Michigan
Michigan State
Michigan to Open Conference Play with Michigan State Maize Out, Maryland
9/19/2023 1:37:00 PM | Volleyball
Promotions
vs. Michigan State
• Maize Out -- Wear maize and support Michigan Volleyball
• Wolverine Kids Club Day
• Concessions Specials -- Popped maize for $1 and Lemon Icees for $5
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan volleyball team (2-7) will start Big Ten play this weekend when they host Michigan State for a Maize Out at Crisler Center on Friday (Sept. 22) at 7 p.m. before traveling to College Park for a match against Maryland on Sunday (Sept. 24) at 1 p.m. Friday's match will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network, while Sunday's contest will be streamed live on B1G+.
Notes
• Michigan sits at 2-7 after suffering two five-set match losses over the weekend in its home-and-home against Bowling Green. U-M has had the 28th toughest schedule to start the season with their opponents going a combined 56-34 to start the year.
• The Maize and Blue will be without head coach Erin Virtue for the weekend as she will be with Team USA in Poland for the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers. The top two teams will automatically qualify for the Paris Olympics next summer and after two matches Team USA sits in first. Associate head coach Benavia Jenkins will again fill in as acting head coach this weekend.
• So far this season, Michigan is second in the Big Ten in aces per set, digs per set, and team attacks per set. Averaging 2.06 aces per set, U-M ranks 23rd nationally. The Wolverines also are fourth in the Big Ten in team service aces. Tallying 70 aces through pre-season matches, U-M trails conference leader Indiana (98) going into conference play.
• Kendall Murray leads the team in kills with 87 on the season. Last weekend, Murray tallied a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs at Bowling Green. The double-double was the second of the season and third of her career. She is averaging 2.56 kills per set and 2.88 digs per set, both more than a full point higher than her career averages. Murray also is second in the Big Ten in aces per set at 0.56 and fourth in aces with 19.
• Serena Nyambio tallied an impressive 19 kills and seven blocks last weekend. She ranks second on the team in blocks with 28 and fourth in kills with 66. Earlier this year, she tallied career highs in kills (13) against Colorado State, points (15) against Duke and tied her career high in blocks with six against the Blue Devils. She ranks 12th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (0.364), an improvement on her 0.279 average from last season.
• Scottee Johnson has four straight double-doubles with 127 assists and 49 digs. Johnson has 271 assists this season and ranks eighth all-time with 2,205 career helpers. In the home-and-home against Bowling Green, Johnson had 40 asssts or more in both matches, the first time since September 2021 that Johnson accomplished the feat.
• Valentina Vaulet had a career weekend against Bowling Green as she set career highs in kills, points, aces and digs in the two matches. At Bowling Green, Vaulet tallied 12 digs, more than her career to that point. She also tallied 12 kills in the match for a new career high and her first double-double. On Sunday (Sept. 17), she had 13 kills to set her new career high and tallied two service aces. Vaulet also added two block assists in the match for 16 points, her new career high.
• Michigan State is 8-3 on the season and has three common opponents with Michigan: North Carolina, Arkansas and Duke. The Spartans and Wolverines hold identical 1-2 records, each with a win over the Tar Heels and losses to the Razorbacks and Blue Devils.
• Michigan is 51-53 in the all-time series against MSU, but has won the last 10 matches. Most recently, Michigan swept the Spartans in fromt of 5,007 fans on Oct. 30 at Crisler Center. Allison Jacobs led U-M in kills with nine while Johnson tallied 18 assists to lead the team.
• Maryland is 10-2 on the season and has won six consecutive matches. U-M leads the all-time series 14-2, and is 10-2 since the Terrapins joined the Big Ten in 2014. In the last matchup, Michigan won 3-1 (26-28, 25-22, 25-23, 25-11). Jacque Boney had six blocks to tie for the team lead. Johnson tallied 21 assists and one ace.
