Michigan
10-6, 4-2Big Ten
Penn State
15-1, 5-0Big Ten
Wolverines Fall at No. 9 Penn State in Big Ten Action
10/11/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: State College, Pa. (Rec Hall)
Result: #9 Penn State 3, Michigan 0 (30-21, 30-21, 30-24)
Records: U-M (10-6, 4-2 Big Ten), PSU (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten)
Next U-M Match: Friday, Oct. 18 -- at Northwestern (Evanston, Ill.), 7 p.m. CDT
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team played good defense but the ninth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions played nearly error-free and defeated the Wolverines 3-0 (30-21, 30-21, 30-24) tonight (Friday, Oct. 11) at Rec Hall. While the Wolverines' defense led to a number of runs to keep the squad in the match, the offense hit just .088 (42-31-125). On the other side of the net, Penn State hit .273 (44-14-110) and added 12 team blocks to take the victory and remain the only undefeated team in the Big Ten Conference at 5-0.
The Wolverines were led on offense by Chantel Reedus (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South HS), who posted 12 kills and added four blocks while hitting .409 (12-3-22). Erin Moore (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS) contributed nine kills and four blocks, while Carrie Ritchie (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison Comprehensive HS) and Jennifer Gandolph (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) each helped out on defense with a team-high nine digs.
Michigan (10-6, 4-2 Big Ten) fought off a three-point deficit at the start of game one on a service rotation by Nicole Poquette (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS), but the Nittany Lions grabbed the lead right back at 10-7. Penn State slowly increased its lead to six points at 15-9 before an outstanding behind-the-back dump by Lisa Gamalski (Milwaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial HS) started a small run by the Wolverines. The squad fought back to within two points at 18-16, but PSU took the next three points to regain its five-point lead at 21-16. That was close as it would get for the rest of the first game as PSU worked its way to a 30-21 victory.
Game two started off roughly for Michigan, and the Wolverines were forced to call their first timeout after falling behind 6-0. The squad returned from the session and scored the next point on a kill by Gandolph to get on the board. The Nittany Lions kept the pressure on, building a 10-point lead at 15-5. The teams traded points until Michigan's defense started chipping away at the lead. The Wolverines showed some impressive defense which translated into points and closed the margin to six points at 20-14. However, the PSU lead jumped back to 10 points at 26-16. The Wolverines answered with a 5-4 run, but there wasn't enough time to overcome the deficit. Michigan dropped game two 30-21 and entered intermission trailing Penn State two games to none.
Penn State (15-1, 5-0 Big Ten) took a 6-1 lead at the start of the third game, but the Wolverines got back into the mix quickly with a 7-2 run as kills by Poquette and Reedus helped tie the game at 8-8. The game stayed tied through 10-10 before Penn State claimed a three-point lead at 13-10. Michigan scored four of the next six points to close within one at 15-14. The Wolverines kept it close but another PSU run took the Nittany Lions' lead to four at 20-16 and forced a U-M timeout. PSU kept the momentum going after the break and went on to a 30-24 victory for the sweep.
Michigan stays on the road for next weekend's matches. The Wolverines meet the Northwestern Wildcats at 7 p.m. CDT Friday, Oct. 18, at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill. The next night (Saturday, Oct. 19), U-M meets the 15th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers at 7:30 p.m. CDT at the UW Fieldhouse in Madison, Wis.
NOTES
• Michigan, with a 4-2 mark in the Big Ten Conference, is off to its second-best league start in program history. U-M also began the 1992, '95 and 2001 seasons with a 4-2 conference record.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On Penn State's low number of errors ... "We compounded the fact that they don't make many mistakes by us making a lot of mistakes. That's a point swing that is going to make for a blowout, and that's what happened. We made 31 attack errors in a three-game match. That's just not going to get it done. For them to only make 14 is a huge reflection of the difference in the game."
On the Nittany Lions ... "I think they played well. They are a good solid team that doesn't make mistakes. They come at you from a number of different ways, but I just think that we didn't compete well tonight. We didn't come out and play near the level that we're capable of in a lot of different areas. That's a big difference."
