Michigan
12-0
Georgia Tech
6-4
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia Tech | 30 | 24 | 32 | 25 | 12 | 2 |
| Michigan | 17 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 15 | 3 |
Michigan Stays Perfect in Comeback Over Georgia Tech
9/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Score: #10 Michigan def. Georgia Tech 3-2 (17-30, 30-24, 30-32, 30-25, 15-12)
Records: U-M (12-0), GTU (7-4)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 21 -- vs. Illinois (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 10 University of Michigan volleyball team used 38 digs from senior libero Stesha Selsky (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Marymount) and 23 kills from Katie Bruzdzinski (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) to mount a comeback against Georgia Tech for a 3-2 (17-30, 30-24, 30-32, 30-25, 15-12) win Saturday night (Sept. 15) in Cliff Keen Arena. The win helped U-M remain a perfect 12-0 on the season
In the tournament finale of the Michigan/Nike Invitational, Georgia Tech took a 2-1 lead in front of Michigan's largest crowd of the season, but the Wolverines fought back to take games four and five to win their fourth tournament title of the year. Michigan completed the non-conference season undefeated for the second year in a row.
Despite being ill all day, Selsky tallied the fourth-highest total for digs in a single match in Michigan volleyball history with 38, while Bruzdzinski keyed the offense with a match-best 23 kills -- including eight in the vital fourth game -- to keep Michigan the only undefeated team in the Big Ten Conference.
Selsky and Bruzdzinski were not alone, as four Wolverines tallied double-digit kills and four racked double-digit digs. Junior Beth Karpiak (La Grange, Ill./Lyons Township) finished with 15 kills and hit a team-high .481, sophomore Veronica Rood (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) had 13 kills and senior Lyndsay Miller (Ida, Mich./Ida) finished with 10 terminations. Freshman Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) had a career-best 18 digs, while Bruzdzinski had 14 digs and sophomore Megan Bower (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) finished with 10.
At the service line, Bruzdzinski managed a season-best five aces from the line -- two in the second and one each in the third, fourth and fifth frames. Zimmerman added a pair of aces.
In game one, Georgia Tech took over the match at the midway point, turning a slight 17-14 advantage into a 10-point, 24-14 chasm after a 7-0 Yellow Jacket run. Georgia Tech hit .410 for the frame and sided out at a 70-percent clip, while Tech's all-tournament team honoree Lindsey Gray nailed seven kills on 11 swings. The bright spots for Michigan were Karpiak with four kills on eight swings and Selsky, who recorded six digs on defense.
Michigan rallied in game two, solidifying its attack and spreading the ball to five players that recorded kills -- led by Bruzdzinski's five. Michigan hit .302 as a team and led from 4-3 onward, with Selsky upping her game with 11 digs in the second game.
Georgia Tech regained momentum after the break, outdueling Michigan 32-30 in a frame that featured 18 tie scores and 11 lead changes. Michigan survived game point on a kill from Rood that knotted it up 29-29, and Bruzdzinski's sixth kill of the frame put Tech's back against the wall (30-29). The Yellow Jackets rebounded to tie it with a kill on the next point, and GTU gained the game point advantage on a second termination. U-M committed a ball handling error to give its visitors a 2-1 lead.
The Wolverines rallied to send the match to an extra game with a win in the fourth, hitting .308 and using a punishing eight kills from Bruzdzinski to extend the match. Seven Wolverines combined for 21 digs, while senior Sarah Draves (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) played a key role on the right side with three kills on four swings.
The fifth game was a back-and-forth affair and featured nine ties and six lead changes with furious action of both sides of the net. The teams traded leads and knotted up the game until an 11-11stalemate was broken by Rood's second kill of the frame, which pushed Georgia Tech into a timeout. Out of the break, Karpiak and Draves combined on a block, and Rood terminated again to force game point, 14-11. Michigan served the next ball into the net to make it 14-12, but Karpiak's 15th and final kill of the match after a long rally ended the madness, giving the Wolverines their fourth tournament title of the year.
Michigan begins Big Ten play on Friday (Sept. 21) against Illinois in Cliff Keen Arena. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES
• Senior Stesha Selsky's 38 digs is the fourth-highest single-match total in program history. Selsky has cracked the top four in single-match digs twice in two weeks. She owns three of the four single-match bests and seven of the top 12 performances of all time.
• Senior Katie Bruzdzinski hit five aces or more in a single match for the fifth time in her career. She holds the U-M single-match record with eight.
• Freshman Lexi Zimmerman had a career-best 18 digs.
• Michigan opened the season undefeated in the non-conference season for the second season in a row. Michigan was 13-0 to start the 2006 season before it lost its conference opener. Michigan's current 12-0 start is the second best in program history.
• Head coach Mark Rosen picked up his 150th career win Saturday night. He needs 27 more victories to equal Sandy Vong's win total for the most victories by a Wolverine coach. Vong coached 11 seasons from 1973 to 1983.
• Michigan is 3-0 in five-game matches this season with two comeback wins.
• Michigan's crowd of 1,180 was a season-high for a volleyball game in Cliff Keen Arena.
• Senior Lyndsay Miller celebrated her birthday on Saturday.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the final match before the Big Ten season ... "It's not about the last match before Big Tens, it's about being in a battle. It's good to win a battle. We had a lot of kids that needed to do some pretty special stuff to win that match and I'm proud of what they did."
On Stesha Selsky's play ... "Stesha needs to get credit for overcoming her illness. It's really bad. I can't really talk about it. She's really under the weather. I'm proud of how she fought through that. We had to make some changes to give her some help on serving and passing and other kids had to step up and help her. Our team did a great job. They rallied as a team. I have to give them credit for that."
On the team's strategy heading into the Big Ten season ... "Our mentality doesn't change a bit. They've been very focused on what their goals are. We learned some things tonight and we aren't as good as we need to be. I'm thankful we learned those things and didn't have to take a loss."
U-M Junior Middle Blocker Beth Karpiak
On the match and her play ... "It was like any other match where I went in and tried to get kills. Lexi did a great job of setting me and we had a good blocking system in place. We rallied around each other. Nothing more to it. Instead of looking inside ourselves we looked to each other and fed off that energy. Georgia Tech is a great team and they run a really tight system. It was a give and take match. Our team play helped push us over the edge."
