Conqu'ring Heroes 208 - Erin Virtue Transcript
9/24/2026 4:00:00 AM | MGoBlue Podcasts
Brian Boesch • 00:00
The story of the week at Michigan was the story of the week in college soccer. Trailing by one at number one, Michigan State, the Wolverines women's soccer team scored three times in a span of five minutes and thirty seven seconds, surging to a three to one lead that would go unchanged the rest of the way. In the eighth game of the Dave DiIanni era, Michigan earns its first win against the nation's top team in program history. And it came at a rival's home to boot. Ella Jablinskey was the catalyst, scoring the first two goals, the first being unassisted. Then she helped set up the third goal with an assist scored by Maya Raghunandanan. Here's Jablinskey on the seismic victory.
Ella Jablinskey • 00:42
It really means so much to be part of a win like this, especially against not only the number one team in the country, but also our biggest rivalry game and as well as being on their home field. And we knew going into this game that it was going to take a complete team effort. And I think that everyone really believed in each other as well as keeping our composure, competing for every ball and really continuing to push even when the game got very hard by being down one zero. Being able to contribute two goals and an assist was really, really special to me and I just really can't say it enough that it happened because of the work that this team puts in every single day and every day we continue to get better. And it was really just a huge moment for our program and I'm very, very proud that we were able to make history all together.
Brian Boesch • 01:30
Jablinskey and the Wolverines got plenty of help from Malia Zillman. The Wolverines goalkeeper recorded eight saves, seven of which came in the first half. MSU didn't score on any of them. The Spartans lone goal came early in the second half and about twelve minutes later, Michigan came up with its three goal counter punch. If you're listening to this on its release date Thursday, you can see the Wolverines back in action. Washington comes calling tonight. It's at home. It is the block out cancer game at the UM soccer stadium. Seven o' clock start. And next week here on Conqu'ring Heroes, we are scheduled to have coach DiIanni as our headliner fired up for that. All right. Women's soccer wasn't the only program to secure a road win at Michigan State over the weekend. Back on Friday, field hockey pushed its win streak in the rivalry with the Spartans to fifteen in a two to one victory.
Brian Boesch • 02:22
Two days later, Michigan earned another in state road win, this time by a count of five zip at Central Michigan, Juliette Manzur earned her first career hat trick and second for the Wolverines overall this season, and she assisted on the other two goals. Here's Manzur on her effort.
Juliette Manzur • 02:39
I don't think I did anything different for the game, but they put Spanish music and I was feeling very good and it was like the kind of days that everything goes well and I think it was very important for the team to earn two road wins because this was our stepping stone for big tens and we're starting the conference games in a really good position.
Brian Boesch • 03:05
Monzer and the five and two Wolverines are back on the road this weekend. They have a noon date with Indiana on Saturday in Bloomington. Elsewhere, men's soccer posted a well earned draw in Los Angeles against UCLA one to one. Michigan is now two two and two overall. The Wolverines have another road match coming up, this one much closer to home. Friday night, seven thirty Eastern at Northwestern. Women's golf finished eighth at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational. Once again it was Thomasine Bartholdson pacing the Wolverines. She finished tied for eleventh at plus eight, had a great final round. Four straight birdies on the back nine. Men's and women's cross country compete Friday at the Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invite. It's held in Chicago. Men's and women's swimming and diving have a home invitational on Friday afternoon, a three o' clock start.
Brian Boesch • 03:51
And there's some fall softball for Bonnie Tholl's club at Western Michigan coming up Sunday in Kalamazoo. But today our focus is on the ascending Michigan volleyball program, winners of four straight and nine of their first eleven overall. Big Ten play begins this weekend for Erin Virtue's club. Friday at seven against Penn State, Sunday at noon against Washington. Both are at Crisler and both could be part of your weekend by heading to mgoblue dot com tickets so let's catch up with Coach Virtue here on this week's episode of Conqu'ring Heroes.
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Jeff Laurence • 04:28
Welcome to your one-stop podcast for all things Michigan athletics. Updates on every team on campus and interviews with players and coaches are all on the this is Conqu'ring Heroes. Here's your host, Brian Boesch.
Brian Boesch • 04:43
Always great to visit with our good friend Erin Virtue, Michigan volleyball head coach. Nine and two start. What's pleased you most?
