The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 — 11
On Senior Night, seniors lead
Michigan to comeback victory
The Michigan volleyball team
(7-2) cruised to an easy victory
against Boston College (10-4)
on Friday evening, winning
3-0 in its final match Friday.
The Wolverines jumped to an
early lead as they took the first
set 25-13 behind senior outside
hitter Paige Jones’s five kills
and junior middle back May
Pertofsky’s three aces.
“In the gym, we talked a lot
about first contact, which is
serving and passing, and that’s
something that we really focus
ourselves on,” Jones said. “First
contact wins games, so if we can
get them out of system and serve
aggressive, it makes our lives
easier on the defensive end …
it’s like our staple of what we’re
trying to do.”
Jones played exceptionally
well, slamming a series of kills
at a speed too fast for the Eagles
to
handle.
This
aggression
worked in the team’s favor, as
she and Petorfsky finished with
ten kills each throughout the
match.
“Since my freshman year, I’ve
been learning how to serve more
consistently with the hybrid
since it’s not something that I
did before college, and we’ve
put so much time into it over the
years and really worked on a lot
this year,” Pertofsy said. “We’ve
been really working on location
and tempo … I think that the
communication is really open
when I’m with my team and with
my setters, so it’s really nice just
to tell them what I need, or if it’s
my fault.”
The second set was no different
as the Wolverines carried the
momentum from the first set
to win 25-17. Part of Michigan’s
overall success resulted from
an emphasis on countering the
Eagles’ style of play.
“Early on, we knew that
they run a really fast offense,”
Pertofsky said. “We saw that
when they played Dayton and
so we scouted that, and early in
the game, just made sure that we
were set up out wide. Working
from the outside in (allowed us)
to make sure that we were on
the pins.”
Michigan
did
have
some
hiccups along the way. Early in
the third set, the Wolverines
found themselves trailing, 18-14,
and called a timeout. Boston
College turned four pancakes
into kills, and the momentum
was in its favor. The Wolverines,
though,
appeared
to
have
regrouped after the timeout as
they went on a 7-1 run to take a
21-19 lead.
“Their system is so fast,
that when it’s clicking, it’s
hard to stop,” Michigan coach
Mark Rosen said. “But I don’t
think you can sustain it very
consistently. I really wanted
to just talk about being patient
but urgent. We needed to keep
serving
tough.
They
were
passing pretty well during that
time, but if you keep serving
tough, sooner or later, you’ll
get them. Even though they’re
scoring right now, sooner or
later, the errors will come and
they kind of did.”
After a loss to UNC last
Sunday, Michigan has been
on a hot streak, sweeping the
Michigan Invitational over the
weekend. With Big Ten play this
week, the team looking to carry
the momentum forward after a
strong stretch.
Women’s volleyball wins to
sweep invitational
JAKE SINGER
For The Daily
Fifteen minutes into extra
time, senior midfielder Meredith
Haakenson collected the ball
at the top of the box. After
surveying the field, Haakenson
slipped it past the defense to
the foot of junior forward Dani
Wolfe. Wolfe dribbled to the end
line before finding sophomore
forward Sammi Woods, who sent
a shot just past the goalkeeper’s
outstretched arm, into the back
of the net.
Woods’s goal completed the
21st-ranked Wolverines’ (1-0-0
Big Ten, 7-1-1 overall) comeback
2-1 victory over Illinois (0-1,
4-4) on Friday. Despite trailing
for nearly 80 minutes of the
game and needing two extra
time periods, Michigan’s strong
defense and slew of offensive
chances eventually propelled it to
the win.
The defense got off to an
unpromising
start,
however,
when an early foul by senior
defender Janiece Joyner in the
box led to a penalty kick for the
Illini.
Fifth-year
goalkeeper
Hillary Beall made the save, but
the ball bounced off her hands
onto the foot of Illinois attacker
Makena Silber, who gave the
Illini a lead just two minutes into
the game.
Despite
senior
defender
Sydney Shepherd — who had
started every game to this point
— being unavailable, and Joyner
going down with an injury in the
15th minute, Michigan’s defense
tightened up after the early goal.
Senior back Alia Martin and
junior midfielder Emily Leyson
held the unit together as their
replacements.
“This is where you are very
thankful that you have some
depth,” Michigan coach Jennifer
Klein said. “Typically (Leyson)
plays in the midfield, but we slid
her back there … She did a great
job.”
