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Finishing strong is just as important as starting strong. And on Sunday, the Michigan volleyball team did both, despite faltering in the middle.
In a tense showdown, the Wolverines (9-0) ultimately took down Oakland (3-6), 3-1, thanks to their performance in the first and fourth sets of the match.
Michigan’s strong start should come as no surprise when considering who was poised and ready at the net — junior middle blocker Serena Nyambio, sophomore setter Morgan Burke and graduate outside hitter Allison Jacobs. Despite her youth, Burke has proven to be a reliable setter for the Wolverines. So, placing her alongside some of its most prolific attackers, Michigan wasted no time getting things started.
Leaping into the air at the start of the first rally, Nyambio’s eyes locked in on the set from Burke. Seizing the early opportunity, she pounded the ball into the exposed pocket of the Golden Grizzlies’ formation for the first kill of the game. Jacobs wasted no time before following suit in the very next rally, tallying another kill for an early 2-0 lead.
As the teams battled to take the first set, the Wolverines’ offensive onslaught drowned Oakland as they seized and maintained the lead. Yet while Michigan did command the set, it wasn’t entirely due to its own plays, but rather Oakland’s lack of plays. Ten of the Wolverines’ points in the set came from the Grizzlies’ various service and attack errors.
While Michigan’s dominance of the first set was evident, as Oakland adjusted, the Wolverines faltered. And that showed in the second set.
“I thought (the Golden Grizzlies) played a really strong match, especially in the second set,” Michigan coach Erin Virtue said. “For our team, I think we got our offense going, but there were times where we needed to get a little bit more gritty in our defense.”
In the second set, the script flipped. The slew of errors that plagued Oakland in the first set now infected Michigan’s offense as it struggled at the net.
Tied at 19, senior middle blocker Jacque Boney saw an opportunity to give the Wolverines the lead. Propelling herself into the air, Boney made contact with the ball, watching as it sailed across the net and landed just out of bounds.
This was just one of several offensive errors Michigan made through the set. And while the Wolverines’ offense struggled to regroup, the Grizzles’ offensive game only strengthened. As Michigan tried and failed to return the ball, Oakland slowly but surely pulled ahead. Before the Wolverines knew it, the Grizzlies were at the finish line, taking the second set, 25-22.
“We have to control what we can control,” Virtue said. “I think that’s something that Michigan great Greg Harden used to say all the time, ‘Just control the controllables.’ ”
While Michigan couldn’t control Oakland’s game plan, it could control how it reacted. So the Wolverines viewed each play as a clean slate.
“Something that the coaches remind us of a lot is (to play) like it’s 0-0,” senior libero Maddi Cuchran said. “Every play is the same (and) we need to keep playing the same; staying aggressive and playing with a chip on our shoulder.”
And after dropping the second set, Michigan certainly had a chip on its shoulder.
Despite the Grizzlies striking first in the third set, the Wolverines didn’t let this affect their play. Operating on their 0-0 mentality, they remained calm, and their moment finally came when Oakland made three back-to-back errors, giving Michigan an 11-8 lead.
From there, the Wolverines took off running, winning the third set 25-18 and carrying their momentum into the fourth.
“We realized that we were serving a little too easy for them,” Cuchran said. “In the third and fourth sets, we started serving more aggressive, and I think that helped us a lot.”
With three aces in the fourth set, Michigan certainly stepped up its serving game, and it paid off. But it wasn’t just serves that allowed the Wolverines to steamroll ahead over Oakland; it was their offense, specifically Boney.
With four kills in the fourth set, Boney successfully brought Michigan within arms reach of a win. Now sitting at 24-11, the Wolverines had the opportunity to end the game.
The Grizzlies’ hitter was poised at the net, successfully sending the ball over the net toward Michigan’s side of the court. The ball hit something, but it wasn’t the ground.
It was Boney. As the ball ricocheted back over the net, Oakland wasn’t fast enough to stop it, and with a resounding thump, the Wolverines took the final set, 25-11, along with the match.
With the win, Michigan remained undefeated, but its perfect record is deceiving. The Wolverines aren’t flawless, but against the Grizzlies, their strong start and finish was enough that they didn’t need to be.
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