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