volleyball

Senior setter in the Big Ten spotlight:

Tomorrow is the last game of the season as Michigan takes on Northwestern in Evanston. Despite the hot start to begin the season, the last couple weeks of Big Ten play haven't been so kind to the ladies. They currently sit in 4th place in the Big Ten at 12-7 (23-8 overall). That's good enough for a #19 ranking in the coaches poll (before Wednesday's loss to State) and a #28 RPI (loss included).

Michigan volleyball (#15) taking on Penn State (#9) tonight at 7 at a sold out Cliff Keen.  Michigan hasn't lost at home this year and is primed to take down the Nittany Lions.

If you don't have a ticket, listen live online.  Tape delayed on ESPN2 Sunday afternoon.

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/university-of-michigan-athletics

Saturday night, while we were doing our best to avoid the bros, the volleyball team upset #6 Illinois at Cliff Keen Arena.  It was a huge game for the spikers with Lexi Zimmerman posting her second career triple double (43 assists, 13 digs and 13 kills) in an epic performance, even for the best volleyball player in the history of the program.  Michigan now sits atop the Big Ten standings at 5-1 along with Illinois and Northwestern.

Senior setter Lexi Zimmerman is a two time All-American.  She's got ups.

This year the volleyball team expected a bit of a transition after making the elite eight and then losing outside hitters Juliana Paz and Megan Bower to graduation.  However the team is off to a scorching 16-2 start to the season, with a loss coming early on to Toledo and more lately at powerhouse Penn State.  How have they done it?  It's been an exciting mix of veterans and rookies for the Maize and Blue:

The Veterans

Everyone knows, or should know Lexi Zimmerman - the two time (soon to be three) All-American setter for the Wolverines.  Lexi is the floor general and has been doing what she does - DOMINATE - all season for the Wolverines.

Junior Alex Hunt needed to step up big this season for the Wolverines and she has.  She led the team with 19 kills against Illinois last Saturday and has shown that she can pick up the slack left by Paz and Bower.

Junior libero Sloane Donhoff anchors the back line for Michigan, routinely leading the team in digs. 

Junior middle blocker Courtney Fletcher got off to a solid start early and is well on her way to surpass her kill totals from last season.

The Newcomers

Several underclassmen have made a big impact on the team this year early on in their careers.  After appearing in only seven sets last season, RS Sophomore Claire McElheny is off to a great start to the 2010 season.  She has started 15 matches for the Wolverines and recorded 10 kills in M's upset of the Illini.  Her contribution has certainly been a big one and helped in the replacement of Paz and Bower.

True freshmen Molly Toon and Jennifer Cross have come on strong and are showing some promise for Michigan's future.  Jennifer Cross, a 6-4 middle blocker, has started 16 times this year for the Wolverines and notched 8 kills and 6 blocks against Illinois.  Molly Toon, daughter of the NFL's Al Toon, came up big in the Wolverines' win over Illinois, notching a career high-tying 9 kills. 

How They Got Here: 16-2 (5-1)

Michigan opened the season at the Toledo Classic, winning their first two games of the year before falling to the host Rockets in the championship game in five sets.  Since then the Wolverines have been on a tear.

M won 12 straight matches including an early season win at Oregon State and sweeps of the Michigan/adidas Invitational and the ASU Sheraton Tournament.

To start Big Ten play, Michigan hosted and defeated Iowa and #15 Minnesota before taking their first conference road trip.  On the road M beat OSU in 4 sets before travelling to Penn State.  While Penn State isn't the beast that they have been in years past (currently standing at 3-3 in B10 play), the Nittany Lions took care of the Wolverines in straight sets.

The Wolverines returned home this past weekend to defeat Wisconsin and Illinois.

Tonight: MSU at 7pm; Saturday #20 Northwestern at 7pm (Live on BTN)

If you want to feel better about little sister, come to Cliff Keen tonight, where the Wolverines should be able to take care of the Spartans.  Alex Hunt currently sits are 989 career kills and the good money says that she will notch kill 1000 against MSU tonight.

As previously mentioned, Northwestern is tied with Michigan atop the Big Ten standings.  So Saturday's matchup is a big one with a lot on the line.  Michigan will head back out on the road so it's important to get this win to set up what could be a great Big Ten season.

