Michigan
9-8, 3-5Big Ten
Ohio State
12-5, 5-3Big Ten
Draves Has Career Match in Tough Loss at Ohio State
10/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The University of Michigan volleyball team faced its third straight Top-25 program and dropped a hard-fought 3-0 (27-30, 27-30, 30-32) contest to No. 18 Ohio State Saturday night (Oct. 15) at St. John Arena.
Sophomore Katie Bruzdzinski (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) led all Wolverines with 15 kills and added eight digs, while sophomore Sarah Draves (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) obliterated her previous career high with 10 kills, including five in game three. Sophomore Lyndsay Miller (Ida, Mich./Ida) finished with nine kills and two blocks, while senior/junior Erin Cobler (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) chipped in eight kills. Junior Megan Bowman (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) finished the night with three kills, just one shy of tallying her 500th career termination. Bowman is also just two blocks shy of her 350th.
Michigan dominated much of game three, building an eight-point, 19-11 lead and holding a three-point, 29-26 advantage at the end, but Ohio State survived three game points and rebounded to win, 32-30. Thanks to three kills from Draves and dominating net play by the duo of Martin and Miller, Michigan built what seemed to be a commanding 19-11 lead. Ohio State chipped away at its deficit, closing to within two points, 26-24, when Draves hit her 10th termination of the night and Cobler hammered a pair of kills on the right side to make it, 29-26. The Buckeyes scored the next four points to push Michigan to the edge, up 30-29, but Miller tied it with her ninth kill of the evening. Back-to-back points on an attack error and a Buckeye kill ended the night for the Wolverines in disappointing fashion.
Michigan and Ohio State battled through 20 ties in game one and each mounted furious comebacks in games two and three in a classic Big Ten contest. U-M came back from a nine-point deficit in game two to take a late lead, only to have the Buckeyes rebound and win it out. Michigan led by eight points in game three, but it was Ohio State that rebounded, surviving three game points and winning, 32-30. The loss is Michigan's third straight and drops the Wolverines to 9-8 and 3-5 in the Big Ten, while Ohio State climbs to 12-5 and 5-3 in conference.
Through 20 ties in game one, Michigan saw a two-point, 22-20 lead evaporate into a two-point, 26-24 Ohio State advantage as the Buckeyes squeaked out a 30-27 victory. Bruzdzinski had six kills and three blocks in the period, while Draves tied a career best in just one game of action with three kills. Ohio State took a two-point, 18-16 lead after suffering through 15 ties when the Wolverines used kills by Bruzdzinski, Bowman and Draves to kick-start a 6-2 run, capped by Miller's first termination of the night to make it 22-20 U-M. After an OSU timeout, the Buckeyes rebounded with two points in a row to tie it again and the clubs knotted at 23-23 and 24-24 before the Buckeyes gained the advantage for good. Michigan had a chance to tie for the 21st time when it trailed 28-27, but OSU closed it out with two straight points for the win.
After trailing by as many as nine points in game two, Michigan took a late lead, 27-26, thanks to five kills from Miller and later errors by the Buckeyes, but Ohio State rallied with four points in a row take a two games to zero lead with a 30-27 victory. U-M fell behind by nine, 24-15, when a pair of kills each from Bruzdzinski and Miller and a hardened Wolverine defense sparked U-M on a 12-2 run to put the Wolverines in the lead, 27-26. Ohio State tied it up at 27-27 on the next point and held service for the remainder, scoring three points in a row to go up two games to none at the intermission.
The Wolverines return home next week to host Northwestern on Friday (Oct. 21) and Wisconsin on Saturday (Oct. 22) to signal the midway point of the Big Ten Conference season. Both matches are set to start at 7 p.m. in Cliff Keen Arena.
N O T E S
Junior Megan Bowman needs two blocks for the 350th of her collegiate career and is seven shy of sixth place on the all-time Michigan blocking list.
Junior Megan Bowman is two kills shy of 500 in her career of her career.
Sophomores Lyndsay Miller and Stesha Selsky played in the 50th matches of their careers tonight.
Sophomore Lyndsay Miller needs nine blocks to reach 250 in her career.
Sophomore Stesha Selsky's 12 digs give her 326 digs on the season, just 11 shy of the 10th-most single-season digs in Michigan volleyball history. Selsky had the fourth-most single-season digs in her freshman campaign when she tallied 402. Selsky passes Jane Hickman (1984-86), who recorded 336 digs in 1986.
Sophomore Stesha Selsky had her eighth straight double-digit dig outing.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
