Michigan Readies for Home Weekend with No. 8 Penn State, Rutgers

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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team returns home for a pair of Big Ten matches this weekend, taking on No. 8 Penn State on Friday (Oct. 18) in Crisler Center and Rutgers on Saturday (Oct. 19) in Cliff Keen Arena. Both matches will begin at 7 p.m.

Big Ten Schedule

• At 5-1, the Wolverines are off to their best Big Ten start since 2010, when they went 7-1 to begin conference play.

• Michigan's five-match win streak to begin Big Ten play was snapped by No. 5 Nebraska on Sunday (Oct. 13). It was the best start to conference play in program history, topping its 4-0 league start in 1997.

Home Sweet Home

• U-M is undefeated when playing in Ann Arbor this season. The Wolverines are 7-0 overall, going 4-0 at Crisler Center and 3-0 at Cliff Keen Arena.

• With seven home matches under its belt, Michigan ranks seventh in the Big Ten in average attendance at 1,812, behind Nebraska (8,215), Wisconsin (7,052), Minnesota (5,700), Penn State (3,235), Michigan State (2,946) and Illinois (2,581).

Career-Best Cori

• In Michigan's 3-1 win over Iowa on Oct. 11, fifth-year senior Cori Crocker set a new career-high for hitting percentage, finishing the match with 11 kills on 18 attempts and just one error for a .556 mark.

Double-Double Trouble

• Seniors MacKenzi Welsh and Sydney Wetterstrom registered double-doubles in the Wolverines' win at Iowa. For Welsh (41 assists, 11 digs), it marked the third of 2019 and 39th for her career, while it was the fourth of the season for Wetterstrom (16 kills, 12 digs) and the fifth of her career.

How Sweep it Is

• The Wolverines started their Big Ten slate with four consecutive sweeps (at Rutgers, vs. Ohio State, at Maryland, at Ohio State) for the first time in program history. Michigan has nine sweeps this season.

Setting Up Success

• Senior MacKenzi Welsh is averaging 10.93 assists per set, good for second in the Big Ten. She is helping orchestrate the third-best attacking offense in the conference; the Wolverines hold a .269 attack percentage.

• Welsh passed the 4,000-assist mark for her career when she divvied out 111 assists on opening weekend to make her the sixth Wolverine to top the mark. Welsh now has 4,533 career assists which puts her sixth all-time at Michigan and she is 49 away from entering the top five.

• Not only is Welsh climbing her way up Michigan's record book, she also is near the top of the NCAA active career assists leaderboard. The Bolingbrook, Illinois, native is third in NCAA Division I behind Stanford's Jenna Gray (4,685) and Green Bay's Maddie Yoss (4,551).

Scouting the Opposition

Penn State
Michigan trails, 52-16, in the all-time series against the Nittany Lions
Penn State comes into the weekend ranked No. 8 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll (Oct. 14), with an overall record of 12-3 (5-1 Big Ten). Penn State sophomore Kaitlyn Hord leads the Big Ten and is fourth in the country in hitting percentage with a .452 mark.

Rutgers
Michigan leads, 7-0, in the all-time series against the Scarlet Knights
U-M has won all seven matches against Rutgers thanks to its 3-0 sweep of Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey, on Sept. 25. The Scarlet Knights rank fourth in the Big Ten in blocks per set (2.65) and are fifth in the league in aces per set (1.47). Rutgers last took a set in Ann Arbor Oct. 14, 2015, in the team's second all-time meeting.

Up Next

Friday, Oct. 25 -- vs. Minnesota (Crisler Center), 6 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 27 -- vs. Wisconsin (Cliff Keen Arena), 1 p.m.