The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SportsMonday
October 29, 2018 — 3B

Michigan falls to No. 7 Wisconsin Friday, No. 3 Minnesota Saturday

Stopping Dana Rettke is a 
tall task — both literally and 
figuratively.
No. 7 Wisconsin’s 6-foot-
8 sophomore middle blocker 
challenged No. 12 Michigan 
(18-4 overall, 7-4 Big Ten) 
all night, and the injury-
hampered 
Wolverines 
were 
unable to answer in a 25-18, 
16-25, 22-25, 25-21, 11-15 loss at 
Crisler Center on Friday night.
Rettke, the reigning AVCA 
Freshman of the Year, came 
into the match leading the Big 
Ten in attack percentage. She 
continued her efficient stretch 
on Friday by leading all players 
with a staggering .571 attack 
percentage. The 2017 First 
Team All-American selection 
guided Wisconsin (15-4, 8-3) 
to the win by committing just 
one error on 35 swings while 
putting down 21 kills.
Rettke’s height allowed her 
to take advantage of effective 
attack angles from the middle 
of the court throughout the 
match. 
When 
she 
wasn’t 
taking an approach in front of 
the setter, she was spreading 
out Michigan’s defense by 
using the slide attack — an 
approach 
style 
where 
the 
middle blocker runs laterally 
until she’s behind the setter 
and then jumps 
up off one foot. 
By approaching 
from behind the 
setter, 
Rettke 
made Michigan’s 
defense commit 
to 
double-
blocking 
one 
pin 
or 
the 
other 
before 
Wisconsin’s 
setter 
even 
released the ball.
“Our game plan to defend 
the slide and the middles in 
general was to serve the ball 
very aggressively so that they 
couldn’t set it to them,” said 
senior libero Jenna Lerg. “At 
times, we executed that very 
well. Other times, they had 
some chances and they took 
them. On the plays you can’t 
stop, you roll it back and get 
the next one.”
Midway 
through 
the 
opening set, the Wolverines 
trailed Wisconsin by three 
points. Coming out of the 
media 
timeout, 
Michigan’s 
trio of junior setter MacKenzi 
Welsh, senior outside hitter 
Carly Skjodt and freshman 
outside 
hitter 
Paige 
Jones 
spearheaded a 13-3 run to close 
the first set. At the end of the 
opening frame, Skjodt had 
nine kills on 18 swings with 
only one error, Jones had four 
kills on nine errorless swings 
and Welsh led all players with 
10 assists.
Skjodt’s nine kills in the first 
set marked the beginning of 
one of her best performances 
of the season. She finished 
the match with 27 kills, her 
second-highest tally of the 
season.
“Carly has been our most 
dominant player in all aspects 
of the game for the entire 
season,” Lerg said. “We can’t 
really try to ride her 71 swings 
against a team like Wisconsin, 
but I think she did a great job 
with those 71 attempts — she 
does everything she can to 
put the team on her back. I’m 
honored to play next to her, 
and I’m excited to see what 
else she can do this season.”
“Carly is a warrior right 
now,” Rosen added. “She’s 
definitely taking way more 
swings than we’d like and way 
more swings than she’d like. 
She’s doing everything she 
can right now. Carly’s a great 
competitor, a great leader, and 
a great volleyball player. She’s 
trying to carry as much of the 
load as possible.”
After the emphatic first-
set run, Michigan fell behind 
early in the second frame. In 
an attempt to recapture the 
momentum, the Wolverines 
took some aggressive swings — 
thus leaving them more prone 
to error. Instead of pummeling 
kills into the hardwood of 
Crisler 
Center, 
Michigan 
committed eight attack errors 
compared 
to 
Wisconsin’s 
two, and the Badgers outhit 

