2B — December 9, 2019
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

T

he bowl game has
become an annual meta-
phorical zombie for the
Michigan
football team.
The team
traverses to
some warm,
southern
city, still wal-
lowing from
the letdown
weeks prior,
patently
unmotivated
to face off
against an SEC opponent. For
the last three years, the Wol-
verines have taken their lumps,
underperformed, then haphaz-
ardly spewed that next year will
be different.
In some ways, it’s under-
standable. Expecting a bunch
of college kids to recuperate
from the most devastating loss
of their lives to properly prepare
for a glorified exhibition game
is, perhaps, too idealistic. The
equally-understandable fad of
skipping bowl games so as to not
risk injury (and poor game tape)
doesn’t help.
This year could be the same.
But Michigan has a unique
opportunity here to make it dif-
ferent.
Saturday, it was announced
that Michigan
will head to
Orlando, Fla. to
face off with Ala-
bama in the Cit-
rus Bowl. This
is not a Crimson
Tide team on par
with those of
the recent past,
with the injury
to quarterback
Tua Tagaviloa
casting a pall over a forgettable
season in Tuscaloosa.
But it could be a game of
euchre for all I care — if Jim

Harbaugh and Michigan beat
Nick Saban and Alabama in any-
thing, it will matter. It will mat-
ter for recruiting. It will matter
to a downtrodden fanbase. It
will matter for morale. It will
matter as a springboard to next
year.
“A very, very elite team,” Har-
baugh said on a conference call
Sunday. “Our preparation will
have to at its highest level. Good
to know who you’re going to
play and get started on prepar-
ing for the bowl game. Will be
a big-time matchup. We’re very
much looking forward to it.”
The Wolverines haven’t won
a bowl game since 2015, a 41-7
win over Florida, which provid-
ed a bridge from Year One of the
Harbaugh era into a season that
should have ended in a College
Football Playoff berth. Opti-
mism was at an all-time high. It
seemed a matter of if, not when,
Harbaugh would bring this pro-
gram to glory.
Each year since that win in
2015, Michigan has lost the last
two games of its season. Har-
baugh has garnered a reputation
for his team falling flat at the
end of the season (a tad harsh,
given one of those games is
against Ohio State, a perennial
CFP team, but still.)
Though you can scoff, a win
against Alabama
would give
Michigan dou-
ble-digit wins for
the fourth time
in five years. The
last time Michi-
gan had four
double-digit-win
seasons in five
years? 1976-1980.
Dismiss that
if you wish,
but it’s a testament to both the
understated success Harbaugh
has had in getting the program
back on track, and also the

unreasonable expectations this
fanbase places on him. It’s not
unreasonable to expect a Big
Ten title here and there, to be
sure, but it’s willfully ignorant
to blanketly chalk up his tenure
to a failure.
Of course, there is the pos-
sibility — nay, the likelihood
— that the Citrus Bowl will be
nothing more than a superior
team beating down an inferior
one. The Crimson Tide are more
talented at every position, per-
haps quarterback aside. Even in
their worst year since 2010, they
will be a double-digit favorite.
As they should be.
But you want to do something

that will quell mounting con-
cerns about the future of this
program? Here
you go. Beat the
team that has
won five of the
last 11 national
titles, the pro-
gram that has
defined the last
decade of college
football and the
coach who will
go down as per-
haps the greatest
to ever do it. More importantly,
for the first time in Harbaugh’s
five years in Ann Arbor, beat
a team that is, on paper, more

talented.
“My feeling about the team is
we’re right there
at the top,” Har-
baugh said after
last year’s 41-15
loss to Florida in
the Peach Bowl.
“But we have to
put it over the
top, especially
in the big games
at the end of the
year.”
A win on
New Year’s Day will do little
to appease the necessity for
this team to start beating Ohio
State. It will not make Michigan

de facto Big Ten champions. It
will not secure anything in the
future. It won’t drastically alter
the trajectory of anything as it
relates to this team’s standing in
the national landscape.
But a win against Alabama
will send Michigan to the
offseason on a high note and
restore some semblance of opti-
mism that brighter pastures lie
ahead.
Optimism. Remember what
that felt like?

Marcovitch can be reached

at maxmarco@umich.edu or on

Twitter @Max_Marcovitch.

