The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Tuesday, September 24, 2019 — 7

Just four days after falling 
short in a five-set thriller against 
Notre 
Dame, 
the 
Michigan 
volleyball team had something 
to prove against the Fighting 
Irish on Sunday afternoon.
Powered 
by 
sophomore 
outside hitter Paige Jones’ third 
consecutive double-double, the 
Wolverines (7-3) finished their 
non-conference slate on a high 
note, exacting revenge on Notre 
Dame, 25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 25-16, 
in the second half of the home-
and-home series.
Michigan raced out to an 
early lead, winning seven of 
the match’s first nine points. 
Freshman 
opposite 
May 
Pertofsky exposed holes within 
the Fighting Irish’s (7-3) serve 
receive with a pair of aces, 
forcing Notre Dame into an 
early timeout. The middle stages 
of the set were relatively even, 
with the teams splitting the 
next 26 points coming out of the 
timeout.
Neither side was able to string 
together more than two in a row 
until the Fighting Irish scored 
four unanswered points to tie 
the frame at 23.
With the opening set on the 
line, senior setter MacKenzi 
Welsh took control of a broken 
play. Notre Dame’s outside hitter 
tried to roll a ball over her block, 
but Welsh sent the ball to the 
back corner on the first contact. 
It landed just out of the reach 
of a diving libero, giving the 
Wolverines the only set point 
they needed.
Michigan has been relatively 
inconsistent 
with 
the 
first 
contact throughout the early 
stages of the season, so Welsh 
has 
grown 
accustomed 
to 
getting creative. When poor 
passing puts the Wolverines 
out of system, their senior floor 
captain kept them in the rally.
“It’s a lot of running around 
sometimes,” 
Welsh 
said. 
“Consistently, 
if 
people 
are 
working hard defensively then 
it’s me working twice as hard to 

make sure that we’re putting the 
next ball up and making the play 
better. Just trying to get hitters 
in the best position possible 
while also fighting for the people 
who hit the first touch.
“That’s the most important 
thing in our gym — defense and 
fighting all the way through the 
rally.”
Michigan’s 
emphasis 
on 
defense carried over into the 
second set, particularly in the 
front 
row. 
The 
Wolverines 
posted nine team blocks for 
the match, with five different 
players recording multiple block 
assists.
Fifth-year 
senior 
middle 
blocker Cori Crocker tallied 
a season-high six blocks and 
chipped in four kills. Even when 
she wasn’t sending balls back, 
her touches at the net slowed 
most swings down before they 
reached the back row.
“Sometimes (Crocker) tries 
to be too big,” Michigan coach 
Mark Rosen said. “ … She plays 
big and sometimes she needs 
to play a little more controlled 
and not always so big. I thought 
tonight she did that really well.
“Their 
offense 
is 
very 
patterned in what they do. I 
thought our blockers did a good 
job of picking up their pattern 
and then being very efficient 
against it.”
When 
it 
came 
time 
to 
finish the sweep, however, the 
Fighting Irish fought back. They 
came out of the locker room 
with a refined approach that 
emphasized tactical serves at 
different distances in an effort 
to move the Wolverines’ passers 
off their line. It kept the unit off-
guard, thus making the back row 
less aggressive in anticipation.
Michigan’s 
serve 
receive 
failed to adjust and its offense 
suffered as a result. Without a 
consistent foundation to work 
from, Welsh spent most of the 
set scrambling. The Wolverines’ 
third-set 
hitting 
percentage 
was capped at just .100, their 
lowest mark of the match by 
over 
175 
percentage 
points. 
They committed eight errors, a 

stark contrast to the nine total 
mistakes they made in the three 
other sets combined.
But in the fourth frame, 
Michigan returned the favor 
when it mattered most. The 
Wolverines used a six-point 
run midway through the set 
to put the match out of reach, 
holding Notre Dame to a hitting 
percentage of -.088 — just its 
second negative efficiency rating 
in a set this season.
Fittingly, 
Crocker’s 
sixth 
block set up Michigan’s first 
match point. The Fighting Irish 
were held to a hitting percentage 
of just .117 for the match — a 
74-point 
improvement 
from 
the mid-week matchup for the 
Wolverines. Rosen spoke highly 
of his team’s defense during 
Wednesday’s loss in South Bend, 
but noticed one key difference in 
his team’s blocking in Sunday’s 
rematch.
“Tonight, we got (blocks) on 
the stat sheet,” Rosen said. “We 
blocked them to the point where 
they really weren’t coverable as 
much.”

