Michigan
5-0,0-0Big Ten
Morehead State
2-2,0-0OVC
Strong Serving Propels Michigan to Sweep of Morehead State
9/2/2022 10:12:00 PM | Volleyball
» The Wolverines improved to 5-0 on the season with Friday night's sweep of Morehead State.
» Michigan recorded 10 services aces with seven coming in the first set.
» Jess Mruzik tallied 10 kills, the most of any player on the court.
» Haley Hallgren led Michigan at the service line with five aces, all of which came in the first set.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Backed by a strong effort at the service line, the University of Michigan volleyball team swept Morehead State in straight sets (25-10, 25-12, 25-17) in the Wolverines' second match of the Michigan Invitational tournament inside Cliff Keen Arena on Friday night (Sept. 2).
Jess Mruzik was the only player on either side of the net with double-digit kills (10), which marks her fifth-consecutive double-figure kill effort this season. Haley Hallgren recorded five service aces on 12 attempts. Serena Nyambio led the Wolverines with six blocks.
Kendall Murray got U-M (5-0) rolling with a service ace on the first serve of the match and Michigan had control of the set from there thanks to multiple scoring runs. Hallgren dominated at the service line in the first set with four aces in a row on a 7-0 run that gave Michigan plenty of breathing room and a 14-2 laed. The Wolverines recorded seven service aces over the course of the opening set en route to a 25-10 first set victory.
Michigan added three more aces in the second set of the night. Mruzik, Hannah Grant, Maddie Dowd and Brooke Humphrey all helped the Wolverines to scoring runs in a set that featured a .429 team hitting percentage. Mruzik and Nyambio combined for nine of Michigan's 16 kills as the Maize and Blue pushed past Morehead State, 25-12.
The teams battled early in the final set until a kill from Hallgren knotted things up at 17-17 and a double-block effort by Mruzik and Nyambio put Michigan up by one. The momentum shifted in the Wolverines' favor with Murray at the service line as Michigan went on an 8-0 run to clinch the third set, 25-17, and close out the match.
Michigan posted a .390 team hitting percentage while holding the Eagles (2-2) to a .029 clip. U-M also finished with more blocks (7-3), kills (40-17), assists (35-14) and digs (28-21.)
Hallgren posted eight kills, five aces, four digs and four blocks over the course of the match, while Dowd recorded 29 assists, six digs and one kill.Â
U-M will wrap up the Michigan Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 3) with a match against Loyola Chicago at 4:30 p.m. inside Cliff Keen Arena.