Erin Virtue • 04:51
Coach yeah, this, this team. I was just talking to them yesterday like we've closed the book on our non conference and we're heading into conference play. But the cool thing about this group is we're not just one thing. You know, we're not just one player or we're this really good offense team or defense team or serving team. But it's just a lot of strengths have shown up over the eleven matches and then thirteen with our two exhibitions. And I think that's what's exciting is like we've had different strengths show up also. Things that we've had to learn from, of course, but I think that's the thing that's the most exciting because if you're just one thing and that thing isn't working out, I think that's the part that gets a little nerve wracking as a coach. But we have strengths in a lot of areas and I love, I love what I'm seeing from the group so far.
Brian Boesch • 05:36
We'll see how it ends up for this year, but the win total has ascended every year. Are there things that you were doing in year one that you still lock into, culture wise, coaching wise, evaluating, talent wise that are now really starting to show up in year three and now into year four?
Erin Virtue • 05:53
Yeah, it's, you know, developing players is a big deal in our program and we talked about that one, retaining them, developing them. Here we've had one athlete leave without graduating. Like, I want to keep the players here and because development takes time. If you're trying to be good at anything, it's going to take time. And so I think we set that in stone, really, in my first semester back years ago, where it was we're here to just get better. We're here to get better as students and as people and as volleyball, of course, and performers. But I think that is something that we're trying to instill in our program and we talk about it every day and you see a lot of returners from last year to this year and they're better. And that, that makes me really happy as a coach of like, we're starting to see that development. You know, we're seeing players like Lydia Johnson, who was here my first year and now she's in her fourth year and she's putting up some really good numbers and it's cool to see that progression in players that have been in our program for a while.
Brian Boesch • 06:51
We'll get into some of those individuals. But for you, in terms of evolution, how are you different? How is the program different year one to year four? Getting used to Michigan no longer having the Olympic responsibilities that were so challenging for you earlier.
Erin Virtue • 07:05
Yeah, I mean, night and day from what is on my plate, which is I'm so grateful to be at Michigan and I'm so grateful to only be at Michigan now. I really, really loved my time with USA Volleyball and I will forever be a fan and proud of that team and what we did there. But I'm so glad that this is the program that gets all my attention at this time. And you know, for me as a. Evolving as a head coach, I have an amazing staff and I always try to give them as much credit as they are due because I lean on them a ton. And I did it then year one and year two when I was for sure doing dual roles. But what I learned there was like, no one does this alone. And I always knew that as an assistant for really good head coaches previously, but. But now in the seats, that's a big deal for me is I have an amazing staff, amazing coaching staff, but support staff around whether it's supporting our mental health, our athletic training, our strength coaching, like the people that surround our athletes are amazing.
Erin Virtue • 08:04
And so for me, that is. That's just really. I'm really appreciative of that. And I think more and more every day I do this job.
Brian Boesch • 08:13
Now, you mentioned not a whole lot in the way of departures with eligibility, but you had some pillars of the program who are no longer here in twenty six, Allison Jacobs, Serena Nyambio, and not the only two losses, but for those two in particular, individuals who I know you had to lean on, who they really gave everything that they could. How have you tried to best replace them? Not just in matches, but also in. In everything else that goes into playing volleyball in college.
Erin Virtue • 08:39
Yeah, I mean, those are two really good leaders for us that you mentioned. And we, yeah, we. We had five people graduate, but veterans for us. And so the first thing we wanted to look at was what does our leadership look like? And that was a journey. We had three leaders from last fall that graduated and Maddi Cuchran was the other. And so for us, that was looking at our leadership from the council on our team. What does that mean? How do we continue to grow and nurture those leaders, not only the formal ones, but just everyone on our team to be able to step up in that space. So that's been a really cool. Like, we want to develop learners, but we also want to develop leaders. We aspire to be the leaders and best here at Michigan. And so that's a big part of what we do. And so that was a big thing just to look at that first. And then Serena and Allison got a ton of kills for us.
Erin Virtue • 09:27
So if you're looking at, you know, the Moneyball equation of it, and you're just like, okay, we need to not replace them. But look at how do we continue to get kills? How do you continue to get runs? If you're looking at the baseball analogy, that's where we can't only be one thing we have to be able to look at. Can we get some of that from Ella and some of that from Sydney and some from Cymarah and Lyd and Jenna and Ece and just the attackers we have on our team, and those two between Serena and Al, they carried a huge load. So we're a different team. We were a different team last fall than we are this fall, but, you know, I wish them well. It's exciting to see Allison continuing to play volleyball and coach a little bit and get to get to cheer her on as she goes. And Serena's getting ready for med school, and it's just cool to see them take the next steps in their lives.
