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.