Michigan
11-6, 3-5Big Ten
Northwestern
2-16, 0-8Big Ten
Wolverine Spikers Slip Past Northwestern in Four
10/16/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Result:Â Michigan 3, Northwestern 1 (15-13, 11-15, 15-6, 15-13)
Records:Â U-M (11-6, 3-5 Big Ten), NU (2-17, 0-7 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match:Â Friday, Oct. 22 -- at Indiana (Bloomington, Ind.), 7 p.m. EST
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team won for the second time in its last three Big Ten Conference matches with a 3-1 (15-13, 11-15, 15-6, 15-13) win over Northwestern Saturday (Oct. 16) at Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines were paced by junior middle blocker Joanna Fielder (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS), who registered her second-highest kill total (20) of the season. Fielder hit .333 (20-5-45) and led a Michigan attack which hit at a clip of .233 (75-31-189) for the match.
Michigan started game one strongly, with a Shannon Melka (Wheaton, Ill./St. Francis HS) to Fielder attacking combination leading Michigan to a 10-1 lead. Northwestern responded by scoring eight of the next nine points to cut Michigan's lead to 11-9. Following a Michigan timeout, Northwestern continued its run and eventually took a 13-12 lead. The Maize and Blue responded with a kill from Alija Pittenger (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial HS) to knot the contest at 13. From that point Melka served out the final two points of the game for a 15-13 Michigan win. U-M hit .375 (17-5-32) for game one and was paced by Fielder's percentage of .800 (9-1-10).
Northwestern kept pace early in game two as the lead changed hands on a couple of occasions. The Wildcats eventually took control of the game and held a 11-7 lead before the Wolverines went on a three-point run to cut Northwestern's lead to one. However, Northwestern bounced right back to score four of the final five points for a 15-11 game-two win, which tied the contest at a game apiece.
After the Wildcats led 2-1 to start game three, Michigan rattled off four straight points on Nicole Kacor's (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley HS) serves, including one ace. After Michigan gained its 5-2 advantage, the teams split the next eight points. With the Wolverines leading 9-6, Kacor took over with a pair of kills and an assist along with serving three consecutive points for a 13-6 Michigan lead. Pittenger finished off game two with a pair of points on her serve and a kill for a 15-6 Michigan win and a 2-1 match lead. Pittenger finished with a game-high six kills.
Northwestern regained the momentum early and took a 7-2 lead in game four. Michigan used Pittenger's strong service game to rally and tie the game at seven apiece. After the Wildcats took the lead back at 10-7, Michigan rattled off four straight points on Melka's serve, with Melka mixing in a kill and two service aces during the stretch to give Michigan an 11-10 lead. Another lead change left Northwestern with a 13-12 lead before two consecutive kills from Sarah Behnke (Baroda, Mich./Lakeshore HS) gave Michigan match point. A strong final serve from Kacor led to a Wildcat hitting error, which gave Michigan a 15-13 game-four win and a 3-1 match triumph.
Michigan goes back on the road next week for the final weekend of the first half of the Big Ten season, with matches at Indiana on Friday, Oct. 22 (7 p.m. EST) and at No. 23 Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 23 (7 p.m. CDT).
MATCH BESTS
Kills: U-M 75 (Joanna Fielder 20); NU 67 (Carmen Burbach 17)
Assists: U-M 74 (Shannon Melka 63); NU 65 (Keli Meyer 54)
Service Aces: U-M 6 (Melka, Fielder 2); NU 6 (Jennifer Zagorski, Jennifer Higgins 2)
Digs: U-M 89 (Nicole Kacor 24); NU 73 (Zagorski 25)
Blocks: U-M 10 (Fielder 6); Northwestern 9 (Sarah Ballog 6)
NOTES
• Michigan freshman Dana Chapman (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg HS) made her career debut vs. Northwestern.
• Michigan's hitting percentage of .233 (75-31-189) was its best during Big Ten play.
• Sarah Behnke set a season high with 16 digs.
• Michigan's 75 team kills is its season best for a four-game match.
• The Wolverines' winning streak over Northwestern has reached 10 matches. Michigan last lost to Northwestern on Sept. 23, 1994.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On what he took away from Michigan's four-game win over Northwestern ... "After we won game one, I thought Northwestern came out and played much better, but we were ready for them to step their play up. I was impressed with how we handled the final few points of game four after Northwestern went up 13-12. During the Big Ten season we have not delivered the big points when we needed them, but tonight we stayed mentally tough down the stretch."
On the development of his young team ... "I like the direction this team is headed. I think after starting so strong in the non-conference season, we lost light of the fact that this is a young team. As a result we may have lost a little bit of our focus, which is to get better each day in practice and in each match. With (Sarah) Behnke as healthy as she has been all year and (Shannon) Melka getting more comfortable with all of our weapons, I feel this team's best volleyball is still ahead of it this year."
