Indiana University Athletics
Indiana University
Michigan
Hoosiers Push #22 Michigan to the Limit
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 18, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana University volleyball team fought tooth-and-nail all night long with #22 Michigan Saturday inside University Gym. Indiana held late leads in each set before suffering a 3-0 defeat (25-23, 25-22, 38-36).
"For the most part we played pretty well until the last five points of every set," said Head Coach Sherry Dunbar. "That's part of building the program, you have to learn how to win. In all three sets we had them on the ropes, but we just couldn't put them way."
Taylor Wittmer continued to raise her level of play during the conference schedule, hitting .458 with 13 kills on the night. The Loogootee, Ind., native chipped in three blocks and a dig as well. Kelsey Hall was one of four Hoosiers to record double-digit digs in the match. She record 11 kills and a. 276 hitting efficiency.
"I told Hayley (Koetter) to get her (Wittmer) the ball," said Dunbar. "Taylor was playing with confidence and she was playing to score. When she is playing like that, you have to find a way to get her the ball. She had a great performance."
The first set served as a precursor for the rest of the match in regards to how close it was. The score sat tied on 14 different occasions and there were six lead changes in the opening set alone. For the match, the lead exchanged hands 18 times and the score was tied 42 times. Indiana went ahead 23-21 late in the frame before the Wolverines were able to snatch the next four points and the set.
Lexie Woodson hosted a block party in the second set, rejecting five Michigan attacks. The Hoosiers pulled ahead late in the second set as well, leading by four points at 22-18. Michigan battled back again though, grabbing the last seven points of the set to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.
As if the first two sets weren't close enough or Friday night's 29-27 fourth set versus Ohio State wasn't tight enough; Saturday's third set extended all the way to 38-36. Each squad fought all the way to the end as there were a combined 14 unsuccessful set-point attempts. Indiana staved off five match-points while the Wolverines fended off nine set points. In the end, it was Michigan coming out on top by snatching the final three points of the match.
The Cream and Crimson hit the road next week for a pair of Big Ten contests. Friday night is a 8 p.m. EST at Northwestern. Indiana will then get a day off before a Sunday afternoon match up in Madison, Wis., versus the Badgers.
