The Michigan women’s volleyball team had never left Wisconsin’s UW Field House victorious, and after two sets in Madison, Friday night, the 22nd-ranked Wolverines seemed to have victory firmly within their grasp, leading 2-0.

“Before the third game, we were feeling great,” junior Juliana Paz said. “Everyone was smiling, and we were joking around because we knew we were going to go out there and put the game away.”

But it was a different story in the locker room after the match.

The Wolverines were dead silent.

Michigan dropped three straight games against the Badgers and lost its second Big Ten match in a row.

The match was Michigan coach Mark Rosen’s second missed opportunity to tie former coach Sally Vong’s all-time wins record for the program.

“It was one of those classic heartbreaks where we played really well and did a lot of stuff right, but we just didn’t get the payoff,” Rosen said.

Helped along by Paz’s dominant spike, the Wolverines held the lead for much of the third game until two devastating service errors cost Michigan the game, 26-24.

Wisconsin raced out to an early lead in the fourth game until the Wolverines tied the game at 19. Michigan seized their newfound momentum and put the Badgers’ backs against the wall with a match point opportunity.

The match point looked like redemption for Michigan, who failed to put Wisconsin away on two similar match point opportunities in Madison last year.

But again, the Wolverines just couldn’t close the door.

“We couldn’t get points when we need them,” Paz said. “Then the crowd came in, and we couldn’t get [the momentum] back.”

With a newly energized crowd, the fifth game held much of the same for Michigan as the Badgers polished off their comeback with a 15-10 victory.

After the young Wolverine squad notched 13 consecutive wins to start the season, back-to-back losses were a new experience.

But it just made redemption that much sweeter.

Michigan returned to its winning ways Saturday night and gave Rosen his record-tying 177th win in a 3-0 sweep at Northwestern.

After sometimes-sloppy offensive play Friday night, characterized by six crucial service errors, getting back to a balanced offensive attack was key if the Wolverines hoped to pull off the victory in Evanston.

“We really looked like a team that was intent on getting back on the win side,” Rosen said.

In the victory, Michigan watched as junior hitter Megan Bower went down with an ankle injury at the end of Saturday's match. Rosen said the team wouldn’t know how serious the injury was until sometime this week.

Bower has been a large part of Michigan’s offensive success the season with 143 kills on the season, the third-most on the team.

But this weekend it was Paz, with a team-leading 37 kills, who kept the Wolverines even on the year in Big Ten competition.

And Michigan’s will need more of the same from Paz to pull out victories in its next three games, all of which are against ranked opponents.

The three-game campaign concludes with a match at No. 1 Penn State, a rematch of last season, when the Nittany Lions knocked Michigan out of its first-ever Sweet 16 last season en route to a National Championship.

The outcome of Michigan’s next few games will define the young team’s potential to do damage in the powerful Big Ten this year.

“It’s still early in the season,” Rosen said. “We’re still a very young team. So, if we can just get better every game, we’re going to be pretty good.”