U-M Set for Second Weekend on the Road at No. 1 Nebraska, Illinois

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team (7-18, 5-11 Big Ten) will head out for the second straight weekend on the road. Michigan will first take on the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers (25-0, 16-0 Big Ten) Friday night (Nov. 17) on Big Ten Network and face off against Illinois (14-12, 9-7 Big Ten) on Saturday night (Nov. 18) streaming live on BTN+.

• Michigan currently sits at 7-18 (5-11 Big Ten) and is on an upward trajectory after winning four of the last five matches over the last few weekends, the lone loss coming to No. 14 Penn State on the road. Sunday marked the team's first true road win this season coming against Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J.

• The Wolverines are one of the best-serving teams in the conference and rank first in aces per set and second in total aces. After 17 aces last weekend, Michigan passed Indiana for the conference lead in aces per set and holds a 1.84 average. Michigan also jumped more than 10 places in the national rank, now 29th in the nation -- with Dayton leading the nation at 2.37 aces per set. The Wolverines still trail Indiana in total service aces but moved closer with Michigan sitting at 164 aces and the Hoosiers having 188.

• Six players in the Big Ten have had six or more aces in a match with Michigan holding three of them. Lydia Johnson had seven against Sacred Heart, Kendall Murray had six against Bowling Green and Valentina Vaulet had six against Northwestern. The Wolverines tallied 11 total service aces in their most recent match against Rutgers, Hannah Grant led the team with a season-high four.

• Murray had one of her strongest weekends yet as she set a new career high in kills with 24 against Rutgers. Also in this match, she had a .537 hitting percentage with just two errors and contributed two service aces to the team's win. Murray leads the team with 251 kills on the season and averages 2.82 kills per set. Murray is a six-rotation player this season for U-M and is second on the team in digs with 198, trailing only Brooke Humphrey. Humphrey and Murray are the only two players to play in every set this season.

• Jacque Boney has reached double-digit kills in five of the last six matches and leads the team in hitting percentage at .319. The Wolverines have been prioritizing their middles in their offense, giving Boney a team-leading 26 attempts in their match against Penn State and 23 swings in their win against Rutgers on Sunday. She ranks third on the team in kills with 205 and is second in blocks with 58. In the conference, Boney ranks 26th in kills per set with a 2.47 average.

• Vaulet continues to be a big part of the Wolverine offense. She now ranks second on the team in kills with 209 on the season and averages 2.61 kills per set. In her most recent match against Rutgers, Vaulet contributed 16 kills with a .500 hitting percentage. She also has 94 kills in the last eight matches and has continued to grow over her freshman year. From the service line, Vaulet ranks fifth in the conference in aces per set and second in the team with 31 service aces on the season thus far. Throughout the conference season, Vaulet is second in the conference in aces per set averaging 0.51 aces per set with 27 total aces.

• Hannah Grant returned to the lineup in the match against Penn State and has started the last five matches as the team's Libero. In the most recent weekend, Grant led the team in digs through both matches, tallying 19 total. She ranks ninth all-time in digs in program history with 1,231 and is 55 digs away from entering eighth place all-time, passing Kerry Hance.

• After a strong match as a substitute, Morgan Burke took over as the team's setter and has tallied 291 assists in the eight matches since earning the starting job. In the four-set road win against Rutgers, Burke tallied 45 assists, eight digs and two service aces. She has 12 service aces on the season and has aces in each of the last three matches. So far this season, Burke is averaging 7.55 assists per set and 2.08 digs per set.

• Nebraska is currently ranked No. 1 in the country with a 25-0 record. The Cornhuskers are coming off a weekend sweep, beating both Northwestern and Illinois three sets to one. Michigan holds a 3-20 record against Nebraska all-time and is looking for redemption after the Huskers swept Michigan in Ann Arbor more than a month ago. In this previous match-up, Vaulet led the team with eigth kills and a .444 hitting percentage, but the Wolverines could not slow down the Husker offense.

• Illinois is 14-12 on the season with a 9-7 conference record. Michigan is 29-52 all-time against the Fighting Illini. The two teams have yet to face off in the 2023 season and only met once in the 2022 season. In their last match-up, the Wolverines lost in four sets and were led by Hannah Grant, who tallied 14 digs on the day.