the Wolverines .448 to .125. 
Despite a handful of dramatic 
diving digs from Lerg, the 
Wolverines dropped the set, 
25-16.
In the third set, Michigan’s 
ineffective execution yielded 
another low attack percentage 
— this time just .049 — and 
Wisconsin took advantage once 
again. The Wolverines found 
themselves really missing the 
size and impact of two injured 
front-row 
starters: 
6-foot-3 
redshirt junior middle blocker 
Cori 
Crocker 
and 
6-foot-1 
junior opposite 
hitter 
Sydney 
Wetterstrom. 
Before 
going 
down 
with 
their 
respective 
injuries, 
Crocker 
led 
the 
team 
in 
blocks 
and 
Wetterstrom 
provided 
a 
reliable 
back-set 
option 
for 
Welsh. 
Perhaps 
most 
importantly, 
their 
court 
leadership as upperclassmen 
seemed absent in the loss 
against Wisconsin — without 
their 
presence, 
freshman 
middle blocker Kayla Bair and 
redshirt sophomore opposite 
Ellie Brooks were called upon 
in their place. Brooks and Bair 
weren’t an efficient duo on 
Friday night; they combined 
for an attack percentage of 
-.071, meaning the sum of their 
errors exceeded the sum of 
their kills.
At this point, Rosen is 
focused 
on 
how 
to 
make 
the most of what Michigan 
will be working with for the 
foreseeable future. Without 
timetables on Crocker and 
Wetterstrom, the Wolverines 
need to concentrate on how 
they can tackle their upcoming 
slate of Big Ten matches while 
they remain sidelined.
“We can’t focus on what 
we don’t have — we have to 
focus on what we have and 
how we’re going to get better,” 
Rosen said. “I look at it as 
opportunities — (Brooks and 
Bair) are having opportunities 
right now (on the court) and 
we’re 
having 
opportunities 
to develop them, but we need 
to take the opportunities. We 
can’t throw hands in the air; 

we have to get better.”
When the Badgers jumped 
out to an 8-1 lead to open the 
fourth set, Michigan spent 
most of the frame chipping 
away at the early deficit. After 
a Wisconsin coach’s challenge 
revealed a net foul on Carly 
Skjodt, the Wolverines knew 
they needed to come up with 
an answer for Rettke before 
the match slipped away.
With the end of the set 
nearing, Michigan turned to 
sophomore 
middle 
blocker 
Kiara Shannon for a handful 
of big kills. By using different 
approaches and tempos to 
set the ball to Shannon, the 
Wolverines opened up hitting 
angles around Rettke and her 
Badger counterparts. Although 
Shannon finished the match 
with just eight kills, she made 
her presence felt on defense 
by tying her career-high with 
seven blocks. Michigan battled 
back relentlessly, eventually 
trimming Wisconsin’s lead to 
just three points at 21-18.
Then, with Carly Skjodt at 
the service line, the Wolverines 
pulled off the improbable — 
Michigan won an astounding 
seven 
consecutive 
points 
while completely turning the 
momentum of the entire match 
in the process. The run was 
underscored by the sights and 
sounds of the final point of set 
four: Skjodt’s back row kill — 
which was accompanied by the 
tune of the traditional “Let’s! 
Go! Blue!” from the home 
fans in correspondence to the 
bump, set and spike — sent 
Crisler Center into a frenzy 
and forced a decisive fifth set.
But 
to 
the 
Wolverines’ 
demise, 
Wisconsin 
came 
out firing on all cylinders 
in the fifth set. The Badgers 
put 
together 
a 
potent 
offensive attack in the final 
frame, posting a .304 attack 
percentage in comparison to 
Michigan’s .174 clip. After a 
hard-fought battle, Wisconsin 
came 
away 
with 
a 
15-11 
victory in the tiebreaking set. 
When the dust settled, the 
Badgers’ unrivaled size and 
physicality 
triumphed 
over 
the Wolverines’ predictable 
offense.
“The bottom line is we didn’t 
have enough balance to our 
offense,” Rosen said. “We were 
way too one dimensional.”

The Wolverines fell to the Badgers after five sets on Friday.

DARBY STIPE/Daily
Senior libero Jenna Lerg finished Saturday’s match against Minnesota with a team-high 19 digs and multiple aces.

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Sophomore middle blocker Kiara Shannon posted two kills out of 16 swings in Saturday night’s loss to No. 3 Minnesota in three straight sets. 