Citrus Bowl provides unique opportunity

MAX

MARCOVITCH

ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
The Michigan football team will have a unique chance to salvage its season when it plays SEC powerhouse Alabama in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.

A very, very
elite team. ...
Will be a big-
time matchup.

My feeling
about the team
is we’re right
there at the top.

For the No. 22 Michigan
women’s volleyball team, the
NCAA
Division
I
Women’s
Volleyball Championship was
a tale of two games — one in
which the Wolverines were
dominant and one in which they
got dominated. In the last two
games of the season, Michigan
swept and got swept by two
teams in Kentucky to to end its
2019 campaign.
Michigan (21-11) made its
13th appearance in the NCAA
Tournament in the last 14
years and its 19th tournament
appearance overall — 18 of them
with Michigan coach Mark
Rosen. The Wolverines were
placed in the region hosted by
No. 9 Kentucky, a tough matchup
if it came to be. Michigan
traveled to Lexington, Ken. to
first compete against Northern
Kentucky (19-13) in the first
round. The Wolverines handled
business, finishing off the Norse
in a clean, three-set sweep.
“It’s good to advance, it’s
good to move forward,” Rosen
said.
“I
thought
Northern
Kentucky played really well …
Proud of our players for taking
care of that and moving on.
Excited about it.”
Michigan started out the
match struggling in the first set,
hitting just .167. Unfortunately
for Northern Kentucky, though,
the Norse hit even worse and
were unable to take advantage of
the Wolverines’ early struggles
— losing the set, 25-22. Michigan
bounced back, improving its
hitting percentage to .370 in the
second set and .342 in the third
set, winning both, 25-15 and
25-22, respectively.
Freshman
middle
blocker
Jess
Robinson
and
senior
middle blocker Cori Crocker led
the attack with a .500 hitting
mark, each having at least eight
kills.
“Both her (Crocker) and Jess,
I thought did a great job,” Rosen
said. “Both middles hit .500.
They were two and three in kills

for us … I thought that that was
great that we had that option to
go to when our outsides were
struggling, and it was great that
we passed the ball well enough
to get them the ball.”
When
asked
about
her
success, Crocker credited her
teammates for her success —
something she has done all
season.
“I’m not here without her
(senior setter MacKenzi Welsh)
being here for sure,” Crocker
said. “I think she definitely got
me in positions to put the ball
away.”
Welsh, a key contributor
for the Wolverines all season,
led the team with 36 assists.
Setters serve as the core of
any volleyball team and Rosen
believes it helps that Michigan
had a senior with experience at
that position.
“The
nice
thing
is
our
seniors have been in the NCAA
Tournament four years in a
row,” Rosen said. “It’s awesome
to have a senior who’s played in
an NCAA experience to be the
one who steps in.”
The Wolverines had a tough
turnaround after their first
round game on Friday as they
faced No. 9 Kentucky (25-6)
the next day. Heading into the
matchup, the Wildcats’ success
could
be
largely
attributed
to their outside hitter and
SEC Player of the Year, Leah
Edmond, and SEC Libero of the
Year, Gabby Curry. Kentucky
proved
too
much
for
the
Wolverines, winning in three
sets and ending Michigan’s
season.
“They run a good tempo, it’s
fast,” Rosen said. “We had a
pretty good idea of what they
were doing, we just didn’t do
a very good job of stopping it
… There were times we played
well, but there were times where
we were very inconsistent with
out offense … It’s not a good
combination.
They
certainly
outplayed us today.”
Michigan failed to hit over
.200 and averaged .146 for all
three sets. Kentucky, on the

other hand, hit the ball at the
.323 mark — including a .438
hitting percentage in the second
set. Edmond and outside hitter
Alli Stumler led the charge
offensively for the Wildcats,
with 15 and 11 kills respectively.
Curry also made her impact felt
with a match-high 19 digs.
Sophomore
outside
hitter
Paige Jones led both teams
with a match-high of 16 kills
and Crocker led all players
with a game-high of .500
hitting percentage, but those
performances weren’t enough
to overcome the juggernaut
Wildcats.
It wasn’t the way Michigan
wanted to end its season and
send its seniors off, but it was
the goodbye that they got.
“This team’s worked really,
really hard to become the best
version of themselves they can
be,” Rosen said. “So, I’m really
proud of how hard this team
worked and how committed
they were to our process and
really developing as a team …
I really am super proud of this
team and very appreciative
of
what
they’ve
done
for
our program and Michigan
athletics.”

