Coming off five– straight wins to open the season, including two in its own invitational tournament, the Michigan volleyball team had a lot of momentum coming into Sunday’s match.
The Wolverines (6-0) built on that momentum with a 3-1 win over Southern Indiana (1-6). Michigan has shown it can win in a variety of ways, whether it be the front line, through dominant serving or thanks to a strong defensive performance. Sunday displayed all of the above.
The first set was all about the front line. The unit was dominant, with sophomore outside hitter Ella Demetrician and graduate outside hitter Lydia Johnson combining for eight kills in the set. However, the Wolverines offense was only part of the story. Defensively, they combined for seven blocks in the first set as Michigan jumped out to a 10-1 lead en route to a convincing 25-11 win.
“We have a really good system we have set up on our team,” Demetrician said. “It’s just let’s follow that system. Let’s not do anything crazy. We like to spread the ball around, to every single one of our players”
The second set was not as convincing. Though it was a 25-16 win, Michigan began to seem vulnerable as the Screaming Eagles adjusted to its fast-paced style and found ways to penetrate the Wolverines’ front line with higher spikes and soft touches. That trend continued into the third set.
In the third set, it became clear it was Michigan’s third game in as many days — it seemed tired. Southern Indiana seemed to have an answer for every one of the Wolverines’ attacks, as they seemed to be on their heels all set. However, Michigan doesn’t see this as a chronic issue for the team, but rather a few bounce of ball moments to be expected in any game.
“A couple things just didn’t go our way,” Wolverines assistant coach Nick Clark said. “Offensively you may try to attack with high hands and just miss. Maybe we have a serving run where we miss a few serves we don’t normally miss and all of the sudden you could be up four but it’s tied.”
Those bad bounces swung the opposite way in set four for Michigan, as it showed another way it can put teams away.
The Wolverines’ energy of the first set returned in the fourth, with powerful serves, perfectly placed spikes and significantly better defense. Graduate outside hitter Allison Jacobs showed why she was a First Team All-Big Ten selection last year, taking over with seven kills to close Southern Indiana out. Her grand finale was a huge kill into the back of the Screaming Eagles’ zone with no chance for a return, ending the set and the match in the process.
“We really felt during that third set, that wasn’t how we play in practice or even in games normally,” senior middle blocker Serena Nyambio said. “So making sure we play with that attitude from start to finish, every point, every play, the idea of urgency really helped.”
Michigan showed it had a variety of tools at its disposal, and they were all in use in sunday’s 3-1 win over Indiana
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