DANIEL DASH
For the Daily

With a trio of starters sidelined 
due to injury, the No. 12 Michigan 
volleyball 
team 
(18-5 
overall, 
7-5 Big Ten) struggled to find 
consistency in a 25-27, 10-25, 20-25 
loss to No. 3 Minnesota (18-2, 12-0) 
on Saturday night.
Redshirt junior middle blocker 
Cori Crocker (ankle), junior setter 
MacKenzi 
Welsh 
(concussion) 
and 
junior 
opposite 
Sydney 
Wetterstrom (undisclosed) were 
all unable to suit up against the 
Golden 
Gophers, 
who 
came 
into the match riding a 12-game 
winning streak dating back to 
Sept. 9.
On Saturday, freshman middle 
blocker Kayla Bair and junior 
opposite 
Katarina 
Glavinic 
assumed the roles of Crocker 
and Wetterstrom, respectively, 
while the tandem of junior setter 
Katerina Rocafort and senior 
setter Maddy Abbott ran the 
offense in place of Welsh. In 
a sport where momentum is a 
driving force, the Wolverines’ 
makeshift lineup put them at a 
crucial disadvantage.
“It’s definitely a challenge, but 
I think we handled it very well,” 
said freshman outside hitter Paige 
Jones. “We just figured out this 
morning that Welsh wasn’t going 
to play, so this morning’s practice 
was when we first got our setters 
going. Rocafort hasn’t set in three 
years, but I think Abbott and 
Rocafort came in and did a great 
job in their roles and everyone 
else did a fantastic job. Everyone 
is working hard to get healthy and 
get back.”
Added Michigan coach Mark 
Rosen: “Tonight, we were forced 
into being very different. Different 
is what we were dealt, but at the 
same time, I think we need to 
focus on the way we play when we 
play well. I feel for those kids — 
they were put into a situation and 
it’s tough. Nobody wants to have 
as much unexpected change as we 
had today.”
Welsh’s injury in particular 
caused trouble for Michigan. In 
an offense that has taken a leap 
forward from last year, Welsh has 
been the puppet master behind 
the success. Her chemistry with 
senior outside hitter Carly Skjodt, 
Jones and the rest of the offense 
has helped tremendously with the 
Wolverines’ efficiency. Because 
Michigan lacks a backup setter, 

Rosen opted to use a 6-2 offense 
— a system that features two 
setters who take turns running 
the offense depending on which 
one is in the back row at a given 
moment — instead of the team’s 
usual system. On Saturday night, 
Rosen turned to Abbott, who 
has only played a limited role as 
a serving specialist this season, 
and Rocafort, who hasn’t run an 
offense in three years.
“Rocafort and Abbot had to go 
from roles they’re comfortable 
with 
to 
roles 
they’re 
not 
comfortable with,” Rosen said. 
“Rocafort hasn’t set in three years, 
and Abbott hasn’t set at all this 
year, so it’s a tough position for 
them to be in. The situation forced 
them into that, and I thought 
they did a great job. All things 
considered, they gave us what they 
had. I’m proud of them for that and 
I’m proud of our team for the way 
they handled adversity as best they 
could.”
Despite having the odds stacked 
against them, the Wolverines 
looked ready for the challenge 
coming out of the gates. Without 
Welsh at the helm, Abbott and 
Rocafort 
guided 
Michigan’s 
offense to a 20-16 lead to start 
the match. After seeing Skjodt 
take an astounding 71 swings in 
Friday night’s loss to Wisconsin, 
Jones knew that Abbott and 
Rocafort would rely heavily on her 
production against the Gophers.
“I was ready to embrace the 
pressure,” Jones said. “I know my 
teammates trust me and I know I 
trust them, so I just go out every 
game and do what they need 
me to do. Coach told us to come 
out, swing at the ball, and go for 
everything without holding back. 
It was a tough battle tonight.”
Jones did just that in an effort 
where she posted one of the best 
stat lines of her young career. At the 
end of the first set, Jones boasted a 
staggering .417 attack percentage 
after tallying 11 kills on 24 swings 
with just one hitting error.
But Michigan failed to capitalize 
on a pair of set points and a block 
by Minnesota’s Regan Pittman — 
a 6-foot-5 middle blocker — gave 
the Gophers a 27-25 victory in 
the opening frame. In addition to 
her set-clinching block, Pittman 
finished the match with 10 kills 
on just 18 swings, many of which 
came in the form of “slides” and 
“shoots” — volleyball terminology 
for shorter, faster sets to a middle 
blocker in different locations along 
the net. Pittman did most of her 
damage by utilizing a lateral, one-
legged approach from behind the 
setter.
“We try to go get out early, get 
our feet set, stop in front of them 
and take away shots so we can 
defend around it,” Jones said.
On 
Saturday, 
Pittman’s 
powerful 
arm-swing 
and 
unrivaled vertical leap proved to 
be too much for the Wolverines 
to handle. Despite being unable to 
close the set on a high note, Rosen 
was proud of his team’s execution 
in the opening frame.
“We played great in the first 
set,” 
Rosen 
said. 
“We 
were 
aggressive, we were going after it, 
and I thought our attackers were 
really going for hands and kills 
whenever they could to put the 
ball away.”
Following a closely contested 
opening set, the second frame was 

