Michigan
15-7, 7-4Big Ten
Purdue
12-10, 5-6Big Ten
Down But Not Out: Michigan Comes Back to Beat Purdue
10/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Site:Â Ann Arbor, Mich. (Cliff Keen Arena)
Score:Â Michigan 3, Purdue 2 (26-30, 23-30, 30-28, 30-15, 15-11)
Records:Â U-M (15-7, 7-4 Big Ten), Purdue (12-10, 5-6 Big Ten)
Next U-M Event:Â Saturday, Nov. 1 -- vs. Indiana (Cliff Keen Arena), 7 p.m.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Down two games to none, the University of Michigan volleyball team did what looked like the improbable, winning the final three sets to defeat visiting Purdue 26-30, 23-30, 30-28, 30-15, 15-11 Friday night (Oct. 31) at Cliff Keen Arena. Senior Erin Moore (Tiffin, Ohio/Columbian HS) tied a career high with 28 kills to lead the Wolverines to a series sweep of the Boilermakers.
The win pushed Michigan's Big Ten record to 4-1 on Friday nights and marked the first time the Wolverines rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win since Oct. 3, 2001, when U-M dropped the first two games to Michigan State at Keen Arena before mounting a comeback.
The Boilermakers displayed pinpoint accuracy in the first two games, hitting .418 through the first two stanzas and committing only three attack errors, including none in the first game. Michigan, meanwhile, recorded 19 errors in the first two games while hitting just .201.
Game three was the story of the match for U-M, as the Wolverines pulled out a 30-28 win, despite Purdue's .357 hitting percentage. Michigan built up a three-point edge multiple times in the game, but each time watched at the Boilermakers closed the gap, with Purdue eventually tying the game at 15-15. The teams traded points at that point, with the Boilermakers eventually taking a 24-23 lead, causing Michigan to take a timeout. Coming out of the break, a kill by sophomore Candace Gay (Detroit, Mich./Scared Heart HS) and two terminations by junior Jennifer Gandolph (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) gave the Wolverines a 26-24 advantage, but Purdue stormed back after taking a timeout to tie the frame at 26. A kill by senior Nicole Poquette (Grand Haven, Mich./Grand Haven HS) and two errors by Purdue put Michigan up 29-26. The Boilermakes tried to close the gap again and got within one at 29-28, but a kill by Moore ended the game and gave the Wolverines new life.
In game four, the Wolverines turned things around, hitting .472 and doubling up Purdue with a 30-15 win. The Boilermakers, who had committed seven errors in the first three games, were held to a -.062 hitting percentage, including eight errors.
Michigan and Purdue traded points to open the rubber game, and with the Boilermakers leading 4-3, the Wolverines went on a three-point run on kills by Moore and Gandolph, then an ace by Moore, to take the lead for good at 6-4. U-M got up by five points at 14-9, and after back-to-back errors, redshirt freshman Erin Cobler (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) downed one of her career-high 13 kills to end the match.
Including Moore, five Wolverines reached double figures in kills, with three registering double-doubles. Moore added 10 digs to her totals, while Gandolph posted 20 kills and added a team-high 19 digs. Poquette, who hit a team-best .500 in the victory, notched 12 kills and 10 digs while adding a team-high six blocks, while junior Lisa Gamalski (Milwaukee, Wis./Catholic Memorial HS) recorded 72 assists and contributed 11 digs. Gay posted a career-high 11 kills after coming into the match in game two, while junior Sarah Allen (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg HS) tallied 18 digs.
The Wolverines will conclude the weekend set on Saturday (Nov. 1), hosting Indiana at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena.
QUOTES
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
On the match ... "It was a great character win. It was great win of heart and fight. Purdue couldn't do anything wrong in the first two games, and granted we didn't play very well. We really helped them to get a lot of momentum and they just outworked us, and they earned a lot of breaks. Then, we got frustrated and we didn't respond very well as a team in those first two games. But, in game three, I was really impressed at how our kids came out with their backs against the wall and rallied around each other and came together as a group. We really changed the things we needed to change."
On Purdue's game plan and U-M's comeback ... "One of the things I told the team before the match was that and I think it's really true is Purdue's game plan is to get you to beat yourself. They are going to keep the ball alive. They are not going to make mistakes. In the first game they had zero attack errors, and in the second game they had three. They are not going to make any errors. They are going to wait for you to make the errors. And we did that in the first two games. They let us beat ourselves. As the matched progressed, we stopped beating ourselves. The next thing you know we're better physically, we're more athletic, and we're bigger. All of a sudden that starts playing into it. We slipped right into their game plan, and we slipped right into their style. And we don't play their style very well. They play it great. We play our style great. Once we got back to our style, I think we played a lot better."
On Candace Gay ... "She added this little spark. I think she came in and did a nice job. She works hard in practice, and she keeps taking advantage of opportunities. She just did a great job."
On Erin Cobler's play ... "Erin Cobler just has been getting better and better. The thing I like about Erin in that situation is that she is a very steady person. She's a person that doesn't get frazzled too much. And against a team like that, that's a really good thing to have."
