Michigan
12-6, 3-5Big Ten
Wisconsin
17-2, 7-1Big Ten
Michigan Spikers Fall on the Road at No. 7 Wisconsin
10/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Madison, Wis. (UW Fieldhouse)
Result: #7 Wisconsin 3, Michigan 0 (15-7, 15-7, 15-7)
Records:Â U-M (12-6, 3-5 Big Ten), UW (17-2, 7-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match:Â Wednesday, Oct. 18 -- vs. Notre Dame (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
MADISON, Wis. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team finished its Big Ten Conference weekend road trip with a split after falling to No. 7 Wisconsin 3-0 (15-7, 15-7, 15-7) on Saturday night (Oct. 14) at the UW Fieldhouse. Junior setter Shannon Melka (Wheaton, Ill./St. Francis HS) hit .333 (3-0-9) to go with 32 assists and five digs in the Wolverine loss. Michigan is now 12-6 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten.
Michigan began game one by going toe-to-toe with the seventh-ranked team in the country, and after a kill from sophomore Katrina Lehman (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Marian HS), the Wolverines led 5-3. Lehman led the Wolverines with four game-one kills. Michigan's early lead was also buoyed by service aces from Nicole Kacor (Chicago, Ill./Mother McAuley HS) and Melka. After the Badgers knotted the game at six apiece, they went on a 6-0 run to lead 12-6 before an ace from Lehman stopped the rally. Michigan, which hit just -.079 (11-14-38) for the game, was unable to mount a game-one comeback and fell 15-7.
The Wolverines continued to struggle out of the gate in game two and fell behind 5-0 before a kill from Chantel Reedus (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove HS) gave Michigan its first point of the game. A pair of kills and a block assist from senior Alija Pittenger (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial HS) helped Michigan cut the lead to two (6-4). After Wisconsin pushed its lead back out to five at 9-4, block assists from Kacor and senior Joanna Fielder (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS) started a 3-0 Michigan run the cut the deficit to 9-7. Despite great play from Pittenger, who hit .500 (5-0-10) for game two, the Wolverines would not get any closer and Wisconsin closed out the game with a 6-0 run for a 15-7 game-two win and a 2-0 match lead heading into intermission.
Michigan came out in game three with its strongest effort of the match and scored the first five points of the game, which included a pair of kills from Kacor. A kill from Reedus gave Michigan a 6-1 lead, but Wisconsin rattled off the next six points to take its first lead of the game. Michigan tied the contest at seven after a strong serve from Melka forced the Badgers into a hitting error. However, like game two, that was it for the Wolverines as Wisconsin ran off the final eight points of the game for a 15-7 game-five win and a 3-0 match victory.
Michigan will step out of conference action for one match as the Wolverines host Notre Dame on Wednesday, (Oct. 18, 7 p.m.) at Cliff Keen Arena.
MATCH BESTS
Kills: U-M 42 (Three players with 9); UW 47 (Sherisa Livingston 16)
Assists: U-M 36 (Shannon Melka 32); UW 38 (Lizzy Fitzgerald 36)
Service Aces: U-M 4 (Katrina Lehman 2); UW 9 (Meggan Kohnen 3)
Digs: U-M 41 (Chantel Reedus 10); UW 46 (Kohnen 16)
Blocks: U-M 3 (Three players with 2); UW (Livingston 6)
NOTES
• Chantel Reedus made her first career start tonight, while junior Annie Maxwell (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) made her second start of the season.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the match in general ... "I thought we played pretty tough on the road against one of the better teams in the country. I liked our competitiveness tonight, but we just did not have quite enough firepower for them."
