8A — Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Wolverines top Oakland, Northern Arizona
For the Michigan volleyball
team, Friday’s matches couldn’t
have come sooner.
The 15th-ranked Wolverines
(2-0) have opened their season
this deep into the calendar only
once since 2004. But despite
the long preseason, they didn’t
show any signs of being behind
the curve in a 25-18, 25-23, 25-8
sweep of Oakland (1-1) in the first
match of the annual Michigan
Invitational before fending off
an upset bid against Northern
Arizona (1-1) in a 25-18, 19-25,
14-25,
25-17,
15-10
nightcap
victory.
Michigan used an efficient
offense to grab an early lead,
recording
nine
kills
before
committing
an
attack
error
against Oakland. Senior setter
MacKenzi
Welsh
dished
out assists to four different
Wolverines in that span, keeping
the Golden Grizzlies’ defense on
their heels as Michigan widened
the gap to as many as nine before
closing the set.
The Wolverines picked up
right where they left off in the
second frame, racing out to a
5-0 advantage following a trio
of Oakland errors. The Golden
Grizzlies promptly shaved the
deficit to three, but an 8-2 run
gave Michigan the breathing
room it needed to stave off a late
push. Oakland took 12 of the
next 15 points, tying the set at
23 points apiece. With the score
knotted, freshman opposite May
Pertofsky buried two consecutive
kills to give the Wolverines a two-
set advantage.
Pertofsky and fellow freshman
sensation Jess Robinson — the
nation’s No. 8 recruit, according
to Prep Volleyball — put on a
show in their Michigan debuts.
The duo paced the offense with
a combined 17 kills on just 22
attempts while hitting out of the
middle and at the right side pin.
Beyond the freshmen, Welsh
maintained a balanced attack
throughout the match. Following
the graduation of offensive focal
point Carly Skjodt, who took
over 60 swings in some matches
last year, a quintet of Wolverines
recorded at least five kills, with
Pertofsky leading the pack at
a match-high nine. Michigan
posted
a
.394
team
attack
percentage — a major spike from
last year’s collective .227 clip —
even without sophomore middle
blocker Kayla Bair, who sustained
an ankle sprain at Thursday’s
practice.
The Golden Grizzlies rode
the momentum of their rally
attempt to their first lead of the
match in the early stages of the
third set, but it
didn’t take long
for Michigan to
drop the hammer
soon after. With
the Wolverines up
10-8, Welsh went
back to serve and
took
her
team
across the finish
line, serving 15
straight points to
close the match
on a memorable run.
If there’s one area where
Michigan
needed
to
prove
something on Friday, it was ball
control. Jenna Lerg — whose
1,966 digs are the second-most
in program history — graduated
last spring, leaving the door open
for junior libero Natalie Smith to
step in and take the reins of the
team’s defense. Though there was
a handful of miscues on display,
Smith showed promise with a
team-high six digs.
“We’re going to be a good first
contact team,” said Michigan
coach Mark Rosen. “What I don’t
want people to think and what I
don’t want our players to think is
that we’re not good at it. I actually
think we’re a good first-contact
team — we’re just not a super
experienced first contact team.”
In the nightcap, ball control
became more of a worry for
Michigan. After cruising to a
first set victory,
the
passing
unraveled a bit
in
the
second
and third sets,
forcing Welsh to
set the ball to the
Lumberjacks’
stationary
double
block
on the outside.
When the dust
settled,
the
Wolverines dropped a pair of
sets in their second match of the
season, while it took 11 matches
for them to drop a single frame a
season ago.
Northern
Arizona,
which
upset then-No. 8 Florida in a
five-set thriller last September,
pushed Michigan to the brink
after a lackluster first frame.
The Lumberjacks kept the match
close by playing fundamental
volleyball — they committed
13 fewer attack errors, ran a
simpler offense and out-blocked
the hosts by three. Part of the
Wolverines’ struggle was self-
inflicted, namely the negative
hitting percentage that left them
on the wrong side of a third-set
drubbing.
Rosen tinkered with his lineup
at that point, subbing in senior
opposite
Katarina
Glavinic
for senior middle blocker Cori
Crocker and rotating Pertofsky
to
the
middle.
The
move
gave Michigan the injection
it
desperately
needed,
with
Glavinic tallying five kills on
eight errorless swings.
“Our offense was really stale,”
Rosen said. “We weren’t scoring
as we needed to. We felt like we
needed to score more on that pin.
(Glavinic) is more of a straight-
up right side, and so we went
away from the three-middle
system and went to that. I think
it changed the match in terms of
the way (Glavinic) executed.”
But when push came to shove,
it was Welsh’s four-point service
run that ignited the final spurt.
The Wolverines’ court captain
transformed a two-point deficit
into a two-point lead, giving
Michigan
the
advantage
it
needed to stave off the opening
night upset bid.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan coach Mark Rosen said he wants the Wolverines to be a good first-contact team as opposed to just ball control.
