Volleyball: 2010 Schedule Announced

Submitted by formerlyanonymous on

MGoBlue announced the release of the 2010 volleyball schedule today and while it's a bit disappointing compared to last season, this schedule may set up well for Michigan to make a run to return the the volleyball version of the Elite 8.

A look:

Date

Team

Location

Toledo Invitational
8/27 Loyola (MD) Toledo, OH
8/28 Binghamton Toledo, OH
8/28 @Toledo Toledo, OH

Oregon State Invitational
9/3 UNLV Corvallis, OR
9/4 Florida Gulf Coast Corvallis, OR
9/4 Oregon State Corvallis, OR

Michigan/Adidas Invitational
9/10 Youngstown State Cliff Keen Arena
9/11 Chicago State Cliff Keen Arena
9/11 Miami (OH) Cliff Keen Arena

Arizona State Invitational
9/17 Utah Phoenix, AZ
9/18 @Arizona State Phoenix, AZ
9/18 Pacific Phoenix, AZ

Big Ten Season
9/24 Iowa Cliff Keen Arena
9/25 Minnesota Cliff Keen Arena
10/1 @Ohio State Columbus, OH
10/2 @Penn State State College, PA
10/8 Wisconsin Cliff Keen Arena
10/9 Illinois Cliff Keen Arena
10/13 Michigan State Cliff Keen Arena
10/15 Northwestern Cliff Keen Arena
10/22 @Indiana Bloomington, IN
10/23 @Purdue West Lafayette, IN
10/29 @Illinois Champaign, IL
10/30 @Wisconsin Madison, WI
11/5 Penn State Cliff Keen Arena
11/6 Ohio State Cliff Keen Arena
11/12 @Minnesota Minneapolis, MN
11/13 @Iowa Iowa City, IA
11/19 Purdue Cliff Keen Arena
11/20 Indiana Cliff Keen Arena
11/24 @Michigan State East Lansing, MI
11/27 @Northwestern Evanston, IL

Unfortunately, we weren't picked for the AVCA Invitational in Omaha, but we did pick up two quality tournaments in PAC-10 country.  Michigan will face only one tournament team from 2009 in the non-conference, that being Binghamton. So compared to last season's schedule is quite a bit weaker.

The Oregon State trip is a return for last year's game, a 0-3 Michigan loss in Ann Arbor, and should be the marquee game of the non-conference. OSU does lose their best player in Rachel Rourke, but they do return a lot of players that should see them competing for a slot in the top of the PAC-10.

alex hunt kill leader In conference season, Penn State and Ohio State remained paired on our schedule, with Michigan headed to State College and Columbus early in the season and getting the two at home early in the 2nd round of games. Michigan starts out the season with a home heavy schedule, which just means they have to end the season with a lot of tough road games.

Michigan should be poised for a very high winning percentage as it returns Lexi Zimmerman for her 4th year as well as junior defensive specialist/libero Sloan Donhoff, junior middle Karlee Bruck, leading kill returner, junior left side Alex Hunt (pictured right from MGoBlue), and junior middle Courtney Fletcher. Maybe this year will be the one where Penn State finally gets knocked off by Michigan.

schedule
volleyball
needs more paz

Comments

JustGoBlue

April 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 PM ^

Penn State manages to keep winning, until we get them at home. It would be nice to beat them anywhere, but I'd like to end their streak and I'd like to be there for it, even if it means dropping a close one in Happy Valley. I'm disappointed in this year's non-conference as well... Any reason we wouldn't be selected for the AVCA again? Do they just not like taking the same teams in consecutive years? Either way, I'm excited for the upcoming season! Too bad Paz/Rood/Bower had to graduate, they were fine (volleyball players). Obviously Bruck/Fletch will take Rood's place, but who do you think replaces Paz (especially offensively) and Bower (especially defensively)?

Joined: 06/15/2009

MGoPoints: 895

formerlyanonymous

April 22nd, 2010 at 9:00 PM ^

They rotate it around. They try to get 4 of the best teams that they can. I imagine with the losses we had this season, there were other teams that may be just as deserving. I'm not that disappointed with that, but more that our non-conference season is missing that big name power on the other end. We've had K-State, Nebraska, Hawaii, etc over the last few years. This year, it's Oregon State, which is a bit lower on the awesome spectrum. Yes, it's a return trip for last season, but I'd like to have seen someone else as well.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 38964

MGoShoe

April 22nd, 2010 at 11:42 PM ^

...a good unintentional pun then. Don't know if you saw these things but: 1) Womem's gymnastics finished 4th in the prelims tonight so they don't advance to the Super Six unfortunately. Great season nonetheless and here's hoping they earn some individual accolades. 2) MGoBlue.com has two stories up about Field Hockey and Water Polo signings. Would be nice to see Field Hockey return to its former glory. Perhaps these signings help the new coach accomplish that.

Joined: 04/23/2009

MGoPoints: 20734

formerlyanonymous

April 22nd, 2010 at 11:47 PM ^

Four are competing in individuals tomorrow if I saw that tweet correctly. Supposedly we needed a season high on vault to overtake Stanford according to Other Chris. Apparently that didn't happen. Oh well, it's been a great team season. I have full faith in Pankrantz, although I wouldn't call her a new coach. This is her second go around and all.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 38964

Other Chris

April 25th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^

Which we didn't get. Started out with freshmen falling off beam. It happens, but it's a big hole to climb out of. We should be really solid next year. The three seniors we are losing are role-players, not all-arounders (though one did make event finals), and six freshmen are coming in. This was the last year of the Super Six format, though -- next year you have to make the Final Four to advance.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 1219

MGoBender

April 23rd, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^

Losing Paz, Rood, and Bower really, really hurts the offense. I like this schedule because it'll give the new hitters plenty of experience early on with Lexi against some competition that are not the powerhouses we had last year in non-conference. Hopefully they can build some confidence and chemistry heading into conference play. However, last year was the year to beat Penn State (5 sets in Cliff Keen! So close!), losing all of our big hitters is a tough challenge to overcome. I'll hope to take a set from PSU at home. Anything else is butter.

Joined: 03/26/2010

MGoPoints: 15128