Michigan
19-6, 7-6Big Ten
Northwestern
7-15, 1-10Big Ten
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern | 21 | 21 | 18 | 0 |
| Michigan | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Michigan Storms Past Northwestern for Home Sweep
11/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Result: #20 Michigan 3, Northwestern 0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-18)
Records: U-M (19-6, 7-6 Big Ten), Northwestern (8-16, 2-11 Big Ten)
Attendance: 1,119
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Nov. 8 -- vs. Wisconsin (Cliff Keen Arena), 6 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 20-ranked University of Michigan volleyball team used 13 kills from junior Megan Bower (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and 36 assists from sophomore Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) to defeat Northwestern for the second time this season in three sets, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18, on Friday night (Nov 7) in Cliff Keen Arena.
Megan Bower
In the set one, Michigan and Northwestern went back and forth until the Wildcats went on a 5-0 run to go up 8-3. Three kills from Bower and a service ace by junior Juliana Paz (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Iowa Western CC) brought Michigan to within one at 9-8. With the score knotted at 15-all, the Maize and Blue went on a 5-0 run that featured two more service aces by Paz to take a 20-15 lead. Michigan held on from there to pick up the win 25-21. Bower led the Michigan offense in the opening frame with seven kills.
In set two, Michigan took a commanding 9-3 lead as freshman Alex Hunt (Granger, Ind./South Bend St. Joseph) and senior Beth Karpiak (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) registered early kills and a service ace by freshman Sloane Donhoff (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) punctuated the early lead. Back-to-back kills by Hunt and Karpiak midway through the set helped push the U-M advantage to 13-8 and forced a Northwestern timeout. The Wildcats made a late push to bring the game within three at 18-15, but it was not enough as Karpiak ended the set with a cross-court termination, sending Michigan into intermission with a 2-0 lead.
It was all Northwestern to start the third set as the Wildcats opened with a 7-2 lead that sent Michigan for its first timeout. The Wildcats controlled the set until a 6-0 Michigan run featuring three straight blocks by Bower and sophomore/freshman Karlee Bruck (Elyria, Ohio/Elyria) tied the score at 11-all. With the set tied at 16-16, Michigan made a sprint to the finish line, scoring nine of the next 11 points to win 25-18, taking set three and the match.
Bower finished the night with a .440 hitting percentage, while Hunt posted a team-leading .533 mark. Paz put together a solid all-around match with eight kills, 10 digs and three service aces -- part of five team aces on the night for the conference leaders in the category. As a team, the Wolverines hit over 100 points better than their opponent with a hitting percentage of .287 compared to .168 by the Wildcats.
Michigan is at home again Saturday night (Nov. 8) at 6 p.m. when it faces Wisconsin in Cliff Keen Arena. The game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.
NOTES
• Kerry Hance's first dig in the opening set was number 1,132 of her career, moving her into sole possession of fourth all-time, passing JoAnna Collias (1990-93).
• Karlee Bruck earned her 100th kill of the season during the first set, joining Alex Hunt as Wolverines to reach the century mark this season.
• Beth Karpiak recorded nine kills, coming one shy of extending her five-match double-digit kill streak.
• Juliana Paz came two kills shy of extending her impressive double-double streak. Paz had hit double figures in kills and digs in each of the last four contests.
• The win for Michigan was its second this season over the Wildcats, marking the first time since 2004 the Wolverines have swept the Wildcats.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the performance versus Northwestern ... "I'm really pleased. It is certainly good to come back after last weekend. You could tell that we were a little bit tentative, a little bit nicked up mentally, but we talked about just playing and letting ourselves go. I thought we did a really nice job of that as the match went on. It nice to get back on the winning side of things and hopefully we use this momentum and gain on it as the season goes on."
On the huddle conversation during slow starts in sets one and three ... "Honestly I didn't really say anything to them. I felt we just got out of synch offensively and they knew that. I just thought they needed a break to regain some focus. We were struggling with the serve receive so we just needed to relax a little bit and take a breather and it worked."
On the fast start in set two ... "I think there are momentum shift in every match. One team will get a few breaks, another team might serve some great balls and all of a sudden you look up and find yourself ahead or down big. I think that's how every match typically goes. There are streaks and we had a few tonight as did Northwestern. I thought we did a good job of regrouping when the streaks were in their favor and I thought our best streak of the night was in the start of set two because it set the whole tone for that set."
On improved blocking versus Northwestern ... "I thought in set three especially we did a really good job at the net, and that was something we talked about going into that set. We wanted to focus on blocking and we asked the girls to step up a notch in that area and they did a really nice job."
On the play of Megan Bower ... "She is still not at 100 percent. We could see that tonight, and as the match wore on we could see that she was starting to be affected by that, but to her credit she pushed through it. She was a big part of the blocking in set two and I thought she played very well for us tonight and has done a great job for us since she has been back in the lineup."
