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Illinois’ defense was a matchup nightmare for the Michigan volleyball team, who had boasted its attacking potency through its solid start to the season. The Fighting Illini had all the answers Friday, though, suffocating the Wolverines en route to a 3-0 win.
“I think that that was our weakness tonight, was our offense,” Michigan coach Erin Virtue said. “And we’ve been really good from that side of the ball. And so Illinois had a really nice game plan against how to stop us, how to slow us down, how to force us into some errors.”
Early on, the Wolverines attempted to channel rallies into points, and earned some attacking success, thanks to a stellar performance from graduate outside hitter Allison Jacobs. Her 13 total kills allowed Michigan to stay in the game, both in the first set and later on.
But ultimately, the Wolverines’ efforts faltered. Illinois fortified its blocking on the edge of the net, making opposing attempts to score from close range unsuccessful. The Illini identified Jacobs and sophomore outside hitter Valentina Vaulet as the primary weapons and neutralized them, posting its blockers close to the net and ready to counter.
While Jacobs and Vaulet weren’t completely blunted, their effectiveness was certainly dulled. Illinois managed to force 25 attacking errors, while only committing 12 themselves. Michigan only had five fewer kills than Illinois but it also had 12 more attacks, illustrating how Illinois managed to stifle its opponent.
“They did a great job setting up a good block,” senior middle blocker Jacque Boney said. “They knew where our go-to hitters were, and put a double block on.”
Michigan’s own flawed offensive gameplan, however, further exacerbated the mismatch.
The Wolverines had two main modes of attack. Their first, from distance, was to target areas close to the net with short-range kills. Their other main line of attack came from distance — Michigan made use of their powerful hitters to force the Illini into errors and score points, relying on unpredictable back-row hits.
And it provided some returns. The second set, in particular, was a relatively strong one for the Wolverines. They held a lead for a large portion of the set, with many of those points being the product of those strikes from distance. Michigan managed to gain an advantage off serves, in particular, committing fewer service errors than Illinois.
However, the Wolverines didn’t maintain this strategy over the course of the three sets. The fluctuations in attacking strategy provided an element of unpredictability, which could have worked to their favor. Instead, though, it hamstrung Michigan from finding a consistent style, allowing Illinois to punish them.
“I also think we kind of fell away from the things that were working, and I think we had some shots that landed and stuff and just stuff we could have gone back to,” sophomore setter Morgan Burke said. “Especially from the scout that we could have used, instead of just swinging for hands every time.”
Though the Wolverines managed to remain competitive within sets, they fell on the losing end of a difficult matchup, and found their attacks smothered by the Illini’s blocks.
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