In Cliff Keen Arena, you don’t have to see the scoreboard to know if the Wolverines are winning.
After two hours and five sets on Friday night, a roaring home crowd and screaming players announced a Michigan victory over No. 4 Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers (10-3 Big Ten, 18-4 overall) were coming of a five-set win over No. 1 Penn State —who defeated Michigan in a five-set thriller on Oct. 20 —and were looking to take their second win from the Wolverines this season.
Despite hitting .368 and committing just two errors, Michigan (6-7, 18-9) could not close its block tight enough in the first set to prevent the Cornhuskers from recording 19 kills to give them the advantage going into the second set. Junior middle blocker Jennifer Cross, who averages 1.3 blocks a set, could not find her rhythm against the hard-hitting Gina Mancuso and had just two blocks through the first three sets. After eight lead changes and 16 ties, a 6-2 run by Nebraska ended the first set by a score of 25-21.
“In the first set we were coming close,” said Michigan coach Mark Rosen. “We were touching a lot of balls but they just weren’t going through. After that we just got a little quicker, worked a little harder and it just paid off.”
Nebraska was able to carry over its strong finish in the first set to give it an early 10-0 lead over the Wolverines in the second. The early hole for Michigan was the result of poor passing and sloppy defense, which prevented sophomore setter Lexi Dannemiller from setting up a competitive offense.
“When things aren’t going the best, if we’re getting passes, we just try to communicate and connect with each other,” Dannemiller said. “That lets us know that we can trust each other and play our own game. Coach said to just to say connected, stay composed, and to keep at it.”
Having lost the second set, 25-19, the Wolverines came out of the locker room looking like a different team. The third set featured cleaner passing, giving Michigan 20 kills off of 18 assists by Dannemiller. Throughout the set, the Wolverines were able to maintain a slight lead thanks to what Rosen called the “Blue Defense.” The defense, having dug just 27 balls through the first two sets, picked up 23 in the third set alone.
“They do a great job of adjusting,” Rosen said. “The biggest thing we did was try to keep them focused on the fact that we were playing really good volleyball.”
In what seemed like a complete role reversal from the second set, it was all Michigan from the first point of the third set.
To the background of a roaring crowd, junior outside hitter Molly Toon racked up a career-high 25 kills, while Lexi Dannemiller came one assist shy of her career-high 64 kills in her best performance of the season. The explosive offense forced eight hitting errors from the Cornhuskers and just eight kills, giving them a hitting percentage of zero on the set. All told, it was a decisive 25-13 victory for Michigan and a change to make a three-set comeback.
“I thought we played really steady,” Rosen said. “We stayed aggressive. We didn’t get tentative at any point, which when you’re playing a good team you have to go right at them if you’re going to be successful.”
The final set of the match was a familiar scene to fans who had been in attendance for Michigan’s game against Penn State just two weeks earlier. The arena was pulsing and everyone inside could smell the comeback.
The only difference was that, this time, Michigan came out on top. Nebraska and Michigan went point for point through the first 11 points of the set, until the Wolverines pulled ahead thanks to a 4-0 run.
“We all knew that we could do it,” said Toon. “We were just having fun.”
The Wolverines have a chance to even up their record in the Big Ten this Saturday against Iowa at Cliff Keen.