For the No. 22 Michigan women’s volleyball team, the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship was a tale of two games — one in which the Wolverines were dominant and one in which they got dominated.
Brandon Trachtenberg
Daily Sports Writer
Volleyball
Out of the 16 games in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament, only three were won by lower seeded teams — and Michigan was not one of them.
Following a clean bump and a good set, senior outside hitter Sydney Wetterstrom rose in the air and spiked the ball across the net.
Wednesday night was filled with fun and frustration at Cliff Keen Arena. The crowd of nearly 1,500, mostly families from the local community, were enjoying the night before Thanksgiving with a fun sports outing.
At senior day in Holloway Gymnasium, the Purdue crowd was screaming in sophomore outside hitter Paige Jones’ ear. With a cold, hard focus, she pounded the ball into the floor, gearing up for the first potential tie-breaking serve of the set.
EAST LANSING — On Jam the Jenison (Fieldhouse) night, Sparty, the ear-wrenching Spartan marching band and screaming Spartan fans united to make Wednesday’s game as hard as they could for the Michigan volleyball team.
EAST LANSING — Sophomore outside hitter Paige Jones and senior setter MacKenzi Welsh both stood frozen as the ball dropped between them. A last-second reaction by Welsh wasn’t enough to save the ball and prevent the Spartans from tying up the set.
First, senior setter MacKenzi Welsh was blocked by the front line of the Golden Gophers, a unit that Michigan had no answer for. Then, freshman outside hitter May Pertofsky missed a spike on the next play to give Minnesota a lead it would not surrender for the rest of the set. Those two plays typified a Wolverines offense that was lackluster at best, as Michigan (18-8 overall, 11-5 Big Ten) fell to the Golden Gophers (20-4, 14-2), 25-21, 25-23, 25-20. As a team, the Wolverines hit a measly .080 percent, their second lowest percentage of the season. They also committed 30 errors while Minnesota had just 10.
As sophomore outside hitter Paige Jones spiked a kill into the middle of the court, Michigan (18-7 overall, 11-4 Big Ten), won the third set, 25-18, to secure a sweep over the Hawkeyes (9-17, 3-12) and extend its win streak to five.
Senior setter Mackenzi Welsh got a dig on the ball, sending it back to junior libero Natalie Smith. Smith set the ball high outside to Welsh, who delivered a blistering attack between two Hawkeye blockers that found the hardwood on the opposite side of the court.