In the first set of Sunday’s 
match against Notre Dame, May 
Pertofsky stepped up to the line to 
serve and quickly earned Michigan 
a point to go up 5-2 on a service ace.
On the next play, the freshman 
opposite hitter would once again 
secure a service ace, forcing the 
Fighting Irish (7-3) to call a timeout 
and giving the Michigan volleyball 
team (7-3) early momentum in a 
game that it was in a breezy 3-1 
victory.
Pertofsky, who has become 
a 
major 
contributor 
for 
the 
Wolverines in the early stages of 
their season, has arguably been 
the team’s best server, notching 13 
service aces thus far this season. 
She tied her career high on Sunday 
with four total service aces, adding 
two more in the match’s second 
set. Despite her prowess on the 
service line, Michigan coach Mark 
Rosen believes that she still hasn’t 
hit her full potential in that facet of 
the game.
“Her serve is definitely a really 

fun work in progress,” Rosen said. 
“It’s getting better and better, and 
when it’s on, it’s nasty.”
Added Pertofsky: “I’ve been in 
practice working on getting my 
serve more consistent, harder, and 
I’m still working on it.”
Despite her prowess on serves, 
Pertofsky 
was 
perhaps 
most 
effective in the front row, blocking 
five shots and notching five assists. 
Her ability to disrupt shots allowed 
the Wolverines to extend rallies 
against the Fighting Irish all match 
long, many of which they won 
thanks to Pertofsky’s set ups.
“I thought she was great 
tonight,” 
Rosen 
said. 
“She’s 
learning how to be a very 
consistent player, and for the most 
part this year she’s been that.”
In the second set, Pertofsky 
came up to serve with the game 
tied early at three. She ripped one 
into the left corner, scoring her 
third ace. After a Notre Dame 
error, Pertofsky once again scored 
a service ace, giving Michigan a 6-3 
edge and momentum that it would 
carry to a 25-15 victory — the most 
lopsided win of the match.

“I just went back there and said, 
‘We really need this momentum 
right now and just come out as 
hard as we can,’ ” Pertofsky said. “I 
was like ‘I’m just gonna go after it,’ 
so I served as hard as I could and 
I felt the connection was really 
good.”
In the fourth set, Pertofsky 
once again came up big for the 
Wolverines. With a seven-point 
lead, she netted a kill on a spike off 
a pass from senior setter MacKenzi 
Welsh. On the next play, she 
blocked a ball right in front of the 
net and gave Michigan a 24-15 lead 
on its way to a 25-16 victory to close 
the match.
After 
finishing 
the 
match 
with 17.5 points to lead the team, 
Pertofsky should continue to be 
a force for the Wolverines as they 
head into their conference slate. 
Even though he knows there’s still 
room to improve, Rosen couldn’t 
be happier with his freshman’s 
stellar outing.
“Tonight was a great match 
for her,” Rosen said. “And it was a 
great match against a really great 
opponent.”

‘M’ takes fourth place

The Michigan women’s cross 
country team came to the John 
McNichols Invitational with 
a chance to prove it belonged 
amongst the nation’s elite. Led 
by freshman sensation Erika 
VanderLende — the number 
one freshman in the country 
according to FloTrack — the 
Wolverines showed they are 
close to it by placing fourth 
against a 21-team field that 
included three other top-10 
teams. 
This wasn’t just any early-
season 
race, 
however. 
The 
course at Indiana State is 
the site of the 2019 NCAA 
Championships for the 19th 
consecutive 
season, 
though 
this race was just 5,000 meters, 
1,000 
meters 
shorter than the 
championship 
race.
Michigan was 
also without a 
few key runners. 
Last year’s Big 
Ten 
Freshman 
of 
the 
Year, 
Ann 
Forsyth, 
ran unattached 
along 
with 
freshman Amber Gall. As for 
sophomore Jessi Larson, who 
was a member of last year’s top-
four finishing squad at NCAA’s, 
status is more complicated.
 “It’s 50/50 if we have her for 
the championship part of the 
season, ” said Michigan coach 
Mike McGuire.
VanderLende had a standout 
performance for the Wolverines 
on Saturday, coming in fourth 
overall, behind only an NCAA 
champion Werner and two 
other seniors. As a Michigan 
high school record holder in the 
two mile and No. 1 nationally for 
that event in 2019 at Rockford, 
it shouldn’t come as much of 
a surprise that VanderLende 
is already competing at such a 

high level. The race saw her go 
with the lead group from the 
gun and never fall off to the 
chase pack. Her time of 16:40.1 
is also the fastest time by a 
Michigan runner at this course, 
eclipsing the previous mark set 
by Katie McGregor back in 1998 
by over 20 seconds.
“She did a nice job moving up 
through the third and fourth 
kilometer,” 
McGuire 
said. 
“Really happy with how she 
ran. ”
VanderLende wasn’t the only 
Michigan runner to finish near 
the top, though. Seven other 
Michigan runners finished in 
the top 35, two greater than any 
other team at the meet. As the 
Wolverines’ biggest strength 
coming into this season was 
their depth, Saturday proved 
just 
that. 
Juniors 
Kathryn 
House 
and 
Maddy Trevisan 
came in second 
and 
third 
for 
the 
team, 
respectively, 
and behind them 
was a group of 
five 
Michigan 
runners within 
nine places of 
each other. 
“We 
did 
a 
nice job packing, ” McGuire 
said. “We’d like to and we feel 
we can move that pack up closer 
to our third runner.”
Though the Wolverines felt 
good about their performances, 
they 
didn’t 
pull 
anything 
unexpected and beat any teams 
they weren’t supposed to. They 
came in fourth behind the other 
three nationally-ranked schools 
present at the meet, and if they 
want to be one of the teams to 
beat, they’re going to need to 
beat those types of teams.
“We were solid, but at the 
same time we are capable of 
getting better, ” McGuire said. 
“If we sure some things up, we 
can be a contending team going 
forward.”

