Michigan
2-0
Kansas State
0-2
Michigan Ousts No. 22 Kansas State in Four Sets
8/29/2009 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)
Score: #16 Michigan 3, #22 Kansas State 1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 26-24)
Records: U-M (2-0), KSU (0-2)
Attendance: 5,981
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 4 -- vs. Tennessee (Cincinnati, Ohio), 4 p.m.
• Boxscore
OMAHA, Neb. -- Behind a 20-kill effort from senior Juliana Paz (Porto Alegre, Brazil/Iowa Western CC) and an AVCA Showcase record 13 team service aces, the No. 16-ranked University of Michigan volleyball team defeated No. 22 Kansas State, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15, 26-24, at the Runza/AVCA Showcase on Saturday night (Aug. 29) at the Qwest Center.
Paz led the way with the third 20-plus kill match of her career while attacking at a .421 clip and contributing a career-best six service aces and 11 digs. The U-M offense was balanced with sophomore Alex Hunt (Granger, Ind./South Bend St. Joseph) contributing nine kills and senior Megan Bower (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and sophomore Courtney Fletcher (Duluth, Ga./Northview) each adding eight terminations. Junior setter Lexi Zimmerman (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) added 43 assists in giving head coach Mark Rosen his 400th career victory.
Michigan held off a scrappy Kansas State team in the fourth and final set, watching as the Wildcats put together a 7-0 run midway through the frame to tie the match at 16-16. The Maize and Blue used the experience of Paz and Bower down the stretch as well as some stellar defensive saves and a Paz ace to cap the victory, 26-24.
In set one, the Wolverines held Kansas State to a .048 hitting percentage and used a 10-1 run midway through the stanza for a 25-19 victory. Paz got off to a hot start, registering four kills and posting five digs in the frame, while Hunt and Bower contributed three kills apiece in a set that was tight throughout.
In set two, Kansas State came out firing, building a 12-8 lead only to see Michigan work its way back to an 18-18 tie on a powerful kill by Hunt to the back-left corner. The Wildcats did not go away, however, trading blows and lead changes down the stretch before using a pair of kills and a service ace through the final three points to hand U-M its first set loss of the season.
The Wolverines responded well out of the intermission, recording nine of the first 12 points in the set en route to a dominating 25-15 win. Paz was the dominating offensive presence in the third set, registering five kills. Meanwhile, Zimmerman dished out 14 helpers.
Michigan will return to action next weekend at the Xavier Invitational when it faces Tennessee to open play at 4 p.m. on Friday (Sept. 4) in Cincinnati, Ohio.
N O T E S
• The win Saturday marks the 400th in the 11-year career of head coach Mark Rosen and his 191st at Michigan.
• Michigan starts the season 2-0 for the 18th time in program history and the fourth straight season. The Wolverines have started each of the past three seasons 13-0.
• Juliana Paz's six service aces are a new career high, eclipsing her previous best of four, set against Purdue last season. Paz was also two kills shy of tying her career-best mark.
• Sloane Donhoff set a career high with 19 digs in the match; her previous best was 16 at Illinois last year.
• Michigan's 13 service aces are a new AVCA Showcase record. The last time Michigan recorded 13 in a match was the opening weekend of last season against Georgia Tech.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
Opening Statement... "I think it was a different kind of match. Last night was easy to get fired up for with the crowd and giant opponent. It was just one of those matches where your body is already going to be fired up. I thought tonight was tougher because there wasn't the same amount of excitement around the match. I thought Kansas State was a tough opponent; they keep balls alive, have a great defense and their setter is very good. There was a lot of pressure that they put on us, and I don't think we were as focused. I was proud of our kids for getting through that. It was good for us to learn. We weren't shooting on all cylinders, yet we still found a way to win. That is something we need to be able to do. You're not going to play your best every night. At the same time, Kansas State is a team that deserves credit because of their defense and style of play. They will frustrate you and make you feel like you aren't playing well."
On any adjustments they made throughout the match... "We had to really keep our offense balanced. We were very out of balance using the outsides a lot. We tried to get balanced; at times we were able to do that. In game three we did a good job of getting everyone more involved. It was still a struggle. It's going to take us a while. We're going to work in the gym on it, work on it in games. It will come. I thought we really had to adjust our serving defense; they served very well, they are an aggressive serving team. I think our personality got quiet and tentative. We weren't really feeding off of each other. The team talked during the break about controlling our own personality."
Michigan Senior Captain Megan Bower
On the victory over Kansas State... "It is always good to get a win. We found a way tonight when it wasn't very pretty. We got the dessert yesterday before we ate the meal. It isn't always going to click as perfect as it seemed yesterday, you have to find a way to weather the storm and I think we did a great job of that tonight."
On the play of Juliana Paz... "She is always a key player for us. She was a great leader out there tonight, she passed really well, she got into her groove and when she does that she is hard to stop, she gets one part of her game going and the rest just comes."
On the service game... "One of your main focuses in every match is to pressure teams with our serve. It is something we always talk about and we were very aggressive with it tonight."
Michigan Junior Lexi Zimmerman
On the balanced offense... "It is easy to run a balanced offense when your team is passing as well as we did tonight. It all starts with the pass and we have been working a ton in the preseason on getting our middles involved in the offense and that really showed tonight."
On the choice of offensive weapons on the court... "That is one of the unique things about our team. Any one of them can go off on any night and it makes my job easy to have so many choices. As long as the passing is there, we are going to be a difficult team to stop because we can come at teams from a lot of different areas on the court."
