In the first match of the annual “State Pride Series”, there probably wasn’t much pride left in the No. 18 Michigan State Spartans after the Michigan volleyball team finished with them last night. The Wolverines dominated every aspect of the game, and swept the in-state rival 3-0 (30-25, 30-20, 30-24) in front of a raucous Cliff Keen Arena crowd.
With the win, Michigan jumped into sole possession of third place in the Big Ten. Leading Michigan was sophomore Jennifer Gandolph, who finished with 13 kills and 12 digs, both team highs. At one point, she was on pace to break the all time Michigan record for hitting percentage.
“I’ve never been so fired up for a game,” Gandolph said. “This year, I was way more comfortable, and the sets were great.”
Michigan seized control early in the first game by building a 14-8 lead and never looking back. The Spartans closed the gap to as few as two points, but Michigan came up with clutch blocks and kills. The left outside hitters of Michigan continually came up big, especially junior Chantel Reedus, who led the team with seven kills in the first game.
“Everybody, when they had the ball, was ready to go,” Michigan coach Mark Rosen said.
Michigan showed emotion and hustle early. On a seemingly unplayable second ball that most teams would have given up on, four Wolverines dove after it. Michigan State, on the other hand, seemed listless and confused, making unforced errors and failing to cover up defensively.
“We were running on all cylinders,” Rosen said. “I think when you have as many people (as we did) on their best match, it makes it pretty easy to be able to control things.”
The Spartans put up a better effort in the second game, hanging close at 17-17. But the Wolverines made a huge run behind the serve of freshman Alicia Boswell and junior captain Erin Moore and some spectacular defense.
The Wolverines forced the Spartans into a measly .027 hitting percentage. Not only that, but some unconventional serving from Moore seemed to confuse the Spartans. Moore served to the front right corner of the Michigan State court, and other Michigan servers followed suit after the Spartans were unable to adjust.
“One thing we noticed was Nikki Colson, their setter, does not like to set the ball when the ball comes from behind her short,” Rosen said. “We were just kind of trying to control their offense a little bit.”
It worked to perfection, as the Spartans’ offense sputtered down the stretch in both game two and game three.
After the intermission, the Spartans came out with more emotion in the third game, but it fizzled quickly. Much like the second game, Michigan pulled away in the middle stages of the game, picking up its defense to a point where it seemed impenetrable.
The offense was effective as well, particularly the deep cross court sets by sophomore Lisa Gamalski, who caught the Spartans off guard more than a few times to get one-on-one matches for Michigan’s strong outside hitters.
“They pretty much commit on one hitter every play, so Lisa just kind of has to guess which one they’re not going to commit on,” Gandolph said. “She got us one-on-one plenty of times.”
With two straight wins over ranked Big Ten opponents in Ohio State and Michigan State, the Wolverines have put themselves in great position heading to Penn State on tomorrow. Confidence will be a key for the Wolverines – and after tonight there’s no lack of that.
“I think (our confidence) is pretty high right now,” Gandolph said. “We played great with them two times last year, and we don’t have any reason to have doubts right now.”