{"id":2641,"date":"2025-09-08T11:49:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/08\/michigan-stays-confident-in-service-play-in-southern-indiana-victory\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:49:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:49:26","slug":"michigan-stays-confident-in-service-play-in-southern-indiana-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/2025\/09\/08\/michigan-stays-confident-in-service-play-in-southern-indiana-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan stays confident in service play in Southern Indiana victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On the surface, the Michigan volleyball team\u2019s matching 11 service errors and 11 aces implies the Wolverines had a turbulent day of serving Sunday against Southern Indiana. And while there\u2019s some truth to this belief, it isn\u2019t the whole story.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan\u2019s aggressive serving strategy leads to a high number of service errors in exchange for many aces. While this strategy can lead the Wolverines to dominate certain parts of games, it also allows for stretches of trouble. After losing the third set in one such stretch, Michigan composed itself and its serving, leading to its 3-1 victory over the Screaming Eagles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs far as urgency for serving, we talk a lot about putting a good amount of pressure on that passer,\u201d Wolverines sophomore outside hitter Ella Demetrician said. \u201cThat was something we had to flip the switch. Let\u2019s still be aggressive and put that ball deep, but do our best to make it in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Assertive serving by Michigan led to a dominant first set. While four different Wolverines made service errors, they also picked up four aces. Graduate libero Maddi Cuchran was particularly impressive, with two aces and no service errors. These aces compensated for Michigan\u2019s multiple service errors, forcing Southern Indiana to lose control of its system even when serves didn\u2019t result in aces.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>The second set mirrored the first, though the Wolverines\u2019 serving wavered slightly. With four more service errors against just three aces, Michigan\u2019s margin of victory narrowed, taking the set 25-16.<\/p>\n<p>In the next set, the Wolverines continued to lose focus on their serves. With Michigan down 8-4, it squandered a chance to close the gap, committing another service error. These self-inflicted wounds plagued the Wolverines for the rest of the set, as the Screaming Eagles capitalized on missed serves, allowing Southern Indiana to win the third set, 25-21.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, it looked like the Wolverines needed to make a conscious adjustment to their aggressive serving strategy. Instead, Michigan remained faithful to its approach.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a natural part of the game,\u201d Wolverines assistant coach Nick Clark said. \u201cThe one thing we did do well was continue the pressure throughout the match. Sometimes those fall, sometimes they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In turn, Michigan re-found its groove with its strong, deliberate serves. A total of three aces to only one service error fueled a runaway fourth set, as the Wolverines looked as dominant as they were in the first set.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"scaip scaip-2    \">\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p>Junior setter Morgan Burke epitomized Michigan\u2019s relentless confidence and aggression at the service line. She totaled six aces, doubling her career high, while tallying just two service errors. She delivered back-to-back aces in the second set to reach set point before closing it out, added another in the third despite the team\u2019s struggles and bounced back in the fourth with consecutive aces followed by a third immediately after an opponent\u2019s attack error.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially in that last set, Morgan Burke had a nice run,\u201d Clark said. \u201cA couple aces in her last run to put the icing on the cake. It\u2019s the ebb and flow of the match.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By sticking to their aggressive serving mindset after a poor third set, the Wolverines showed that adversity won\u2019t shake their confidence. Unrelenting faith in the process is indispensable for any team looking to compete at the highest level, and Michigan had that in droves Sunday.<\/p>\n<aside>\n\t\t<\/aside>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related articles<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the surface, the Michigan volleyball team\u2019s matching 11 service errors and 11 aces implies the Wolverines had a turbulent day of serving Sunday against Southern Indiana. And while there\u2019s some truth to this belief, it isn\u2019t the whole story. Michigan\u2019s aggressive serving strategy leads to a high number of service errors in exchange for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[226,1479,222,432,714,2830,2165,911],"class_list":{"0":"post-2641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-confident","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-michigan","11":"tag-play","12":"tag-service","13":"tag-southern","14":"tag-stays","15":"tag-victory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2643,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2641\/revisions\/2643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tmbglobal.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}