Michigan
3-3
Louisville
3-3
U-M Wins Pepsi Challenge Despite Falling to Louisville
9/7/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Score:Â #16 Louisville 3, Michigan 1 (30-24, 27-30, 30-27, 30-22)
Records:Â U-M (3-3), Louisville (3-3)
Next U-M Event:Â Friday, Sept. 12 -- vs. East Tennessee State at Toyota LV Classic (Knoxville, Tenn.), 5 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team suffered its first home defeat of the season on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 7), falling to No. 16 Louisville by a 3-1 margin (30-24, 27-30, 30-27, 30-22) in the final match of the 2003 Michigan/Pepsi Challenge. Senior Erin Moore (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS) posted a team-high 20 kills and was named tournament MVP as the Wolverines captured the 2003 Michigan/Pepsi Challenge by virtue of the best games record among the four teams.
Michigan tied Texas A&M and Louisville with a 2-1 record in the three-day event, but the Wolverines posted a 7-3 record in games to top the field. Texas A&M finished as the runner-up with its four-game win over the Cardinals on the first day of the tournament.
Louisville opened the match with a 4-0 lead and never looked back as the Wolverines could not get closer than one point, a feat they achieved on four occasions in the latter half of the game. In the second stanza, the score was knotted 17 times, including 27-27, at which point U-M took over, getting kills from junior Lisa Gamalski (Milwaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial HS) and junior Jennifer Gandolph (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) and an error on Louisville to tie the match at one game apiece.
After the break, Louisville took an early lead in game three, only to see Michigan bounce back and take over at 10-9. The Cardinals immediately responded with the game's next two points, then held on to take the game, 30-27. In the final stanza, Michigan fell behind by as many as eight points and could never recover, dropping the final game 30-22.
Moore's 20 kills, a season high, marked just the fifth time in her career that she has posted 20 or more terminations in a match. She also contributed on the defensive side of the net with freshman Megan Bowman (St. John, Ind./Lake Central HS), with each recording five block assists. Gandolph tallied a season-high 18 kills and recorded her third straight double-double, adding a season-high 16 digs, while Gamalski recorded a season highs of 54 assists and six kills. Junior Sarah Allen (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg HS) added a career-high 14 digs and senior Chantel Reedus (Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove South HS) tallied a season-high 11.
Redshirt freshman Erin Cobler (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) came off the bench to make her home debut in game three, replacing injured senior Nicole Poquette (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS). Junior Kristina Sabbagh (Kaunas, Lithuania) also made her initial home appearance, playing in the fourth game.
Lena Ustymenko paced the Cardinals with 26 kills and hit .305, taking a match-high 59 attempts.
Moore was named the 2003 Michigan/Pepsi Challenge MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Gamalski and Gandolph. Ustymenko was also on the squad, along with Melissa Munsch and Laura Jones from Texas A&M and Nikki Wong from Murray State.
The Wolverines will be on the road next weekend, traveling to Knoxville, Tenn., for the Toyota LV Classic, hosted by Tennessee. U-M will face East Tennessee State at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12, before facing Cal State-Fullerton and the host Lady Vols on Saturday, Sept. 13.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the outcome of today's match ... "We didn't play poorly tonight but we didn't play as sharp as we have the past two nights. I also think that you have to give Louisville a lot of credit. They played really well. In fact, I think that's the best game they've played all weekend. They're a big, physical team that posed a lot of problems."
On the number of dropped balls that were playable ... "I thought we really got out of synch in the middle of game three. In the middle of that game I felt we really got away from what our style of play is. We didn't do what we needed to do in order to be successful. In game four we played flat early on, like we were already beaten. When I called timeout late in game four I really liked the way the team came out after that and we charged back into the game. But when you're playing behind all the time it's hard to get that momentum going. We were out of synch and part of that is because we changed the lineup around. We weren't as comfortable as we've been all week."
On Erin Cobler's play in relief of Nicole Poquette ... "The good thing about Erin is that she can help us in a lot of positions. She can play left side or right. She can do a lot of things that we need her to come in and do. The biggest thing with her is that the right side position is always a sort of stabilizing position. There are a lot of things that happen around there that you just have to react to. Nicole Poquette is a great stabilizer and that's where I don't think that Erin is there yet. That's just experience though. She's still a first-year player at this level and so I don't think she's going to react as well as she will a year from now. She has to get better in those stabilizing things."
On still feeling good about the weekend having won the tournament ... "Absolutely we played better. We talked all week about evaluating the process and how we perform each and every play. We played much better this week. We're a lot better in some areas than we were a week ago. We still have some things we need to work on and our players understand that we're not where we need to be. We have to keep getting better and working hard. I feel like we took a big step this week and now we have to take another step next week."
NOTES
• With a season-high 18 kills against Louisville, Jennifer Gandolph has posted 10 or more kills in her last five matches. She recorded her fourth double-double of the season and third in as many matches.
• Erin Moore has reached double figures in kills in 53 of her 83 career matches, including five times this year. Her 20 kills marked a season high and the fifth time in her career she has recorded 20 or more kills.
• Megan Bowman recorded five block assists for the fourth time this year.
• Sarah Allen's 14 digs are a career high, topping the 13 she recorded at Northwestern on Oct. 18, 2002.
• Lisa Gamalski's 54 assists and six kills are both season highs.
• Michigan is 0-2 against ranked teams this season.
• Michigan's tournament championship is its first since winning the 2001 Pepsi Challenge in Ann Arbor.
