Michigan
13-16, 7-13Big Ten
Penn State
29-2, 20-0Big Ten
Michigan Ends Season With Loss to No. 2 Penn State
11/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team ended its regular season on its home floor with a 3-0 (21-30, 13-30, 27-30) loss to No. 2 Penn State on Senior Night (Saturday, Nov. 26) at Cliff Keen Arena.
Sophomore Katie Bruzdzinski (Naperville, Ill./Naperville North) led all players with 16 kills, giving her double-digit terminations in 12 of the last 13 matches, while senior/junior Erin Cobler (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) had a career-best 19 assists and added seven kills and 10 digs. Sophomore Sarah Draves (Ypsilanti, Mich./Ypsilanti) also added nine kills to the cause, including six in game three.
Fifth-year senior Candace Gay (Detroit, Mich./Sacred Heart) tallied a pair of blocks in her final collegiate match, while senior Megan Knoebel (Marysville, Mich./Marysville) recorded a pair of digs, an ace and an assist in the final match of her career.
The loss drops Michigan to 13-16 on the season and 7-13 in the Big Ten Conference, while league champion Penn State rolls on with a 29-2 overall record and an unblemished 20-0 mark in conference play.
Michigan was able to do what few teams have against Penn State this season, forcing the Nittany Lions into a pair of tight games in the first and the third. Michigan dropped the first game, 30-21 on the strength of Penn State's .400 team hitting percentage, and the Nittany Lions dominated the second period with a 30-13 victory. The Wolverines rallied in the third by keeping the Nittany Lions in sight and turning a late four-point deficit into a two-point, 27-25 gap before the visitors gutted out the sweep.
Bruzdzinski hammered five kills in the opening period, but Penn State committed just two attack errors while hitting .400 for a 30-21 win. Sophomore Stesha Selsky (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Marymount) had six digs, while Cobler added five.
In game two, Michigan trailed by six, 19-13, when Penn State erupted on an 11-0 run to close it out, 30-13. Bruzdzinski still managed four kills in the period, while Cobler chipped in a pair of terminations.
In the closest game of the match, Michigan turned a six-point, 23-17 gap into a manageable two-point, 28-26 deficit, but Penn State's Melissa Walbridge hammered the final two kills of the night to hand Michigan a 30-27 loss. Bruzdzinski led all players with seven kills in the period, while Draves nailed six of her nine kills in the final period.
Michigan's annual awards banquet will be held on Saturday, Jan. 21, at the Junge Champions Center on the campus of the University of Michigan. For more information contact Melissa Miller at (734) 615-3049 or email mblueaces@umich.edu.
Q U O T E S
Fifth-Year Senior Middle Blocker Candace Gay
On tonight's match ... "We fought hard and played well against Penn State and tried to keep the game going as long as possible. They are the second-ranked team in the country, which makes that a tough task. We tried a lot of different things today and some of them worked. We always feel like we can win, but we knew we would have to work extra hard to beat them tonight. We did a lot of defensive drills to prepare for tonight, and some of the close games showed our hard work."
On not making the NCAA Tournament ... "It's hard to stay home this year. We would have loved to have made a trip next week, and next year's team is going to have to work hard and pick up the pieces from this year and build a winning team."
Senior Defensive Specialist Megan Knoebel
On tonight's match ... "It was shorter than I wanted it to be, but the crowd was great and we played well against Penn State."
On some highlights of her senior season ... "Definitely beating Michigan State twice. I will miss Leisa (Rosen, associate head coach) in practice because nobody will ever motivate me that well again."
On the upcoming team awards banquet ... "I have to dress up and put on makeup This is causing me major psychological damage!"
N O T E S
The home crowd of 1,727 is the largest of the 2005 season and ranks as the seventh most attended home match in Michigan volleyball history. It is also the sixth straight home crowd of 1,000 fans or more.
Sophomore Stesha Selsky finishes the season just eight digs shy of the 1,000 dig mark, a milestone that only six Wolverines have reached in program history. Selsky, who has 992 digs in 62 matches, is bidding to become the fastest to reach 1,000 digs, supplanting Jennifer Gandolph (85 matches).
Tonight was the final collegiate match for fifth-year senior Candace Gay and senior Megan Knoebel, as well as the final match senior Ashley Buckingham will serve as student assistant.
Sophomore Lyndsay Miller's 122 blocks in 2005 are the 10th-most single-season blocks in program history.
Sophomore Stesha Selsky shattered the record for most digs in a single-season, finishing 2005 with 590 digs -- 135 more than the next best Michigan output. Selsky also has 992 digs in her collegiate career -- good for seventh place on the all-time digs list.
Sophomore/freshman Mara Martin finished her first season in the Maize and Blue with the seventh-most single-season assists in program history, climbing into seventh place on the all-time assists list with 1,242 helpers.
Junior Megan Bowman ranks seventh all-time in blocks at Michigan, just one block behind sixth place Linsey Ebert and 118 rejections shy of the school record. Bowman finished her junior campaign with 59 blocks.
Sophomore Katie Bruzdzinski finished the season with 408 kills -- the eighth-most single-season kills in program history. Bruzdzinski's 1,200 attempts rank as the third-most single-season attempts in program history.
Contact: Richard Retyi (734) 763-4423
