Michigan
2-8,0-1Big Ten
Michigan State
9-3,1-0Big Ten
Michigan Falls to MSU in Conference Opener in Front of 6,500 at Crisler
9/22/2023 10:20:00 PM | Volleyball
» Michigan dropped its Big Ten opener 3-0 (14-25, 22-25, 22-25) to Michigan State.0
» A crowd of 6,569 was in attendance for the match, the second largest in program history and the biggest since 2017.
» Amalia Simmons led the U-M attack with nine kills.
» Mira Chopra made her first career start, tallying a career-high four kills and four blocks.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- In front of the second-largest crowd in program history, the University of Michigan volleyball team fell to visiting Michigan State in three sets (25-14, 25-22, 25-22) at Crisler Center on Friday night (Sept. 22).
Amalia Simmons led the Wolverines with nine kills and tallied one block assist. Both U-M setters tallied double-digit assists, with Scottee Johnson tallying 14 and Morgan Burke registering 11. Mira Chopra made her first career start and had a career day, setting career-highs in kills (four) and blocks (four) and tallied two aces.
Michigan (2-8) started the match off with a kill from Chopra but dropped the next two points, and Michigan State (9-3) kept the lead for the rest of the set. Kendall Murray tallied her first kill of the match to put the Wolverines down just one before MSU went on a 5-0 run to push the Spartans' advantage to 7-2 and later led 15-8 at the media timeout. Simmons tallied her third kill of the set, but the Spartans took the next three points to take a 20-11 lead. Out of another timeout, Michigan went on a 3-1 run with kills from Murray and Lydia Johnson and an ace from Scottee Johnson, but it was not enough as the Spartans took the first set 25-14.
U-M took an early 5-0 lead in the second set thanks in part to two aces from Scottee Johnson and a kill from Murray. MSU called a timeout after U-M went up 7-1, then took seven of the next eight points to tie the score at 8. The Spartans took the lead before a block from Serena Nyambio and Lydia Johnson tied the set at 11. MSU once again took the lead and kept it until an ace from Maddi Cuchran tied the score at 19. Michigan called a timeout after a 3-0 Michigan State run made the score 22-19. Out of the timeout, U-M took the next two points to bring it within one, but the Spartans took the final three of the set to take it 25-22.
In the third set, Michigan State took an early lead and never lost it. U-M tried to fight back and got back-to-back kills from Chopra and Simmons to make the score 3-2. Saj McBurrows tallied her first kill of the match again cut the deficit to one at 5-4. MSU was strong for the rest of the match and led 15-11 at the media timeout. The Spartans extended their lead to 19-13 to force a U-M timeout. When play resumed, Lydia Johnson tallied a kill and a block assist with Chopra. Michigan brought the score within three (20-17), which caused a Spartans timeout. Murray tallied a kill to bring the score to 20-18, but MSU kept the Wolverines at bay and forced a timeout at 23-19. Michigan earned the next three points after a kill from Simmons and a pair of aces from Chopra. The Spartans took a timeout and then the final two points of the set to win the set 25-22 and the match 3-0.
The Wolverines will head to Maryland on Sunday (Sept. 24) at 1 p.m. for its first road conference test of the season. The match will be streamed live on B1G+.
