan’s
approach
was
its balanced attack during
Saturday’s
match.
Senior
setter
MacKenzie
Welsh
paced the offense with 31
assists, and three Wolverines
saw at least 15 attack attempts
in the team’s bounce-back
effort. Welsh’s decision to
spread the ball around made
her very effective at the helm
of Michigan’s offense while
keeping
Northwestern’s
defense uncertain throughout
the match.
“Mack was really good last
night and then really good
again tonight,” said Rosen.
“She did a great job with
her selection, her decision-
making, and her adjustments
when she got a feel for the
defense. She’s running a very
efficient offense right now.”
EVAN AARON/Daily
Sophomore setter Mackenzi Welsh paced Michigan’s offense with 31 assists in the Wolverines’ straight-set sweep of Northwestern on Saturday.
DANIEL DASH
For the Daily
KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
Sophomore midfielder Nicki Hernandez scored a goal in Michigan’s win.
‘M’ beat MSU, 2-0, in
regular season finale
Just
forty
seconds
into
Sunday’s game at U-M Soccer
Stadium,
the
ball
already
found the back of the net.
After starting strong with
an early goal, the Michigan
women’s soccer team (5-5-1
Big Ten, 9-8-1 overall) beat
Michigan State (0-8-2, 5-9-3),
2-0, ending the team’s regular
season with a win on Senior
Night.
The Wolverines took their
early lead off a pass from
sophomore midfielder Sarah
Stratigakis
to
sophomore
midfielder Nicki Hernandez
in
the
penalty
box.
Hernandez
hit
a
low
shot
to
the
bottom
right
corner of the
net, relieving
pressure
on
Michigan
from the start
as fans were
still adjusting
blankets, just settling in to
pay attention to the game.
“Getting one early was our
mission
today,”
Stratigakis
said. “Our energy was up and I
think overall we were playing
really well together and as a
team.”
The Wolverines kept up
the momentum throughout
the first half, winning balls
out of the air and controlling
possession
with
multiple
chances
in
the
Spartans’
box.
Toward
the
end
of
the half, though, Michigan
State increased pressure on
Michigan’s back line, with one
shot hitting the crossbar and
almost tying the game. But the
Wolverines held the shutout
with key saves by sophomore
goalkeeper Hillary Beall.
“We
realized
they
had
some
momentum,
but
we
just got together and talked
about what we needed to do
as a team, and we continued
to high press them and just
be more greedy out there,”
Stratigakis said. “Once our
talent came out, we just
outmatched them.”
With a 1-0 lead going into the
second half, Michigan started
converting its possession into
chances more readily, with
shots on goal from Stratigakis,
senior
forward
Reilly
Martin, freshman midfielder
Meredith
Haakenson
and
redshirt
junior
midfielder
Katie Foug.
In
the
73rd
minute,
sophomore forward Emma
Cooper finally made it 2-0
when a corner
kick
by
Foug
was tapped by
Stratigakis
to
Cooper
who
shot from the
right side of the
box.
After the goal,
the Wolverines
kept
up
their
speed
of
play
and
continued
to generate chances in the
final minutes, including a
through ball to Foug resulting
in an open net. But the score
remained 2-0 by the end of
the game despite Michigan’s
opportunities in the penalty
box.
The win, with a finish as
strong as its start, earned the
Wolverines a place in the Big
Ten
tournament
beginning
Oct. 28. Michigan will secure
either a seven or eight seed
depending on the outcome
of Michigan State’s game at
Nebraska on Wednesday.
“At this point, it’s just
about showing up and doing
what we’ve been working
on every day in training and
what we’ve learned in every
game,” said Michigan coach
Jennifer Klein. “It was a great
performance by the team, and
I’m very happy with them.”
LILY FRIEDMAN
For the Daily
“... we were
playing really
well together
and as a team.”
A goal just 40 seconds into the game
sparked the Wolverines for their win
“She was
feeling that
soreness a little
bit today...”