an entirely different story. The 
Gophers floored the gas pedal from 
the get-go, steamrolling Michigan 
en route to a final score of 25-10. 
Minnesota’s 
potent 
offensive 
attack delivered a .462 attack 
percentage, while the Wolverines’ 
abysmal performance led to a 
minus-.059 clip. On defense, the 
Golden 
Gophers 
out-blocked 
Michigan 6-0 in the second set 
and 14-0 during the course of the 
match.
“In the second set, we just 
flinched a little bit,” Rosen said. 
“It let a little air out of the sails 
when we couldn’t pull out that 
first set. That’s something we need 
to get better at — no matter what 
lineup is on the floor, we want to 
keep our level of energy and our 
level of execution consistent. We 
dropped down some and that was 
unfortunate.”
Although the third set was 
closer 
than 
the 
second, 
the 
Wolverines never held the lead. 
Minnesota opened the frame with 
a 4-0 spurt and never looked back. 
Perhaps the lone bright spot of the 
set was senior libero Jenna Lerg’s 
performance. Lerg finished the 
match with a team-high 19 digs 
while no other Wolverine notched 
double-figures. She also made 
her mark from the service line 
as the only Michigan player with 
multiple aces. But when it was all 
said and done, the Gophers came 
out on top, 25-20.
“After the second set, we talked 
about the fact that we have nothing 
to lose,” Jones said. “They’re 
ranked third in the nation and they 
were up two sets, so the pressure 
was on them to finish. We had 
nothing to lose so we wanted to go 
all out in the third set.”
At a glance, the numbers 
indicate 
that 
Minnesota 
was 
able to dictate the physicality of 
the match because Michigan’s 
middle blockers were ineffective 
all night long. Freshman Kayla 
Bair, filling in for Crocker, finished 
the night with a minus-.143 
attack percentage after recording 
more errors than kills. Bair’s 
counterpart, sophomore middle 
blocker Kiara Shannon, struggled 
mightily as well, posting just two 
kills on the night despite taking 16 
swings. Numbers don’t lie — the 
Wolverines lost a key facet of their 
offensive attack when it became 
evident that their middle blockers 
were having a tough time adjusting 
to Welsh’s absence.
“With two new setters, the 
hardest thing to set is anything 
quick (to the middle),” Rosen said. 
“We were trying to keep it basic 
and get good swings. I don’t think 
that was for any other reason than 
the fact that we had new players. 
We only had 45 minutes today 
to work on them connecting, 
so I think (Bair and Shannon’s 
inefficiency) was by design tonight 
to try to keep it simple.”
Once the Gophers picked up 
on this fact, Minnesota was able 
to commit two blockers to Skjodt 
and Jones on the outside pin. As a 
result, Skjodt was held to just eight 
kills on 37 swings one night after 
registering 27 kills against the 
Badgers.
Outside of Lerg’s dominant 
performance in the back row, the 
rest of Michigan’s defense had a 
tough night. Without their normal 
system in place, the Wolverines 
looked lost — communication 
errors, a new serve receive rotation 
and 
unfamiliar 
combinations 
of players prevented them from 
finding any consistency in the back 
row.
“Unfortunately, 
we 
had 
different personnel on the floor in 
different positions, so defensively, 
we dropped down as well,” Rosen 
said.
At the end of the night, 
Michigan’s 
makeshift 
lineup 
simply couldn’t get the job done 
against one of the nation’s top 
teams. With Crocker, Wetterstrom, 
and Welsh all watching from the 
bench, the Wolverines looked 
helpless when trying to provide an 
answer for an offense that boasted 
a .364 clip on the night.
“The players are doing the 
best they can, but that’s why you 
have a system,” Rosen said. “It 
helps to organize your play and 
create consistency within your 
execution. When you change the 
system at the last minute, you can’t 
expect (the execution) will stay 
the same. Tonight, we were forced 
into being very different. Different 
is what we were dealt, but at the 
same time, we need to focus on the 
way we play when we play well.”

The Golden Gophers stuffed Michigan in three straight sets.

“Carly has 
been our most 
dominant 
player.”

DANIEL DASH
For the Daily