Danna making the most of dream, now a reality
It was a gamble, and Mike
Danna knew it.
All things considered, Danna
had it good. In three seasons
at Central Michigan, he tallied
27.5 tackles for loss and 15 sacks.
Nearly half of each came in his
junior season in 2018, a year
which ballooned his national
profile.
Pro Football Focus graded
him as the nation’s 22nd-best
player in its preseason top 50
rankings — noting his 24.3
percent success rate on pass
rushes in 2018 as the second-
highest in the country.
All of this is to say Mike
Danna
did
not
need
the
Michigan brand to get noticed.
He could have stayed at Central
Michigan and flourished in a
senior season. He could have
entered the NFL Draft, and
he considered that possibility.
Picking
up
your
life
and
dropping elsewhere is not easy
for anyone at any time.
But when Michigan came
calling, he knew in his heart
what he wanted.
“Michigan’s always been a
dream of mine,” Danna said
Tuesday evening. “It was always
a dream of mine. My whole
childhood, me and my father
always
watched
Michigan
games. Getting that offer was
kind of just like — as soon as
I got that offer, I was like ‘I’m
coming to Michigan.’ ”
That
decision
was
made
easier by his familiarity with
the program. Danna, a native
of Warren, grew up knowing
several of Michigan’s current
and former players, including
senior
cornerback
Lavert
Hill,
junior
wide
receiver
Donovan
Peoples-Jones
and
redshirt junior running back
Tru Wilson. Though Sherrone
Moore
never
coached
him
directly, the two share ties
from their overlapping time at
Central Michigan.
Still, this was far from a
slam-dunk.
“I knew it was for sure a
gamble,” he said. “I know the
work that I put in. I know that
you get what you put in, so if you
put in a lot of work, something
good is going to come out of
it. There’s always good things
that happen to good people. I
put in a lot of work throughout
the summer. I knew what I
was getting myself into, and I
gambled on myself because I
knew at the end of the day, like,
I can do it.”
Danna’s
career
path
has
followed a familiar narrative.
He was a three-star recruit,
the 46th-ranked player in the
state, according to 247Sports
composite ranking. The big
schools, namely Michigan and
Michigan State, didn’t come
calling initially. He went to play
for the Chippewas and steadily
developed into an elite pass
rusher.
Thus far, the transition to
Michigan has been relatively
seamless. He knew he was
entering a defensive line room
perennially stocked with talent,
but the coaching staff instantly
heaped praise.
“We
knew
Mike
was
good, but he’s doing better
than advertised so far,” said
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh
last month on his Attack Each
Day podcast. “His work ethic
has
been
outstanding,
and
he’s on a mission to make both
himself and Michigan great.”
He’s done nothing yet to deter
the notion that he can. Though
sophomore
Aidan
Hutchinson
and
junior
Kwity
Paye
technically
started
at
defensive
end
last
Saturday
against Middle
Tennessee
State,
Danna
featured
heavily in the rotation. He
notched a couple pressures
and showed glimpses of his
athletic
ability,
particularly
in the increasingly-prevalent
NASCAR pass rush looks that
feature four defensive ends.
He’s no longer the man atop
the depth chart, nor opposing
teams’ scouting reports. He’s
going to have opportunities, and
he knows he’ll have to take full
advantage of them. There’s an
inherent discomfort with a new,
more challenging environment.
From big fish in a small pond to
minnow in a great lake.
But it’s all worth it when he
sees his parents in the Big House
stands on Saturdays, when he
gets to touch the
banner, live out
his
childhood
memories
and
realize,
finally,
his dream is now
a reality.
“Every
day
I live with the
mindset
that,
‘You play for the
University
of
Michigan,
this
is your dream.’ But at the same
time, I don’t take no days off,”
Danna said. “I look myself in
the mirror and tell myself, ‘If
you’re going to be this big guy
on the field, you’ve got to live
up to it.”
Notebook: Onwenu,
kickers, injury updates
Last
season,
Michigan’s
offense huddled before every
play, taking its good sweet time
to get in formation. But under
new offensive coordinator Josh
Gattis, that’s changed.
And with a new no-huddle
system designed to push the
tempo, senior guard Michael
Onwenu knew he needed to get
into better shape. So he changed
his daily habits in the offseason
to become healthier while still
maintaining the bulk that gives
him push on the offensive line.
Now, as he put it, he’s able
to “hold up and
stay
alive”
at
the game’s new
speed.
“Just
eating
and
sleeping,”
Onwenu
said.
“Sleeping is the
most, as a college
student it’s like,
take sleep for
granted and you
just want to stay
up and play the game instead of
take that more serious.”
Because of practice schedules
and media obligations, Onwenu
is required to schedule most
of his classes in the morning,
sometimes as early as 8 a.m. Last
year, he might have gone to bed
around midnight. Now, he tries
to be asleep by 10 p.m., getting
9-10 hours many nights where
before he may have only gotten
six or seven.
