At the Net Blog with Claire Kieffer-Wright
10/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
• Wolverines to Host MSU Tuesday Night, Head to East Lansing Friday
Each week, we will give fans an inside look at the Michigan volleyball program with the At the Net blogs. This week, freshman Claire Kieffer-Wright talks about the Michigan State win, the State Pride flag and Friday's match with the Spartans.
It is great having Lexi Dannemiller back on the court but it is also hard because we are missing our two junior outsides. With the fresh injury of Ally Davis at Purdue, it wasn't smooth sailing on our first Big Ten weekend on the road. Although it was devastating when she went down within the first seven points, freshman outside Adeja Lambert came in and held her own against the Boilermakers and the Hoosiers.
We got our first Big Ten win against the Spartans on Tuesday at Crisler Center on Senior Night. We are looking forward to getting back in the gym and working on more connections between players. The rest of this week will be spent preparing to play our next opponent, Michigan State, again. Because of the two new teams, Maryland and Rutgers, entering the Big Ten, our schedule was switched up a little. We won't see every team twice like in past years and sometimes, like this week, we will play back-to-back games against the same team. The Spartans will be eager to have us in their house so they can use their crowd to their advantage.
Going to East Lansing on Friday we are hoping to regain custody of the State Pride flag. The flag is a symbol the Wolverine and Spartan volleyball rivalry. It is an old state flag that bears the motto "Tuebor" meaning "I will defend." Lexi and Olivia Reed, who are on the team for the fourth year, have never won it back since they've been here. If we win, we will automatically get it back; if the series is split, then it is based on how many points or games it took to win each match.
As we get back in the gym, we will fine tune our game plan for Friday's rematch. Winning in four was great, but we can definitely play even better to hopefully win in three. It will be interesting to see the opposing crowd; it will probably be the most hostile environment so far this season.
Although playing on the road is fun, we can't wait to get back and play at home in Cliff Keen!
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