The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 — 7

‘M’ sends its seniors off 
with win over Spartans

As the regular season came to 
a close, the Michigan women’s 
volleyball (22-9 overall, 11-9 
Big Ten) managed to provide 
a bittersweet send-off for its 
senior players with a win over 
Michigan State (17-16, 5-15) 
at Crisler Center on Saturday 
night.
Like 
true 
rivals, 
the 
Wolverines and the Spartans 
were neck-and-neck throughout 
the first set, with the biggest 
deficit being just three points. 
By the time it was 23-23, it 
was anybody’s game. But two 
consecutive 
attacks 
errors 
by 
the 
Wolverines 
allowed 
Michigan State to edge out 
Michigan, 25-23, to take the 
first set.
“I think we 
came out pretty 
stale in the first 
set,” said junior 
setter Mackenzi 
Welsh.
Knowing this 
was their last 
game at Crisler, 
and 
possibly 
even 
at 
home 
depending 
on 
their seeding at Sunday’s NCAA 
selection, 
the 
Wolverines 
sought to turn the night around, 
digging, diving and getting the 
invested crowd on its feet.
On both sides though, the 
pressure 
was 
obvious, 
as 
highlight-worthy plays were 
followed by nervous fumbles 
and uncontrolled ball-handling. 
Star hitters for either team 
were consistently shut down by 
stellar blocking defense that put 
the players’ height to good use.
Rattled over losing the first 
set to a team it swept just a week 
earlier, Michigan played the 
first few points of the second 
set like a deer in the headlights, 
with 
slow 
reactions 
and 
miscommunication putting a 
kink in the well-oiled machine.
“What scared us was how we 
came out in the second set,” said 
Michigan coach Mark Rosen. “I 
thought we just came out a little 
tentative, a little on our heels, 
and it looked like we were just 
second-guessing 
ourselves 
a 
little bit.”
Even the veterans were off 
their 
game. 
Consequently, 
Rosen called a timeout after 
senior 
outside 
hitter 
Carly 
Skjodt gave up a point on a ball-
handling error.
A “Go green, go white” cheer 
broke out, calling attention to 
the decent amount of Spartan 
fans in the audience, and the 
mood shifted as Michigan State 
gained its largest lead of the 
game, 11-7.
Freshman 
outside 
hitter 
Paige Jones stepped up and 
emerged as the game’s equalizer, 
showcasing her versatility as 

a hitter and blocker. A forced 
Spartan timeout following one 
of her deafening spikes allowed 
the Wolverines to come from 
behind and take the lead of the 
set, 19-18.
Apparently Michigan State 
coach Cathy George gave the 
team the pep-talk it needed, 
because the Spartans came back 
to tie the score at a nail-biting 
24-24.
Ultimately, 
Spartan 
sophomore Alyssa Chronowski 
hit the ball out of bounds to 
hand Michigan the second set, 
27-25, leveling the match to one 
set each.
Michigan State took the lead 
again early in the third set, 
but it was Skjodt’s 11th double-
double 
of 
the 
season 
that 
underscored Michigan’s overall 
dominance. An 
ace service from 
Welsh 
seemed 
to signal the end 
was nigh.
Nevertheless, 
the 
Spartans 
fought 
tooth 
and nail, and 
the Wolverines 
took the third 
set by another 
two-point 
margin, 25-23.
Despite the closeness of the 
match, the mood lightened as 
senior night festivities took 
place. Senior libero Jenna Lerg 
was voted “Most likely to be 
President” by her teammates, 
and Michigan danced to the 
Macarena, 
waiting 
for 
the 
fourth set to commence.
This show of camaraderie 
reminded the crowd that senior 
night not only means the team 
will graduate three star players 
in Skjodt, Lerg, and setter 
Maddy Abbott, but also three 
friends and fellow Wolverines 
who have made a lasting impact 
on their younger teammates.
“I hate senior nights,” Rosen 
said about the disappointment 
of losing his players. “You can 
see their teammates’ reaction, 
how much this team, those 
players, mean to the whole 
team.”
He acknowledges that while 
Skjodt, Lerg and Abbott will 
be moving on, their impact on 
the younger team members will 
remain.
“Their legacy is going to 
be strong,” Rosen said, “but 
hopefully the younger players 
were paying attention to how 
they led, how they carried 
themselves, and we hope they 
set a great example for the 
future.”
As the fourth set culminated 
in match point, a final Spartan 
serve was fielded by Skjodt, set 
by Welsh and then nailed down 
into the back corner by Jones. 
And just like that, from senior 
to freshman, the torch had been 
passed.

