Michigan
26-8
Saint Louis
29-5
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | 22 | 25 | 23 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
| Saint Louis | 25 | 19 | 25 | 20 | 12 | 2 |
Michigan Shocks No. 13 Seed Saint Louis to Reach NCAA Sweet 16
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: Lexington, Ky. (Memorial Coliseum)
Result: #19 Michigan 3, #21 Saint Louis 2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12)
Records: U-M (26-8), SLU (29-5)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Dec. 12 -- vs. UAB or Nebraska (Seattle, Wash.), 8 p.m. PST
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- In a match eerily similar to Thursday night's first-round win over Kentucky, the No. 19-ranked University of Michigan volleyball team advanced to the NCAA Regional for the second straight season by knocking off 13th-seeded and No. 21-ranked Saint Louis in comeback fashion, 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-12), on Friday night (Dec. 5) in Memorial Coliseum. Senior Beth Karpiak (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) led the way with 20 kills and a .606 attack percentage, while juniors Megan Bower (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and Juliana Paz (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Iowa Western CC) posted double-doubles in the victory.
In set one, the two teams exchanged blows early with Michigan building a 12-7 lead on kills from Paz and Bower. Down 13-9, Saint Louis put together a 4-0 run to tie the set at 13-all before watching sophomore Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) deposit a kill that gave U-M a 15-13 lead heading into a media timeout. The Wolverines maintained that two-point lead until the Billikens again put together a run that gave them their first lead of the night, 21-20, forcing a Michigan stoppage. The break did nothing to squelch the SLU momentum as it reeled off two more unanswered points to take a 23-20 lead and force U-M to burn its final timeout of the frame. From there, Saint Louis scored two of the final three points to take the opening set, 25-22.
In the second set, Karpiak carried the offense to the tune of four quick kills to give Michigan an early 7-2 lead. Michigan held the lead through the middle of the frame, pushing it to six, 17-11, and forcing a Saint Louis timeout after consecutive kills from Karpiak and Paz. The Wolverine offense stayed hot down the stretch as freshman Alex Hunt (Granger, Ind./South Bend St. Joseph) recorded the final two terminations for a 25-19 Michigan win. The Maize and Blue offense was red-hot, hitting .421 in the stanza with Karpiak leading the charge with six kills and Zimmerman dishing out 15 assists.
In the third set, the Billikens rushed out to a 7-3 lead to force Michigan into an early timeout. The stoppage seemingly settled the Wolverines, who went on a 9-3 run as Bower blasted a pair of kills to give U-M a 12-10 lead and force Saint Louis into a break of its own. SLU was able to erase the U-M lead, tying the match at 13-all, but the Wolverines responded by scoring six of the next eight to earn a 19-15 advantage. Saint Louis was not going to go down quietly, however, putting together a 4-0 run to grab a 22-21 lead, aided by a pair of Michigan attack errors. It was a lead SLU never relinquished en route to a 25-23 win and a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set, Michigan raced out to a 7-1 lead as Hunt and Karpiak each posted a pair of early kills. Saint Louis fought back, tying the set at 9-9 only to see U-M respond by regaining its lead, 19-16, just past the midway point. This time it was Michigan that never let go of the lead, using a pair of Paz kills down the stretch for a 25-20 victory and forcing a deciding fifth set. Karpiak continued her efficient play with four kills and a .517 attack percentage in the frame, while Hunt added four kills of her own.
In the final frame, a race to 15, Saint Louis took command early and an 8-6 lead as the teams switched sides. A service ace by senior Kerry Hance (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount) knotted the match at 9-all, but the Billikens quickly went back up two, 11-9. Michigan responded with back-to-back kills from Karpiak and Bower coupled with a Saint Louis service error to take a 12-11 lead and force the Billikens into a timeout. Following the break, Zimmerman utilized a dump shot to put U-M up 13-11 and another Karpiak kill gave Michigan a 14-12 lead. The Wolverines closed the improbable comeback win with a SLU attack error, taking the set 15-12 and the match 3-2.
The Michigan stat sheet was filled with highlights as three players reached double-figure kills and a pair of them, Paz (13 kills, 19 digs) and Bower (17 kills, 19 digs), posted double-doubles for the second straight evening. Kapiak's 20 kills on 33 swings were good for the third-best attack percentage (.606) in Wolverine NCAA Tournament history.
The Maize and Blue defense was stellar again, being led by Hance with a Michigan-high 24 digs, one of five Wolverines in double figures for the second straight night.
With the win, Michigan advances to the NCAA Regional for the second consecutive season and will travel to Seattle, Wash., to face off against the winner of the Lincoln, Neb., pod on Friday (Dec. 12) at Bank of America Arena. U-M will face the winner of tomorrow's (Saturday, Dec. 5) match between fourth-seeded Nebraska and UAB.
NOTES
• Michigan advances to the Round of 16 for the second straight season, and just the second time in program history. Last season, Michigan faced No. 1-ranked and eventual national champion Penn State in the Round of 16, falling in three sets.
• With the win over Saint Louis, Michigan climbed above .500 at 9-8 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
• Beth Karpiak posted the third-best single-match hitting percentage (.606) in Michigan NCAA Tournament history. Karpiak also owns the top spot, hitting .632 versus Miami (Ohio) in opening round action last season.
• With her 52-assist performance Friday night, Lexi Zimmerman took over the top spot with 215 career NCAA Tournament assists at Michigan. Zimmerman passed Lisa Gamalski, who posted 207 from 2001-04.
• Michigan had five players reach double-figure digs for the second straight match after having just one such performance during the regular season.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
Opening statement ... "I'm extremely proud of our team, the way they played and fought. One of the players said in the locker room that it wasn't pretty, but it was a great, competitive match, and that's true. You have to be able to win points at the right time. Saint Louis is a very competitive team and they're also very skilled. They run some things that are very hard. Every time we faltered, they were opportunistic and jumped all over it. I was really proud of our players being able to fight through that. Also, I'm incredibly proud of our seniors this weekend. We've said all season that you'll go as far as your seniors will take you, so we rode their backs this weekend. Kerry Hance had two really good nights. She was the top digger in the gym last night and she was the top on our team tonight. Beth (Karpiak) got the kills tonight and that's just outrageous. I'm just very proud of how our seniors played. I thought our team played a very balanced game. We could utilize a lot of people when we controlled the ball well enough. They gave you some things to use on the right side of the court. Both (Megan) Bower and Beth did a really good job behind the setter. We're excited about going to the next level and we're excited about getting the chance to compete in the next round."
On coming from behind to win ..."It's a little bit of skill and a lot of luck. Our kids didn't give up or get frustrated in that situation. We played a lot of 15-point games this week in practice because we figured that at this point in the year, if you're going to advance, you're going to do it in long battles. We hadn't played a lot of fifth gamers this year and haven't been successful in our most-recent ones. So we figured we would play a lot and we didn't win a lot of them in practice, but I thought it helped them get ready to compete for it."
U-M Senior Middle Blocker Beth Karpiak
On Michigan's depth advantage ... "I think we're a really balanced team and we have a lot of weapons in the front row. Like coach said earlier, if we gave them anything, they attacked really hard. I think that's why they were able to stay in so hard, but when they decided to take away one of our options, we had another one to hit them with. That's why we pulled ahead."
