Michigan
5-0,0-0Big Ten
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Mississippi State
1-2,0-0SEC
Michigan Remains Perfect After Sweep of Mississippi State at StarkVegas Classic
9/6/2024 10:00:00 PM | Volleyball
» Michigan took down Mississippi State in three sets to improve to 5-0 on the season.
» Ella Demetrician led the way for U-M with 14 kills on a .357 hitting percentage.
» Morgan Burke tallied a double-double with 29 assists and 11 digs.
» Valentina Vaulet kept the pressure on at the service line with three aces on 14 serves.
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- In a three-set sweep, the University of Michigan volleyball team defeated Mississippi State in straight sets 25-22, 26-24, 27-25 on Friday evening (Sept. 6) to open the StarkVegas Classic at the Newell-Grissom Building.
Michigan (5-0) was led offensively by Ella Demetrician and Allison Jacobs, who tallied 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Demetrician had a .357 hitting percentage and added an ace and five digs in her second career start. Morgan Burke led the Wolverines offense with 29 assists and helped out defensively, recording a double-double with 11 digs. Valentina Vaulet added upped her aces total to 18 on the season with three more against the Bulldogs along with eight kills. Maddi Cuchran led Michigan with 16 digs on the night.
Vaulet opened the match with a kill before the set settled into an early back-and-forth affair until a 3-0 run put U-M up 7-5. Mississippi State (1-2) brought the score to within one a few times, but the Wolverines stayed around the remainder of the set. A three-point stretch saw a kill and two aces for Vaulet put Michigan up 16-10. The Bulldogs fought back to again bring the match to within one again, but kills from Serena Nyambio and Demetrician put the Wolverines at 20 points. Michigan took three of the final four points of the set with kills from Vaulet, Jacobs and Jacque Boney to take the first set 25-22.
The Bulldogs started the second set with leads of 5-2 and 7-4, but U-M battled to tie the match at nine after a solo block from Nyambio. MSU retook the lead before U-M tied the match again at 14 following a Mississippi State attack error. Michigan took its first lead of the set at 17-16 after back-to-back blocks from Boney with the second assisted by Demetrician. Michigan went a 3-0 run with two kills from Demetrician to reach 20 points first, but the Bulldogs tied the match at 23. An MSU service error put Michigan at set point and Vaulet finished it off with an ace as the Wolverines won 26-24.
The third set was the tightest battle of the match with eight ties and three lead changes. The Bulldogs got out to a 3-0 lead, but the Wolverines tied the match at five after three kills in a row. A 4-0 Michigan run put the Wolverines up 10-7 with kills from Burke, Jacobs and a block from Demetrician and Boney. MSU tied the match at 13, but kills from Demetrician and Jacobs put U-M back in front. The Bulldogs tied the match 17 and took a 20-18 lead. U-M hung around and tied the match at 24 after a Bulldogs attack error. U-M could not convert its first set point but got another chance after an Mississippi State service error. With the pass from Burke, Jacobs finished off the match with a kill which gave U-M the set 27-25 and a 3-0 match win.
Michigan will wrap up its time in Starkville with a neutral match against Notre Dame on Saturday (Sept. 7) at 6 p.m CDT.
