Volleyball takes season opener in 3-0 sweep of Saint Louis

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Michigan Volleyball opened their 2016 season tonight at Cliff Keen Arena.

They took on Saint Louis in the first match of the Michigan Invitational.

It started off a little shaky as Saint Louis took a 6-2 lead to start the match, and it was at one point a 13-13 tie until Michigan went on a 12-6 run to take the first set, 25-19.

The next two sets would be rather easy. Michigan got out to a 18-9 lead and wound up cruising for a 25-13 set two win to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

Michigan finished it up in the third by getting out to a 21-9 lead, which would finish up as a 25-14 match-clinching set three win.

Sophomore outside hitter Carly Skjodt tied a career high with 13 kills tonight. She had 10 through two sets but cooled in the 3rd. Still nice to see an early dominant performance.

Michigan will have a doubleheader tomorrow to close out the Michigan Invitational against two tomato cans.

Miami University at 11am, and Northern Iowa at 7:30pm in the tournament finale. MU had a 21-10 record last year while UNI was mediocre, but UNI swept MU today. 

Jpnets54

August 26th, 2016 at 9:06 PM ^

Volleyball is the opposite of softball. Schedule really easy in non-conference because the Big Ten is brutal. They should be 11-1 or 12-0 heading into conference play.




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Kevin C

August 26th, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^

Thoughts on the match:

1.  Is there a legitimate competition for starting setter, or was Coach Rosen just trying to give his true freshman setter some experience against an easy opponent?  During the game, I was thinking the latter, but after reading Welsh's recruiting profile, I'm starting to think the former.  She started in her first game at U-M and got equal playing time with Abbott.  She made some mistakes, and every time she came off the floor Coach Rosen gave here some words of advice (something he never did with Abbott).

2.  Carly Skjodt made a huge improvement from freshman to sophomore and was an assassin tonight.  The last two years U-M suffered from not having a top-notch outside hitter (Knop was athletic but too short to be a dominant player).  Skjodt could be the player they need.

3.  The Lergs are the Glasgows of U-M volleyball.  Jenna is another player that made a big improvement from year 1 to 2.  Many of her digs were impressive tonight.

4.  Jpnets54 is absolutely right; the Big 10 is insanely tough.  Last year 6 Big 10 teams made the sweet 16, and another was knocked out by a Big Ten team in round 2.  (Nebraska won it all).  U-M can be a good team this year and still finish 9th place.