Looking Forward

Wed., Oct. 13	vs. Michigan State *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7:00 p.m. ET
Fri., Oct. 15	vs. No. 20 Northwestern *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7:00 p.m. ET
Fri., Oct. 22	at Indiana *	Bloomington, Ind.	7:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Oct. 23	at Purdue *	West Lafayette, Ind.	6:00 p.m. ET
Fri., Oct. 29	at Illinois *	Champaign, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT
Sat., Oct. 30	at Wisconsin *	Madison, Wis.	7:00 p.m. CT
Fri., Nov. 5	vs. Penn State *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 6	vs. Ohio State *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	6:00 p.m. ET
Fri., Nov. 12	at Minnesota *	Minneapolis, Minn.	6:00 p.m. CT
Sat., Nov. 13	at Iowa *	Iowa City, Iowa	7:00 p.m. CT
Fri., Nov. 19	vs. Purdue *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7:00 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 20	vs. Indiana *	Ann Arbor, Mich.	7:00 p.m. ET
Wed., Nov. 24	at Michigan State *	East Lansing, Mich.	6:30 p.m. ET
Sat., Nov. 27	at Northwestern *	Evanston, Ill.	7:00 p.m. CT

If Michigan can go to 7-1 in conference play this week, they set themselves up for a legitimate run at a Big Ten Championship.  The Big Ten is one of the best volleyball conferences in the nation, though, so they'll need to show up every night.  A westernish road trip to Indiana and Purdue should produce two victories, but road games are road games.  It'll be the following week at Illinois where we see what this team is made of.  In their first true road test they fell hard to the Lions.  Can they show up and upset the Illini for the second time on the season?

After four on the road, it doesn't get any easier with Penn State coming to town.  But with Penn State's losses to graduation this could be the year (last year M took them to 5 sets) that Cliff Keen witnesses a victory over the Nittany Lions.

NEEDS MOAR PAZ

I agree.

Better.

I'm bored and the following is a concern of mine.  I'm sure some here will share these concerns so I figured I'd throw it out there...

Would it be cool/useful for there to be some global location (i.e. a section on the Michigan Athletics wiki page) devoted to the various M student sections?

I'm a grad student now and this year one of the weird things that occured to me was that current UM juniors have not had the pleasure of a winning season.  As such, we've had the wave started in a 2 score game.  We've had people try to start the wave on the wrong side of the section, do it in the wrong order, etc. 

Worst of all (to me) we've had people chant "It's Great to be..." in games that it shouldn't be chanted in.  I don't know about others, but to me in my Maize Rage days that cheer was always reserved as a victory celebration of a big game.  We should not be chanting it while walking out of a UMass victory.

But yeah, would the wiki page be a good idea?  I'm not a regular of hockey games and I know hockey isn't as organized as the Maize Rage, so maybe this would be a usefull tool for them?  Maybe a way to get sections like the Zone (volleyball) and the Ultras (soccer) some recognition.

Are there other traditions/cheers that have been struggling lately? 

Or if you just don't care and think I'm yelling at people to get off my lawn, what's your favorite Mich cheer/tradition?

EDIT:

So, The Zone has a wiki page.  Pretty cool, seems to have been made by members of the '04 pep band.  Oddly, there's no page for the Maize Rage.

Also, I put together a userpage to work on a page for all student sections and have gotten it started.  Please, feel free to edit it and get it rolling!  I think something cool that this could do is serve as a bit of historical record for old traditions gone by the wayside (marshmellows!) so the more contibutors, the better! 

MGoBlue has an interesting interview with Mark Rosen about the upcoming season:

http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/081610aad.html

There had been a little debate in a previous volleyball thread about the coaches' poll ranking.  Rosen touches on that and the incoming talent in the freshman class.  Sounds like a lot of possibility -- we may drive down to Toledo for their opening tournament.

It's August and that means the return of my favorite fall sport. That's right, volleyball. While I haven't quite gotten to my season preview (should be one for volleyball and the soccers coming if next week goes as planned), stories are already hitting the news wire.

Today, the Big Ten released the Preseason Conference Poll and Preseason All Big Ten teams. Michigan, coming off a 27-10 regular season and #9 final national ranking, has been picked to finish 5th in the Big Ten (pdf) behind perennial favorite Penn State, Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio State. This is pretty much on par with the final standings last year, where Michigan finished tied with Ohio State in 4th place.

Coach Rosen via MGoBlue:

"Preseason polls do not mean much," 12th-year head coach Mark Rosen said. "The conference is good enough right now that one through 11 is up for grabs. I really think that the Big Ten is the deepest it has ever been this year. We have a lot of work to do to live up to that finish, but I think that our team is up for it."

Along with the standings, Michigan also had two players named to the Preseason All Big Ten Team. Senior setter Lexi Zimmerman makes her 3rd consecutive Preseason All Big Ten Team, this time as a unanimous pick.

Joining Zimmerman on the Preseason All Big Ten Team is junior left side hitter Alex Hunt. Hunt makes her first appearance on the Preseason Team, and looks to be Michigan's biggest returning weapon after the graduation of Juliana Paz and Veronica Rood.

(Photos via MGoBlue)