Lerg, Rosens lead ‘M’ to Sweet 16

As the Michigan volleyball 
team’s bench rushed onto the 
court to join the dogpile, head 
coach Mark Rosen jolted out of 
his seat. His wife, associate head 
coach Leisa Rosen, threw her 
right fist into the air.
Their slew of reactions came 
in the moment the Wolverines 
(24-9 overall, 11-9 Big Ten) 
clinched their berth in the Sweet 
Sixteen with an upset win over 
No. 12 Pittsburgh (30-2 overall, 
17-1 ACC).
Saturday’s 
win 
adds 
yet 
another jewel to Mark and Leisa 
Rosen’s coaching crown — one 
that 
already 
included 
nine 
All-Americans, 17 postseason 
appearances 
and 
over 
400 
victories in their tenure in 
Ann Arbor. The Rosens’ most 
recent achievement marks their 
seventh trip to the Sweet Sixteen 
in 20 years at the helm of the 
program.
But that’s merely a number to 
them.
“I don’t keep track of those 
things,” Mark Rosen said. “I 
just like the fact that we’re in 
the Sweet Sixteen. It’s a great 
accomplishment for this team, 
but we want to go farther. We’re 
not satisfied — we want to go win 
the next one.”
To get there, the Rosens first 
had to get through Navy, which 
presented Michigan with the 
challenge of an unconventional 
style in the opening round. The 
Mids (23-9 overall, 13-3 Patriot 
League) won their conference 
title, highlighted by the one-
dimensional offense they used 
to cruise through the regular 
season. Outside hitter Maddi 
Sgattoni finished the season 
with 
1,288 
attack 
attempts, 
over 540 more than any of her 
teammates.
After facing six of the AVCA 
Coaches Poll’s top-12 teams in 
its regular season Big Ten slate, 
the Wolverines had adapted to 
seeing 
well-versed 
offensive 
attacks. Adjusting to Navy’s one-
woman show posed a challenge, 
but the Rosens put a defensive 
scheme in place to neutralize 

Sgattoni’s skill set. Michigan 
executed 
the 
gameplan 
to 
perfection, holding Sgattoni to 
two kills on 36 attempts while 
forcing her into seven errors.
The player responsible for 
spearheading the Wolverines’ 
adjusted defensive effort was 
senior libero Jenna Lerg, but 
that’s nothing new. Now in her 
fourth year as a starter, the 
Michigan native recorded 18 digs 
in the opening-round match. In 
the midst of making dramatic 
one-armed saves look routine, 
Lerg recorded the 1,927th dig 
of her career 
— a feat which 
moved her into 
second place on 
the 
program’s 
all-time list.
“(Lerg) 
is 
arguably 
the 
best 
libero 
we’ve ever had,” 
Rosen 
said. 
“She’s great at 
the whole game. 
We can look at records, but it 
really comes down to how she 
impacts this team. She elevates 
the level of this team, and that’s 
huge for us. She comes up in 
big points, and her skill set can 
change the momentum of the 
entire match.”
The sweep of Navy set up 
a showdown with Pittsburgh, 
the ACC champion. Squaring 
off against a 30-win conference 
champion on its home court in 
the Big Dance can be daunting, 
so the Rosens went back to the 
drawing board to craft another 
thoughtful approach.
One five-set thriller later, the 

Wolverines were off to the Sweet 
Sixteen.
On his way to shake hands 
with 
Pittsburgh 
coach 
Dan 
Fisher 
at 
midcourt, 
Mark 
Rosen walked by his coaching 
binder, which sat untouched 
on Michigan’s bench. Rather 
than continuing his journey to 
Fisher, Rosen stopped, doubled 
back to his seat, and grabbed his 
binder — a choice emblematic 
of his task-oriented approach to 
coaching.
The next task at hand? No. 
5-seed Texas (22-4 overall, 17-1 
Big 12).
Rather 
than 
taking 
time 
out 
of 
the 
upcoming 
week 
to commemorate 
the victory, the 
Rosens will be 
studying film on 
the 
Longhorns. 
The battle will 
take 
place 
on 
Brigham Young’s 
campus in Provo, Utah on Friday 
afternoon.
“We need to figure out how 
to advance past each team we 
play,” Rosen said. “It’s not about 
playing pretty volleyball, it’s 
about advancing to the next 
round.”
If the Wolverines can upend 
Texas, it’d mark Michigan’s third 
Elite Eight appearance of the 
Rosen era — further etching their 
names into program history. As 
their coaching resume continues 
to grow, the Rosens’ legacy 
begins to approach immortality.
To Mark and Leisa, it’s just 
one more task.

