Michigan
10-0
Western Kentucky
10-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Kentucky | 18 | 20 | 21 | 0 |
| Michigan | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Michigan Stays Undefeated With Sweep of Western Kentucky
9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Event: Michigan/adidas Invitational
Score: Michigan 3, Western Kentucky 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-21)
Records: U-M (10-0), WKU (10-2)
Attendance: 916
Next U-M Event: Saturday, Sept. 20-- vs. Albany (Cliff Keen Arena), 11 a.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) notched her third straight double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs to lead the University of Michigan volleyball team past Western Kentucky 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) on the first day of the Michigan/adidas Invitational on Friday night (Sept. 19) at Cliff Keen Arena.
Kerry Hance
Junior Juliana Paz (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Iowa Western CC) had nine kills to lead the attack for the Maize and Blue who improved to 10-0 to start the season for the third straight year.
The first set began as a back-and-forth affair with U-M taking a slim 17-15 lead before putting the Lady Toppers away with an 8-2 run to end the set. Paz recorded five kills and had a .556 hitting percentage for the Wolverines while Zimmerman added three digs and eight assists.
Michigan fell behind early, 4-1, in the second set before coming back to win, 25-20. U-M fought back from the early deficit to tie the match at 12-12, forcing Western Kentucky to use a timeout. The Wolverines were undaunted, using a 4-0 run to claim their first lead of the set, 16-12. The Lady Toppers battled to within one at 17-16, but back-to-back kills by senior Beth Karpiak (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) forced Western Kentucky to call its second and final timeout. The break did little to help, however, as Michigan did not allow Western Kentucky to get within one again before scoring the final three points of the set to pull ahead 2-0. Karpiak recorded five kills for the Wolverines with a .571 hitting percentage and Zimmerman notched nine assists and four digs while Paz added three blocks.
The third set was a hard-fought battle with six ties and four lead changes before Michigan pulled away for a 25-21 win. With the scored tied at 15, the Maize and Blue used kills by junior Megan Bower (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and Paz and back-to-back aces by Zimmerman to take control of the match, 19-15. Junior Veronica Rood (Temperance, Mich./Bedford) recorded four kills while Paz, Bower and sophomore/freshman Karlee Bruck (Elyria, Ohio/Elyris) had three apiece. Zimmerman finished off another stellar night with 12 more assists and four digs to secure her fifth double-double of the season.
Michigan will try and extend its winning streak to 12 when the Michigan/adidas Invitational continues tomorrow in Cliff Keen Arena. The Wolverines will play host to Albany at 11 a.m. and Arizona State at 7:30 p.m.
NOTES
• Michigan moved to 10-0 for the third straight season and is just three wins from matching the 13-0 starts from the past two seasons.
• Lexi Zimmerman posted her third straight double-double of the season Friday night (Sept. 19) versus Western Kentucky.
• Lexi Zimmerman, Juliana Paz and Sloane Donhoff all got into the act with service aces Saturday night. Donhoff, the Big Ten leader in aces, has now posted at least one ace in six of Michigan's 10 matches.
• Tonight's victory marked the first time this season that no Wolverine has posted double-figure kills. The balanced offensive showing included six different Wolverines with terminations
• All ten Michigan wins have come in tournament play this year. U-M also improved to 3-0 in Friday night matches.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the key to defeating Western Kentucky ... "Western Kentucky is a very good team and the fact that we swept them is a testament to how well our kids played. With it now being 25-point sets, it has made things much more compact. It is a game of side-outs and serving. Tonight we served well and we did well with side-out opportunities and we came away with the win."
On the key service aces ... "We not only have a lot of good servers, we have a lot of good servers in a row. I think good-serving teams put a ton of pressure on the other side of the net to try to side-out and sometimes that translates to runs at the line. We are able to roll out six servers in a row that can really get after it and that makes a huge difference."
On tomorrow mornings opponent Albany ... "Albany had a tough five set match with Arizona State and I think in tournament play you always want to be as efficient as possible. Albany showed in their match with ASU that they are a tough team. They are scrappy, they chip balls around and are going to make you defend the whole court, so we have to come ready to play."
On the grind of tournament play ... "It can be tough. Like I said, you want to be as efficient as possible and fortunately we have done that more than not. It is a grind, but this is our fourth straight weekend in this format and I think our team is used to it."