“You have to be mature about
it,” Onwenu said. “You know you
have stuff to do tomorrow.”
Hayes on converting from
tight end
While Onwenu was slimming
down, redshirt freshman tackle
Ryan Hayes was bulking up.
A tight end in high school,
Hayes came in around 245
pounds. But he knew he’d have a
tall task in front of him. He was
recruited as a tackle/tight end,
essentially told that it was likely
he would convert when he joined
the Wolverines — though he had
never played the position until
he got on campus. He expected a
challenge, but bulking up wasn’t
as hard as he’d thought at first.
Though
Hayes
still
gets
ribbed by some of the other
linemen
as
“the
skinniest
lineman,” Hayes is now up to
295, around 20 pounds below his
target weight. And clearly, the
conversion from tight end has
been somewhat smooth, given
that Hayes was nails all game in
his first ever start at left tackle
Saturday, even earning offensive
player of the week honors from
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh went so far as to
mention that Hayes could be in
the mix to start at right tackle in
the future.
“The
tough
part
was
physically because I was still
weighing about — once we got
to the season I
was about 260,”
Hayes said. “So
playing
tackle
here
against
some of the best
D-linemen was
hard.
…
And
just getting the
new
footwork
down
because
playing
tight
end has nothing
to do with pass-setting and just
nothing to do with that, so I had
to get bigger, stronger, get the
footwork down.”
Offensive
line
coach
Ed
Warinner has pushed Hayes,
letting him know that the fact
he hadn’t played the position
before isn’t an excuse to mess
up. It was a lesson Hayes said
he needed to learn, and now it’s
paying off.
The kicker question has an
answer — or not
Harbaugh
and
the
other
coaches stayed mum about the
results of the kicker competition
between redshirt junior Quinn
Nordin and sophomore Jake
Moody all throughout spring
and fall camps, but there was a
sense that whoever trotted out
for the Wolverines’ first kick
of the game Saturday would
announce himself as the winner.
Not so fast.
When Michigan kicked a field
goal early in the first quarter, it
was Moody that came out. But
when it scored a touchdown not
long after and
needed an extra
point,
Nordin
came on.
In the end,
Moody
went
2-for-2 on field
goals
—
one
from 27 and one
from 34 — and
handled seven of
the team’s eight
kickoffs. Nordin
was 4-for-4 on extra points.
Instead
of
clarity
about
the battle, there was more
confusion.
But
on
Monday,
Harbaugh explained himself.
The
two
kickers,
he
explained, had been “one kick
apart” throughout camp. Moody
was one kick ahead, so he was
assigned the first field goal.
From then on, one would be
assigned the next field goal and
the other the next point attempt.
But three extra points in a row
equaled a field goal, giving the
other kicker a go. That’s exactly
what happened when Nordin
hit three extra points before the
Wolverines attempted another
field goal, which Moody took.
Harbaugh believes the plan
will remain the same going
forward as long as nothing goes
awry in practice.
“I know that sounds kind of
confusing but it actually cleared
it up,” Harbaugh said. “So we
actually, we knew exactly what
kicker would be kicking on each
drive so we wouldn’t have two
kickers running out there and
two kickers warming up on the
net.”
Injury updates
On Saturday, junior wide
receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones
did not dress and wore a walking
boot. Junior defensive lineman
Donovan
Jeter
also
wasn’t
dressed. Fifth-year senior tackle
Jon Runyan dressed, but did
not play, and senior defensive
lineman
Michael
Dwumfour
wore a club on his hand and left
the game after two drives with
an injury.
The injuries — none of which
were disclosed beforehand —
caused Michigan to have to
scramble for players ahead of
the Middle Tennessee game. By
the sound of things, this week
will be a lot of wait and see.
In his press
conference
Monday,
Harbaugh
said
Peoples-Jones,
Runyan
and
Jeter all had a
chance to play,
and “we’ll see”
on Dwumfour.
It
was
Runyan’s
injury that gave
Hayes his chance to step into
the spotlight against the Blue
Raiders, so naturally, when
Hayes addressed the media
Tuesday, he was asked if he was
preparing to start again against
Army. The implication: Will
Runyan be back?
“Time will tell,” Hayes said.
“I’m not going to prepare as a
starter. We’ll see what happens.”
I actually think
we’re a good
first contact
team.
ARIA GERSON
Daily Sports Editor
ALEXANDRIA POMPEI/Daily
Michael Onwenu changed his habits in the offseason to become healthier.
I had to get
bigger, stronger,
get the
footwork down.
We knew
exactly what
kicker would be
kicking.
MAX MARCOVITCH
Managing Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Graduate transfer Mike Danna has impressed Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh since coming from Central Michigan.
He’s on a
mission to make
himself and
Michigan great.