Eric Montross talks Wolverine-Tar Heel matchup

Last year, the Michigan men’s 
basketball team was run out of the 
Dean E. Smith Center in an 86-71 
loss to North Carolina.
This year, as part of the Big 
Ten/ACC Challenge, the two 
teams will match up again — this 
time with a venue change, as the 
seventh-ranked Wolverines will 
take on the 11th-ranked Tar Heels 
in Ann Arbor.
Of course, these aren’t the 
same teams that squared off in 
Chapel Hill, N.C., last November. 
North Carolina (6-1) no longer 
has star point guard Joel Berry 
or wing Theo Pinson. Instead, 
surrounding forward Luke Maye 
— who has been in the National 
Player of the Year conversation 
since his breakout season last year 
— are center Garrison Brooks, 
forward Cameron Johnson and 
two heralded freshmen in guard 
Coby White and forward Nassir 
Little. Both were top-25 recruits 
who have already made their 
presence known early in the 
season.
Michigan (6-0), on the other 
hand, 
lost 
forward 
Moritz 
Wagner, 
guard 
Muhammad-
Ali Abdur-Rahkman and wing 
Duncan Robinson — three of its 
five starters in last year’s game. 
And the starting point guard at 
this time last year was Eli Brooks. 
A month later, he lost his job to 
then-sophomore Zavier Simpson, 
who has since become the soul of 
the Wolverines. Sophomore guard 
Jordan Poole, sophomore forward 
Isaiah Livers and junior center 
Jon Teske have seen increased 
roles, while freshman forward 
Ignas Brazdeikis has impressed 
early.
With both schools off to good 
starts — Michigan beat reigning 
national champion Villanova on 
the road, while the Tar Heels 
defeated UCLA — the matchup 
is one of the Wolverines’ most 
anticipated this year.
The Daily spoke with former 
North 
Carolina 
player 
and 
current Tar Heels radio analyst 
Eric Montross about the matchup 
and the history between the two 
schools.
North Carolina’s first trip to 

Ann Arbor
Michigan has a lot of history 
with the Tar Heels. Most notably, 
the two met in the 1993 National 
Championship game, famous for 
Chris Webber calling a timeout 
that the Wolverines didn’t have. 
Montross played for the title-
winning North Carolina team 
that year. The two teams had also 
met in the NCAA Tournament in 
1987, 1988 and 1989. But despite 
that, the Tar Heels have never 
played in Ann Arbor.
“It’s 
almost 
mind-boggling 
that these teams haven’t met in 
Ann Arbor,” Montross said. “ … 
Top programs in the country and 
top players in the country want to 
play against the best players in the 
best venues, and there’s no doubt 
that Crisler Arena is one of the 
best venues, and this is one of the 
best teams.”
Turnover troubles
When the Tar Heels take the 
court on Wednesday, they will 
hear Roy Williams’ voice in their 
head, telling them to hang onto 
the basketball.
Turnovers weren’t the only 
problem in North Carolina’s loss 
to Texas last week, but they were 
a big part of it. The Tar Heels 
turned the ball over 17 times and 
allowed the Longhorns 31 points 
off turnovers.

“They’re 
not 
typically 
a 
turnover-prone team, and I think 
as they watch the film of the game 
against Texas, they saw there 
were a lot of unforced turnovers,” 
Montross said. “But at the same 
time, those, what we would call 
unforced turnovers … you could 
argue that they actually were 
forced by a little bit of a frenetic 
defense that Texas conveyed.”
That won’t work against a 
team like the Wolverines, who 
are known for their relentless 
defense. Opposing teams have had 
double-digit turnovers in every 
game so far against Michigan, 
and the Wolverines’ transition 
attack is good at converting those 
into points.
“Certainly, Carolina will put 
a premium on a low number of 
turnovers 
versus 
Michigan,” 
Montross said.
Anticipation for the hotly 
contested matchup
This game has gotten a lot 
of national hype, and for good 
reason. Beyond rivalry games, 
few matchups garner the level of 
enthusiasm that players and fans 
have for marquee non-conference 
contests.
“Even if they haven’t played 
while they’ve been in college, even 
for some of the upperclassmen, 
they know each other,” Montross 