Out of the 16 games in the
second round of the NCAA
Women’s Volleyball Tournament,
only three were won by lower
seeded teams — and Michigan
was not one of them.
After
sweeping
Northern
Kentucky (19-13) Friday night, the
22nd-ranked Wolverines (21-11)
fell to No. 11 Kentucky (25-6) in
straight sets Saturday night, as the
Wildcats out-hit Michigan, .323 to
.146, and sided-out over 15 percent
higher.
But this was expected. The
Wolverines
were
supposed
to
beat
Northern
Kentucky.
Michigan was supposed to lose
to Kentucky. That is exactly how
the Wolverines’ season has gone,
nearly without fail; they have
beaten the teams they were meant
to beat and have lost to the teams
they were meant to lose to.
Michigan’s record against the
five Big Ten teams that finished
above it in the standings —
Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota,
Penn State and Purdue — was a
combined 0-7. Its record against
the eight teams that ranked below
it? 13-0.

So when the Wolverines arrived
in Lexington, Kentucky for their
fifth-straight NCAA tournament
appearance, the outcome was all-
but decided. They were going to
beat Northern Kentucky in the
school’s
first-ever
tournament
berth, and they were going to lose
to Kentucky, which touted the
SEC player of the year and libero
of the year — Leah Edmond and
Gabby Curry, respectively.
But that doesn’t mean that
Michigan coach Mark Rosen was
disappointed in the outcome.
“I’m really proud of this
team,” Rosen said. “Tonight’s a
frustrating night. It’s a difficult
night but when you get to a point
like this when the season’s coming
to an end. I think you have to look
at the big picture, and the big
picture is this group. This group
came a long way … I’m really
proud of how far they’ve come.
I think that I couldn’t be more
appreciative of what this group’s
done.”
The group did what it was
supposed to be able to do — no
more, no less. And now, after
the season is over, Rosen and its
players will move on to the next
season, but not without any losses.
The Wolverines are losing

seven seniors — out of 18 total
players on the roster — four of
which started in the weekend’s
NCAA tournament matches. This
includes Big Ten first-team setter,
MacKenzi Welsh and Big Ten
second-team middle blocker Cori
Crocker. In a large senior class,
the loss is sizeable, but the seniors
aren’t leaving without making
their mark.
“I thought this group really did
a great job of stepping up to be
senior leaders and senior veterans
and really set a great course for
our young players coming in,”
Rosen said. “It’s been a great
group.”
The young group is anchored
by sophomore outside hitter Paige
Jones. In only her second season,
she was unanimously named
to the All-Big Ten First Team
and leads Michigan in kills and
service aces.
Among the freshman, outside
hitter
May
Pertofsky
and
middle blocker Jess Robinson
were named to the Big Ten All-
Freshman
team
after
strong
freshman seasons. This group
also includes players that haven’t
seen the court as much this year,
but show promise. Players such
as freshman defensive specialist
Amber Beals who got her chance
to prove herself against Kentucky.
“We were subbing a lot in the
sets, more than me normally
do,” Rosen said. “Unfortunately
it didn’t work, but I thought the
players that went in really were
ready to go in and try to get an
impact, and I thought Amber did
a great job.”
At the end of a season that went
as expected, Rosen looks forward
to his 22nd season as Michigan’s
head coach and looks to a core of
young players to fill the positions
left open by the graduating seniors
— but not without reflecting first.
“I think they’ve been a really
fun team to work with,” Rosen
said. “They work hard every
day. They’re good personalities.
They’re team players. So I really
am super proud of this team
and very appreciative of what
they’ve done for our program and
Michigan athletics.”

Feeling bluegrass

Michigan falls to Kentucky in three-set sweep, ending season in Round of 32

BRANDON TRACHTENBERG
Daily Sports Writer

NICHOLAS STOLL
Daily Sports Writer

ALLISON ENGKVIST/Daily
Coach Mark Rosen and the Michigan volleyball team ended their season with a straight-sets loss to Kentucky on Saturday.

In drawing matchup with Alabama, Harbaugh and Michigan get a chance they wouldn’t otherwise have in the bowl game