SPENCER RAINES
For The Daily

WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY

We can be a 
contending 
team going 
forward.

Michigan flexes forward depth through four lines

Running 
a 
finger 
down 
the Michigan hockey team’s 
lineups, next to the majority 
of the players’ names will be 
the letter “F” — indicating 
their position, forward. Of the 
27 players on the roster, 17 are 
forwards. Among the forwards, 
there’s a mix of returnees, 
rookies, 
even 
a 
graduate 
transfer.
Questions will arise about 
chemistry, 
experience 
or 
defensive capabilities. But the 
ability to score answers itself.
“Can he score?
Yes. 
Can he?
Yes, yes, yes, yes.”
Looking up and down the 
lineups, Mel Pearson expresses 
the utmost confidence.
“We 
have 
four 
lines,” 
Pearson said. “Four lines, that 
can play against anybody. Four 
lines who can score, and I really 
like that. I think that’s going to 
be the strength of our team, are 
our forwards.”
From the previous year, the 
only forwards to depart from 
the program were Josh Norris, 
who left to join the Ottawa 
Senators, and Brendan Warren, 
who left due to graduation. 
However, their contributions 
were 
limited. 
Norris 
was 
injured halfway through the 
season 
in 
World 
Juniors, 
cutting his season short with 19 
points in 17 games. Warren only 
tallied three points over the 
course of the year.
“You take out Josh, and when 
you look at it, he only played 
half a year for us,” Pearson said. 
“And then, Brendan Warren, 
and that’s really it. We’ve added 
some real good depth there. 
And it’s going to be hard to fill 
out our lineup every night up 
front.”
The team moved on from 
both players quickly, replacing 
Norris with then-junior Nick 
Pastujov on the top line for 

half a year. Replacement for 
Warren’s production will be 
easy to come by. 
“You can take one guy and 
plugging other one, another 
player in and I don’t think 
you’re going to see a big drop 
off or any real change,” Pearson 
said.
On the flip side, 13 players 
return — responsible for 180 
points from the previous season. 
In addition, Michigan added 
freshmen 
draftees 
Johnny 
Beecher and Eric Ciccolini 
as well as graduate transfer 
Jacob Hayhurst. 
The 
problem 
went from who 
would 
replace 
the 
missing 
production 
to 
who all will step 
out on ice.
It’s 
the 
plethora 
of 
choices 
that 
Pearson thinks 
is 
beneficial 
for the team. Having too many 
talented forwards can only 
muster 
higher 
competition 
in practice. There are only 12 
slots, not including the extra 

skater. So, a maximum of 13 
forwards can be dressed for any 
one game, meaning there will 
be forwards forced to sit that 
can make an impact.
“But that’s what you want,” 
Pearson said. “You want these 
tough decisions.
“It’s going to be some really 
good players not playing, not 
dressing, let alone not playing 
and just not dressing.”
Senior 
defenseman 
Luke 
Martin 
shares 
the 
same 
sentiment 
as 
Pearson. 
The 
competition for the forward 
spots, 
he 
thinks, 
brings 
excitement 
in 
the 
rink 
each 
and 
every 
practice. All the 
players, having 
to defend against 
them in practice, 
are capable of 
winning a spot 
in his eyes. 
“Right down 
the line,” Martin said. “It’s 
going to be tight. And it’s just 
going to make, like I said, it’s 
gonna make practice that much 
better.” 

The strength of having four 
lines is invaluable. Whereas 
some teams will focus on 
having two strong “top lines” 
and stack the remaining lines 
with 
situational 
players, 
Pearson believes the course of 
action that best benefits the 
Wolverines is to have all four 
lines be capable of scoring, 
and that Michigan has the 
personnel to make that happen. 
No checking lines. No energy 
line. Just four lines that can 
play and score.
And four strong lines allows 
for wear-and-tear action. As 
Pearson points out, especially 
in professional hockey, the top 
six forwards will form two 
lines that strike after the third 
and fourth lines put pressure on 
the other team. The Wolverines 
believe they have four lines 
capable of keeping the pressure 
on for 60 minutes, which will 
result in higher-scoring games.
“I think we have four lines 
that not a lot of teams are going 
to be able to keep up with in a 
match, game in and game out,” 
Pastujov said. “ ... Just watch us, 
hopefully, roll over teams with 
four lines.”

Revenge

Four days after heartbreaker at Notre Dame, Wolverines beat Fighting Irish in four sets, 25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 25-16

DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer

TEDDY GUTKIN
Daily Sports Writer

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Freshman opposite hitter May Pertofsky has notched 13 service aces thus far this season, including four against Notre Dame in Michigan’s win on Sunday.

TIEN LE
Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily
Senior forward Nick Pastujov replaced Josh Norris midway through last season after Norris suffered an injury.

Just watch us, 
hopefully, roll 
over teams 
with four lines.

