Michigan volleyball looks for big conference weekend
Mark Burns
Daily Sports WriterOctober 29th, 2008
Michigan volleyball coach Mark Rosen gathered his squad after practice yesterday to discuss the team's weekend matchups.
At the end of the huddle, Rosen told the Wolverines, “We’re going to beat Illinois this Friday night.”
No. 18 Michigan faces two top-20 teams on the road this weekend — the 17th-ranked Fighting Ilini on Friday night and No. 20 Purdue on Saturday night.
The Wolverines are riding high after their first weekend sweep in conference play, knocking off overmatched Iowa and then-No. 11 Minnesota in three straight sets.
Rosen knows from experience that his team has to keep every match within the context of the season.
“Everyone knows how important every match is in the Big Ten, so I don’t think our team will have any letdown at all,” Rosen said.
Michigan hopes to avenge an early-October loss to the Fighting Illini. Illinois swept the Wolverines in three sets at Cliff Keen Arena in dominating fashion.
The Illini had 10 team blocks in the match and limited the Wolverines’ offensive opportunities, holding Michigan to an attack percentage of .158.
The Wolverines managed just three blocks in three sets against Illinois, which boasted a .364 attack percentage.
Rosen knows this weekend will be a crucial test for Michigan.
“I think it’s not so much a big weekend but more of a tough weekend,” Rosen said. “Both opponents are so evenly matched. We don’t have a high-ranked team and a low-ranked team, but we have two solid, ranked opponents."
The Wolverines are sandwiched between the Fighting Illini and Purdue in the national rankings, so both matches have extra emphasis.
In the conference standings, one game separates the three teams, so if Michigan wins twice, the Wolverines could find themselves in third place on Sunday.
But Purdue and Illinois are both tough and aggressive teams.
“I think we are going to have to play very tenacious defense, because both teams are very offensive-minded,” Rosen said.
The Wolverines won’t have the comfort of playing at Cliff Keen Arena — they will have to deal with Purdue and Illinois’ hostile arenas.
The Wolverines are .500 on the road this year in the Big Ten, with tough losses coming at Penn State and Michigan State.
But Michigan learned from those two defeats.
Since the two losses the team has gone 5-2, with one of those losses coming against Illinois.
Illinois has an average crowd attendance over 1,100, while Purdue's is over 1,400.
“We feed off the crowd’s excitement, even though they may not be cheering for us,” freshman libero Sloane Donhoff said.
Rosen doesn't think going on the road will have that much of an impact on his team, though.
“I love how our girls are competing,” Rosen said. “I really like the energy level and the mentality of our girls in the gym right now.”
Printed from www.michigandaily.com on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:20:29 -0500