Michigan
12-1, 1-1
Iowa
9-4, 1-1
Offense Carries Michigan Past Iowa for First B1G Win
9/23/2018 6:28:00 PM | Volleyball
» Sydney Wetterstrom turned in a career-high 21 kills at a .349 average in the victory.
» Carly Skjodt finished with 18 kills, while Paige Jones posted a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs.
» The victory is Michigan's first in Big Ten play this season.
Site: Iowa City, Iowa (Carver-Hawkeye Arena)
Score: #18 Michigan 3, Iowa 1 (25-22, 28-30, 25-23, 25-22)
Records: U-M (12-1, 1-1 Big Ten), IOWA (9-4, 1-1 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event: Friday, Sept. 28 -- vs. Rutgers (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Three double-figure kill performances -- including a career effort from junior Sydney Wetterstrom -- propelled the No. 18-ranked University of Michigan volleyball team to a 3-1 victory (25-22, 28-30, 25-23, 25-22) over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday afternoon (Sept. 23) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The victory is Michigan's first in Big Ten play this season, after the Wolverines dropped a match at Nebraska on Friday (Sept. 21) to start conference play.
Wetterstrom posed a career-best 21 kills in the effort at a team-high .349 attack percentage. Senior Carly Skjodt followed her lead with 18 kills, while freshman Paige Jones tallied 14 kills and added 13 digs for her third career double-double. Sophomore Kiara Shannon also tied her career high with nine kills at a .300 clip.
Guiding the offense with a season-high 60 assists was junior setter MacKenzi Welsh, who also tallied a team-high five blocks and 10 digs in the effort.
Defensively, senior libero Jenna Lerg anchored the back row with 25 digs, which marked her fourth 20-dig effort of the season.
The Hawkeyes jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first set, which forced a Michigan timeout early. From there, the Wolverines played catch-up and worked to tie the score at 13 on a kill down the line from Wetterstrom. A kill from Shannon then gave Michigan the lead and the Maize and Blue took advantage of multiple Iowa attacking errors to extend its lead to three, 19-16. Though the Hawkeyes rallied to tie the score at 21, seven kills from Wetterstrom and a .400 team attack average made the difference as Michigan rallied to take set one, 25-22.
Neither team could gain more than a two-point lead in the second set until an ace from Lerg and an Iowa ball-handling error put Michigan up, 12-8. Despite the edge, the Hawkeyes went on a 6-2 run and tied the score at 14 and 15. The teams traded points from there, but it was Iowa who held the lead late, 24-23. Though the Wolverines fought off three set points and worked to tie the score five times, the Hawkeyes executed with back-to-back kills late and took set two, 30-28.
A 3-0 rally allowed the Wolverines a 6-4 lead in the third set before back-to-back Michigan errors tied the score at 8. The teams traded points until Michigan went on a 6-1 run that featured kills from Skjodt, Welsh, Jones and redshirt junior Cori Crocker to force a 20-16 Wolverine lead along with an Iowa timeout. Despite the momentum shift, Iowa rallied and used consecutive blocks to tie the score at 21 before taking a one point lead, 22-21. Michigan then answered to tie the score at 22 before three kills from Skjodt pushed Michigan to a 25-23 third-set victory.
Michigan used a 6-2 run to begin the fourth set, which resulted in Iowa burning its first timeout early on. The Hawkeyes then executed a run of their own to tie the score at 7, but Michigan strung together serving runs from Welsh, Jones and senior Maddy Abbott to force a 17-9 lead and Iowa's second timeout. In spite of the eight-point lead, Michigan surrendered multiple scoring runs and allowed the Hawkeyes to cut the lead to one, 21-20, before surging ahead for a 25-22 fourth-set win.
The Wolverines (12-1, 1-1 B1G) will be back in action on Friday (Sept. 28), when they kick off a four-match home stand with a contest against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. First serve is set for 7 p.m. inside Cliff Keen Arena.