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Jenna Lerg is second on Michigan’s all-time list for digs with 1,927.

“We’re in the 
Sweet 16. ... We 
want to go win 
the next one.”

Michigan ready for LIU-Brooklyn

The 
Michigan 
women’s 
basketball team returns to Crisler 
Center on Thursday night for the 
first time in a long time.
After 
a 
two-and-a-half-week 
stretch which saw the Wolverines 
travel from Estero, Fla., to Raleigh, 
N.C. and back north to Milwaukee, 
Wisc., they are finally coming home.
Michigan faced four ranked 
opponents over the course of their 
travels — No. 21 Missouri, No. 10 
Texas, No. 13 NC State and No. 
22 Marquette — earning only one 
victory against the Tigers. In the 
other three games, the Wolverines’ 
youth 
and 
weaknesses 
were 
exploited.
“We 
really, 
really 
tested 
ourselves,” said Michigan coach 
Kim Barnes Arico to 1050 WKTA. 
“The travel has been the toughest 
part for our young kids. It felt like 
we were on an NBA schedule.”
Though 
the 
Longhorns 
and Golden Eagles thoroughly 
outplayed the Wolverines, the 
game against NC State remained 
competitive until the end — despite 
an 11-point loss.
“NC State is a great team,” 
Barnes-Arico said. “It was really a 
great basketball game until the end. 

And I think the atmosphere there 
was incredible. For our young kids 
to be in that environment, on the 
road, in the ACC, with the crowd 
getting into it like they did — that 
will really prepare us for Big Ten 
play.”
If Michigan had pulled off that 
victory, it would be returning home 
much more pleased with it current 
position. Instead a 5-3 record 
through eight games looms over 
the Wolverines, as they now have 
their first real chance to practice 
since they left Ann Arbor on 
Thanksgiving.
Challenging itself — especially 
early in the season — may reap 
benefits come the end of the year for 
Michigan, but as the Big Ten season 
inches closer, simply stringing 
together a few wins would be 
helpful.
The Wolverines should have this 
chance on Thursday night when 
LIU-Brooklyn arrives in Ann Arbor. 
The struggling Blackbirds are 0-7, 
failing to score over 50 points in 
three of those games.
LIU guards Brandy Thomas and 
Jeydah Johnson will likely pose the 
biggest threats offensively, but a lack 
of size gives Michigan a significant 
advantage in the paint. Similarly, 
the Blackbirds have struggled to 
stop teams defensively, giving up 

over 70 points to Fairfield, St. Peter’s 
and UC Irvine.
So the Wolverines seem quite 
capable of making this one ugly.
Still, Michigan has a few kinks 
to iron out itself. Freshman point 
guard Amy Dilk and senior center 
Hallie Thome — both key starters 
for the Wolverines — have struggled 
in recent weeks. The speed of the 
game may be catching up to Dilk, 
while for Thome, consistent double-
teams have rendered her somewhat 
ineffective offensively. Look for 
both of them to rebound against a 
team that has struggled as much as 
LIU.
Additionally, 
a 
return 
to 
Michigan’s home-court advantage 
should help it after its long stretch 
away.
“We feel like it’s been so long 
since we’ve been home and had 
an opportunity to play in front of 
our home crowd,” Barnes Arico 
said. “Really we always talk about 
protecting that block ‘M’, so our 
kids are super excited about that 
aspect.
“More so than any opponent 
right now, I think it’s about us 
getting better. This road swing has 
shown us what the best teams in 
the country look like. Now it’s an 
opportunity to work on Michigan, 
and where we need to improve.”

CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer

ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Senior center Hallie Thome has struggled lately as Michigan has dropped three of its last four games, all on the road.

Ignas Brazdeikis came through when 
the Wolverines needed him the most

The 
Michigan 
basketball 
team’s trip to Northwestern 
on Tuesday night was not 
supposed to be the toughest 
challenge of its young season.
But with five minutes to play, 
it had become just that. Every 
time the Wolverines threatened 
to pull away, the Wildcats 
reeled back within striking 
distance. Leads of 10, 15 and 
10 were matched with a trio of 
Northwestern scoring runs.
Most 
teams 
would 
turn 
to a veteran presence in that 
moment of adversity. Michigan, 
on the surface, should be no 
different. Seven members of its 
eight-man rotation were here 
last year, when the Wolverines 
won 14 straight games en route 
to the national title game. 
Despite not having any seniors, 
experience is not among this 
team’s limited weaknesses.
Yet, when its undefeated 
season lay in the balance for the 
first time, Michigan called on 
its sole contributing freshman. 
And as he has done so often 
this season, that freshman — 
forward Ignas Brazdeikis, in 
case you haven’t been paying 
attention — came through for 
the Wolverines, rattling home a 
3-pointer to break a six-minute 
scoring drought and erase their 

first second-half deficit in more 
than three weeks.
“He gets us buckets when 
we can’t get one sometimes,” 
Michigan coach John Beilein 
said of Brazdeikis. “… He 
makes such obvious freshmen 
mistakes sometimes, … and 
then, all of a sudden, he’ll just 
go get you a bucket.”
When Northwestern scored 
seven straight in the first half 
to draw within three, it was 
Brazdeikis who took the ball 
at the top of the key, charged 
toward the hoop and nailed 
a 
left-handed 
floater. 
One 
possession later, the Wildcats’ 
defense 
crowded 
the 
lane, 
forcing him into a fadeaway 
jumper from an impossible 
angle. Nothing but net.
“That’s why he came to 
Michigan,” Beilein said. “He 
watched Nik Stauskas make 
a lot of those big shots and he 
wanted to be in this element 
and play in front of that crowd 
today. That’s who he is and 
that’s why we love him.”
After 
taking 
a 
36-30 
lead 
into 
the 
break, 
the 
Wolverines’ offense began to 
wilt. Sophomore guard Zavier 
Simpson, Michigan’s on-court 
leader, followed an eight-point 
first half by going 1-of-6 from 
the field in the second. As 
Simpson’s struggles reached 
their apex, junior center Jon 

Teske had to sit with foul 
trouble. His backup — redshirt 
sophomore center Austin Davis 
— posted zero points, three 
fouls and a negative-9 plus-
minus in just seven minutes.
But whenever his teammates 
faltered, 
Brazdeikis 
shone 
brightest, 
keeping 
the 
Wolverines afloat by scoring 
12 of their first 18 points of the 
second half and assisting on 
two more.
“We got knocked down, but 
I feel like this game brought 
us more together,” Brazdeikis 
said. “I feel like we grew a lot, 
and it showed how tough we 
are.”
Before 
the 
season, 
most 
would have anticipated the 
Wolverines to call on redshirt 
junior 
forward 
Charles 
Matthews or sophomore guard 
Jordan Poole in an imposing 
late-game road environment. 
Matthews was deemed to be 
the team’s most NBA-ready 
player and Poole had been 
there before, saving Michigan’s 
2018 season with his now-
immortalized buzzer-beater.
Instead, 
those 
two 
epitomized 
Michigan’s 
struggles down the stretch, 
combining for just four second-
half points.
In their place stepped a 
freshman. Even if he makes 
that detail easy to forget.

ANNIE KLUS/Daily
Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis managed to score in key moments during Michigan’s 62-60 win over the Wildcats.

THEO MACKIE
Daily Sports Writer

6A — Thursday, December 6, 2018
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

