Volleyball: Michigan Sweeps Michigan State in 3 sets

Volleyball: Michigan Sweeps Michigan State in 3 sets

A lot of people expected this to be a close match and it certainly was. As a sold out crowd at Cliff Keen Arena saw Michigan sweep eighth ranked Michigan State 3-0 on November 15th. The scores of the three sets were 25-20, 29-27, and 25-23.

Michigan State played great in the game and was ahead at many points but never really could answer when Michigan came back. Most people thought going into the game that Michigan State would get the win, but when you play an” in state” rival like Michigan, be ready for an all out battle. “It’s a typical Michigan and Michigan State rivalry where you throw records out the window and it’s a very competitive match. We split almost every year and you have to get after it,” said Michigan State Coach Cathy George. The second set was anyones to grab and Michigan and Michigan State took turns getting points. But, in the end, it was Michigan who came out with the win in the second set. Most would say that was the turning point in the match. “Honestly, it was a great match,” said George. “It was pretty impressive as both teams battled point for point but Michigan was able to get the nod in that set and we were not able to bounce back,” George continued. George also said that similar things happened in the third set of the game as well. “It was another set that went back and forth and back and forth. We just could not string together points and different key plays were made. We didn’t quite get runs over two points and we couldn’t really turn it. I thought Michigan played a great ball game,” George said. Autumn Bailey led the Spartans with 14 kills and 11 digs on the night. Michigan State had a total of 44 Kills and 41 digs and had a hit percentage of .273 %.

Michigan came out strong in the first set of the game. “That’s the way volleyball is going to be in the Big Ten Conference,” said Michigan Head Volleyball Coach Mark Rosen. “I don’t think it was unusual that we had a back and forth game with them and we were able to respond well in that game,” remarked Rosen.  Michigan got better as they had a higher hit percentage in each game. The turning point in the game was the second set and in the end it was Michigan who came out on top. “They grinded that one out,” said Rosen. “They were scoring and then we were scoring. They had a little bit of a lead and we snapped a couple of points away. Then we had a break point and it’s such an advantage to be up a break point. We just did a good job of being steady, and we did a great job of taking advantage of the opportunity,” Rosen continued.  Rosen also said that the team’s effort contributed to a big win against the Spartans. “We struggled with that earlier in the year and I thought we did a good job. You get nervous and worried and tired. I thought that the team did a good job handling all those factors in the game,” Rosen said. Carly Skjodt led the night with 17 kills and 12 digs for the Wolverines.  Sydney Wetterstrom had 15 kills on the night and had a hit percentage of .423%. Jenna Lerg had 12 digs on the night as well. Michigan had a total of 50 kills, 16 errors and 42 digs. Michigan had a hit percentage of .291% in the game.

The next matchup for the Wolverines is on November 18th when the Purdue Boilermakers come to town for Senior Night. The match begins at 7 pm.