Michigan
4-3
Eastern Michigan
5-2
U-M Clips Eagles in Four With Overpowering Blocking
9/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
ANN ARBOR, Mich -- The University of Michigan volleyball team relied on the three-headed attack of sophomores Katie Bruzdzinski (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) and Lyndsay Miller (Ida, Mich./Ida) and junior Danielle Pflum (Martinsville, Ind./Martinsville), while the defense held Eastern Michigan to a .071 hitting percentage in a 3-1 (30-25, 25-30, 30-25, 30-18) win Tuesday night (Sept. 13) at Cliff Keen Arena.
Bruzdzinski led all players with 18 kills, while Miller added 14 kills and nine blocks and Pflum had 16 kills and a career-best 14 digs for her first double-double of the season.
Michigan (4-3) fought off a dogged Eagles squad to take game one, 30-25, but Eastern Michigan (5-2) rebounded to tie it at one with a 30-25 game-two victory. It was the Wolverine defense that stepped up to the challenge to close out the match, holding EMU to a combined hitting percentage of .022 in the final two games to seal the win. Michigan finished with its second highest block total of the season (15.0), led by Miller's nine blocks and Bruzdzinksi's eight.
Sophomore/freshman Mara Martin (Monroe, Mich./St. Mary's Catholic) tallied her second double-double in as many matches, tying a career high with 51 assists and adding a career-best 14 digs, while sophomore Stesha Selsky (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Marymount) was all over the floor, digging up a season-high 27 balls -- tying her for the sixth-most single-match digs in U-M volleyball history.
Bruzdzinski starred in game one, recorded 6.5 points thanks to four kills, a block assist and back-to-back service aces to lead U-M to a 30-25 win. The Wolverines forced six EMU errors and capitalized on two kills by Bruzdzinski to take an early lead, 11-5. The Eagles closed the six-point gap to two, trailing 20-18, before kills by Bruzdzinski, Cobler and Miller, combined with two more Eagle errors, raised the EMU deficit to a comfortable 25-20 margin.
Eastern Michigan came fast out of the gates to open its second-game 30-25 win, nullifying an overpowering performance by Pflum, who finished the period with seven kills and six digs. The Eagles built an early four-point spread and led 18-12 near the midway point and by the end of the period outhit Michigan .222 to .140 and outblocked the Wolverines 5-1.
Despite another hot start for the Eagles to begin game three, Michigan rallied behind six kills and three blocks by Bruzdzinski and outhit EMU .333 to .045. Eastern Michigan jumped out to an 8-5 lead when a kill by Bruzdzinski, back-to-back terminations from Miller and Bruzdzinski's third ace of the night tied the score, 9-9. The Eagles took a one-point lead twice more before the Wolverines pulled in front for good, leading 13-12. Junior Megan Bowman (St. John, Ind./Lake Central) also pitched in with three of her five kills in the match, hitting .500 in the period.
Michigan took control of the final game from the opening whistle, leading 6-1 to open the action and taking the game 30-18, thanks to a defense that held the Eagles to a .000 attack percentage. Pflum and Bruzdzinski nailed four kills each, while Bruzdzinski added four blocks.
Michigan travels to Athens, Ga., for the Georgia Invitational to take on Georgia on Friday (Sept. 16) and Georgia Tech on Saturday (Sept. 17) to start a six-match road swing that ends Oct. 7.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