But while Michigan’s defense
rebounded, its offense stalled.
Despite holding the ball in the
offensive end for most of the
half, strong defense in the box
from Illinois prevented quality
chances, limiting the Wolverines
to six first half shots and
maintaining the Illini’s one goal
lead into the break.
The Wolverines came out of
halftime energized, doubling
their shot total within the first
10 minutes of the half. Still,
many of the chances were
not high quality with shots
constantly being taken from
the top of the box and sailing
way over the top of the net.
Though it outshot Illinois 20-2
throughout the half, it would
take until the 80th minute for
Michigan to even the score,
when the Wolverines earned a
corner kick.
As the ball flew in, Illinois
goalkeeper Naomi Jackson made
an aggressive move, attempting
to punch the ball out of the box.
Instead, it hit off her hand, right
to the head of senior midfielder
Raleigh Loughman. Loughman
hit it up to Haakenson, who
headed it into the back of the net,
knotting the game at one.
“I got to give credit to Raleigh,”
Haakenson said. “It was a great
ball … I didn’t really have to do
much. She’s a senior, and I’m a
senior … On senior night it was a
present for all of us.”
Though Michigan earned a
few more chances throughout
the rest of regulation, nothing
resulted. The first 15 minutes of
extra time carried on similarly,
with the Wolverines creating
chances but not capitalizing.
Finally, in the 105th minute,
Woods put the ball into the
bottom left corner of the net,
completing the comeback win.
“Overtime is always a lot of
high emotions,” Woods said.
“Being the team that gets that
golden goal is always a surreal
feeling, but being the one to
actually get that goal is even
better.”
MILES MACKLIN/Daily
Senior midfielder Meredith Haakenson spurred the Wolverines to a 2-1 victory.
JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily
Michigan dispatched Boston College with ease, winning in straight sets.
NOAH KINGSLEY
For The Daily
The Michigan men’s soccer
team faced a tall task in its first
Big Ten opponent of the season:
No. 8 Maryland.
While the Wolverines (3-3-
1 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) played
the Terrapins (5-1, 1-0) close,
they were not up to the task,
ultimately falling, 2-1.
The first half was largely
dominated by Maryland. It was
able to dictate the tempo of the
game with its ability to move
the ball up the field, get traffic
in front of the net and create
numerous scoring opportunities
though
it
wasn’t
able
to
capitalize.
The Terrapins’ best chance of
the half came with ten minutes
left on a mad scramble in front
of the Wolverines’ net, but the
defense was persistent. Junior
defender Evan Rasmussen was
key in getting the stop on the
play.
The game remained scoreless
heading into halftime with the
Terrapins having a 6-to-3 shot
advantage. Michigan hoped to
limit their chances in the final
45 minutes.
But
as
the
second
half
kicked
off,
the
Wolverines
were unable to stick to their
gameplan. Maryland’s offense
was even more ferocious in the
second half, creating numerous
opportunities
and
drawing
penalty kicks.
Ten minutes into the second
half, the Terrapins drew a foul,
resulting in a penalty kick.
Maryland
midfielder
Joshua
Bolma buried a goal on a curve
shot that just barely missed the
gloves of freshman goaltender
Hayden Evans.
The Terrapins kept riding
their
momentum
and
just
nine
minutes
later,
scored
another goal. Maryland’s trio
of midfielders worked a tic-
tac-toe play which ended with
Justin Harris scoring in front
of the net. He broke through
the Wolverines defenders and
buried the goal to make it a 2-0
game.
Despite allowing two second-
half goals, Evans finished the
game with eight saves.
With the game winding down,
Michigan was able to cut the
deficit to one with a goal from
senior forward Derick Broche.
Broche scored off a nice pass
from senior midfielder Kevin
Buca which froze the Terrapin
goaltender.
Despite the late push by the
Wolverines,
they
ultimately
came up short. The Terrapins
finished the second half with
ten
shots,
further
elevating
themselves from their first half
performance. Michigan failed to
keep up as it only tallied six shots
compared to Maryland’s sixteen.
If the Wolverines want to stay
competitive in the Big Ten, they
will need to breakout offensively,
after only scoring eight goals in
the first seven games.
No players or coaches were
available for comment.
Michigan fails to complete late
comeback
MARK PATRICK
Daily Sports Writer
MADELINE HINKLEY/Daily
Derick Broche scored a goal in Michigan’s loss to Maryland.