said. “They’ve watched each other 
on TV. … For the freshmen, there’s 
probably a very good chance that 
there’s a familiarity there because 
of their paths having crossed in 
high school or AAU or different 
all-star teams.
“I think that when I was in 
school, obviously that was a long 
time ago, but I was still very 
familiar with Chris Webber and 
Juwan Howard and Jalen Rose 
and Jimmy King and all those 
guys. You know and respect the 
players and … you’re enthused 
about playing them.”
The history of the two teams 
in March Madness is more of 
a driver for the fans than the 
players — no one on either roster 
was born in 1993. But it’s not just 
the history that contributes to the 
aura of the matchup.
“The expectations are that 
it’s a real heavyweight fight,” 
Montross said. “It’s two of the 
country’s best programs, two of 
the best public universities that 
are really peer institutions — they 
recruit the same kids, they’re 
both very well coached, they have 
high expectations. … We know it’s 
gonna be a raucous environment, 
and the fans are terrific. I think 
there’s a high expectation for the 
level of enthusiasm that there will 
be in that arena.”

Munger guides Michigan in win over Huskies

Judging by the first half, it 
seemed like the game would 
come down to the wire. The 
Michigan women’s basketball 
team (5-1) held a slight, three-
point edge over Washington 
(3-3) with the contest still up for 
grabs.
But in the second half, senior 
guard 
Nicole 
Munger 
did 
everything she could to help 
the Wolverines pull away in 
an 80-73 victory that garnered 
them a third-place finish at the 
Gulf Coast Showcase, Sunday 
evening in Estero, Fla.
“I’m just really happy with 
the way that we just kept 
fighting and kept fighting,” said 
Michigan coach Kim Barnes 
Arico 
to 
WTKA 
after 
the 
game. “So I just think it speaks 
volumes.”
With one second remaining 

in the third stanza, the Huskies 
converted a jumper to tie the 
game at 55. The Wolverines 
quickly regained the lead in the 
fourth, off a layup from senior 
center Hallie Thome, but couldn’t 
take full control, so the game 
remained close. And although 
Michigan ultimately held the 
lead until the final buzzer, 
Washington still had hope.
Munger made sure to crush 
that hope.
With just over three minutes 
remaining, 
guard 
Missy 
Peterson capitalized on a fast 
break to keep the Huskies within 
five points. Munger responded 
right away from beyond the 
arc, but then forward Hannah 
Johnson made a triple of her 
own to keep Washington in the 
game.
The Huskies called a timeout 
to plan their comeback, but 
when play resumed, Munger 
drained another dagger from the 

3-point line to spoil their plans. 
Freshman guard Amy Dilk then 
made a layup on the Wolverines’ 
next offensive possession to give 
her team a 10-point lead — their 
biggest of the night — that sealed 
the deal.
Munger finished the game 
with seven 3-pointers and a 
stellar 56.3 percent field goal 
percentage for a team-high 27 
points.
“Incredible. 
Absolutely 
incredible and so happy for 
her,” Barnes Arico said. “I 
mean, she’s just an unbelievable 
kid — unbelievable player in 
our program — and just really 
personifies what we stand for.”
Dilk 
also 
contributed 
significantly with 19 points and 
seven assists, while Thome and 
junior forward Kayla Robbins 
also scored in double digits with 
13 and 10 points, respectively.
“She has really shown what 
she’s capable of doing,” Barnes 

Arico said of Dilk. “And she was 
pretty special for sure.”
The first half was a back-
and-forth fiasco; every time 
Michigan scored, the Huskies 
struck back and vice versa. 
The lead changed 20 times 
throughout the first two frames, 
with neither team building more 
than a four-point advantage. 
The Wolverines had a bit of an 
upper hand, though, as they 
never trailed after Thome made 
a layup with about three and a 
half minutes left in the second 
frame.
“It 
was 
incredible. 
We 
knew it was a tough game. We 
looked a little tired in the first 
half. We weren’t getting back 
in transition defense like we 
normally do,” Barnes Arico said. 
“They challenged us in so many 
ways. And everytime we got 
ahead, and we thought we had a 
lead, they’d cut it. It was a heck 
of a battle for us.”

ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Senior guard Nicole Munger led Michigan with 27 points in its win over Washington in the third place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Sunday.

ROHAN KUMAR
Daily Sports Writer

VOLLEYBALL

SOPHIA JASKOSKI
Daily Sports Writer

“We hope they 
set a great 
example for the 
future.”

ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Writer

KATELYN MULCAHY/Daily
The Michigan and North Carolina basketball teams will face off in Ann Arbor for the first time on Wednesday.

