Michigan
11-8, 7-5Big Ten
Purdue
3-17, 1-11Big Ten
Michigan Defeats Purdue at Home in Five Games
10/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Result:Â Michigan 3, Purdue 2 (30-27, 29-31, 30-18, 24-30, 15-11)
Records:Â U-M (11-8, 7-5 Big Ten), Purdue (3-17, 1-11 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match:Â Friday, Nov. 2 -- at Minnesota (Minneapolis, Minn.), 7 p.m. CST
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In an exciting five-game match, the University of Michigan volleyball team outlasted the Purdue Boilermakers in five games (30-27, 29-31, 30-18, 24-30, 15-11) Saturday night (Oct. 27) in front of 476 fans at Cliff Keen Arena. Leading the way for the Wolverines was freshman Carrie Ritchie (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison Comprehensive HS), who posted career highs in kills (3), assists (4), digs (17) and blocks (1).
After inconsistent play in the first four games, Michigan fell behind midway through the fifth and deciding game before Ritchie, who had not previously played in the front row this season, stepped up and carried the Wolverines to victory. With the score 8-5 in favor of the Boilermakers, Ritchie recorded her first career block, denying the attack of Purdue setter Jen Bova. After a kill by sophomore Erin Moore (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS), Ritchie tied the score at 8-8 with her only kill of the game. After trading side outs, Ritchie stepped back and served up four consecutive points for the Wolverines to give Michigan a 13-9 lead in the game. From there, U-M extended the lead and put the match away 15-11 on a kill down the middle by Katrina Lehman (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Marian HS).
Michigan opened the match hitting well in the first game, posting an attack percentage of .372 (20-4-43). After falling behind 11-6 early in the game, service rotations by Moore and senior setter Shannon Melka (Wheaton, Ill./St. Francis HS) game Michigan a 16-12 lead. The Wolverines extended the lead until a short run by the Boilermakers closed the gap to one point at 28-27. Sophomore Dana Chapman (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg HS) gave U-M game point with her fourth consecutive kill without an error, and Moore closed out the game 30-27 with her fourth kill. Lehman, who has been battling a couple of minor injuries, led the way with five kills at the net.
Game two was a different story as the Wolverines totaled 12 attack errors and three blocking errors and fell to the Boilermakers 31-29. Michigan opened the game with a 9-5 lead on a strong service rotation by Nicole Kacor (Chicago, Ill./Mother McCauley HS), but the Wolverines found themselves tied 15-15 not much later. The game stayed close the rest of the way until Michigan handed Purdue the win with two consecutive errors to tie the match at one game each.
Reverting back to the Michigan of the first game, U-M held Purdue (3-17, 1-11 Big Ten) to an attack percentage of just .083 (12-9-36) and hit .405 (18-3-37) in game three. The game opened closely, and the Wolverines' lead was just two points at 11-9 before a service rotation by Melka helped take the lead to 18-9. From there, Michigan extended the lead and closed the game on a kill by Lehman to give the Wolverines a 30-18 win.
Trying to put the match away in the fourth game, Michigan found itself struggling again. Despite the inconsistent play, the Wolverines were able to battle back from an early 8-4 deficit to keep the game close until a service rotation by Leah Wischmeier gave Purdue a 27-21 lead. Michigan managed two more points but wasn't able to keep the Boilermakers from capturing a 30-24 win and forcing game five. Despite the loss, a bright spot in the game came with the play of freshman outside hitter Jennifer Gandolph (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS), who hit .417 (6-1-12) in the game.
Gandolph and Moore finished with 19 kills each to tie for match-high honors. Gandolph added a career-high 18 digs to tie Melka for the Wolverines' top total, while Lehman established a season high with 18 kills and matched her career high with nine blocks.
Michigan is on the road next week for Big Ten matches at nationally ranked Minnesota on Friday (Nov. 2, 7 p.m. CST) in Minneapolis, Minn., and at Iowa on Saturday (Nov. 3, 7 p.m. CST) in Iowa City, Iowa.
NOTES
• The win keeps Michigan (11-8, 7-5 Big Ten) in fifth place in the Big Ten Conference standings with four weeks remaining in the regular season.
• Michigan set a season high with 86 digs, and for the first time this season had five players reach double digits in digs -- Jennifer Gandolph (18), Shannon Melka (18), Carrie Ritchie (17), Erin Moore (11) and Nicole Poquette (10).
• Jennifer Gandolph set a career high with 18 digs in the match. Previously, she had recorded 15 digs on two occasions, the last at Wisconsin (Sept. 22).
• Shannon Melka set a career high with 18 digs. She had reached her previous high of 16 on three occasions, the last at Iowa on Nov. 18, 2000.
• Katrina Lehman set a new season high in kills with 18, topping the 15 she had against Georgia (Sept. 8).
• As they did in this season's first match against Purdue (Oct. 5), Katrina Lehman and Nicole Poquette each tied their career high in blocks with nine and eight, respectively, tonight against the Boilermakers.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the match ... "I think a lot of tonight's match was our errors. They played well, but we also gave them a lot tonight. What we really needed to do was put them away when we had a chance. In the timeout in game three, I told the team we have to put them away right now, and we did. We pushed them and put them away."
On the play of Carrie Ritchie ... "Carrie did a great job tonight. She played out second left side -- the position Chantel Reedus played. She (Ritchie) hasn't played up front all year and came up big in the fifth game. But, that's Carrie. That's her personality, and that's what we need right now."