Brian Boesch • 10:15
How much does it help when you have someone returning like Morgan Burke, who had hundreds, maybe thousands of assists to those kills for Allison and Serena and others able to come back? How has she helped stabilize things?
Erin Virtue • 10:28
Yeah, you know, Morgan is. She's such a stable person and leader for us. She's on our leadership council. She's somebody that has played a key role now in her. In every season she's played for Michigan, including this, that we're just kind of at the beginning of. But she's somebody that's just steady. You know, you don't see a lot of ups or downs like you. I mean, you see ups, of course. Sorry, Morgan. But you definitely see this, like, steadiness in her. And I think she's like that as a person and as a teammate and someone I think this team can really rely on and our staff can really rely on of. Like, we know what we're gonna get from Morgan, and that's. I think that's a real strength that she brings, and I'm excited to see her continue to push through the end of this fourth year.
Brian Boesch • 11:12
Fourth year head coach Erin Virtue with us here on Conqu'ring Heroes. So from that kill standpoint, Ella Demetrician, who has been a key part of your team since stepping on campus, and then Cymarah Gordon, they're the two that have statistically really emerged from a kill standpoint. How have they grown to take on responsibilities that maybe if they weren't behind the likes of an Allison or a Serena, maybe they could have assumed those responsibilities sooner than.
Erin Virtue • 11:37
Yeah, I'll start with Ella there. You know, Ella has taken on a big role from her freshman year, second year as A sophomore last year, and then now as a junior, she's taken on more leadership. She's taken up more space as a passer, which has been really cool to see her journey. She came in as a nice passer, but has really worked really closely with our passing coach, Bjarne on that. But her range and just what the work she's putting in in the weight room, and you just see her durability as an outside growing in this year, and she's doing more and more. Like she's scoring in a lot of different ways. Like, if you watch the highlight video of Ella's kills this season, you're gonna see a ton of different shots and ways she can attack the ball with her left hand or right hand with two hands. Just. Just whatever she's doing is some range, and that's. That's growing in the game in her space.
Erin Virtue • 12:28
She's also somebody that just loves to get better, and so I think she leads. She is a good leader for us in that pursuit because that's something that we're talking about a lot in our gym and in our values. But Ella's a really good example of that. And Cymarah, what a fun season for her so far. She and Morgan Burke have a really good relationship now with what their tempo is. And Cymarah's physicality is something she's tapping into. And she's got a great arm. She's just hard to stop. And I'm excited. Blocking teams that we play, they're going to focus on her more and more as the season, season goes along. And she's gonna. I'm excited to see her rise up to that occasion.
Brian Boesch • 13:08
You mentioned Lydia, Sydney Schnichels, another person who has really taken a step forward playing a little bit last year.
Brian Boesch • 13:15
Who.
Brian Boesch • 13:15
Who do you think has taken the biggest steps maybe from this year, from
Brian Boesch • 13:19
last year to this year, who have
Brian Boesch • 13:21
really, maybe surprised you in what they've been able to provide?
Erin Virtue • 13:24
Yeah, Sydney is definitely one. She came to us from the University of Minnesota, transferred in. She had been an opposite at Minnesota, and we played her last year as an opposite, and she was fighting for playing time and had some last year, just getting used to the system, always elevated us when she came in. And then at the end of last year, just knowing our depth in certain positions, she and I had a good conversation of, like, looking to move her to the outside hitter position. And there's a lot of similarities in those positions. But one of the biggest differences is in our system, the outside hitter position is a passer, where in the opposite position. That wasn't something we asked of her. So that. That's a big shift now. She had done that in high school, but one where she's. And she's feeling it. A lot of teams are coming after her but she has the resolve and the I think the mental strength that that's something that's even when she's feeling like they're really attacking her.
Erin Virtue • 14:23
She. She can handle it and I'm excited for her and her journey in that and she's doing a nice job and so there's more on your plate as an outside hitter and the way that she's managing that is really impressive. It's a different spot defensively. She didn't actually play defense for us last year. She was usually subbed out with our six two system and so I'm really impressed. And she's also developed into a leader on this team. She's part of our council and I'm thrilled with where she's at. And also someone like Ella that is really thirsty to get better all the
Brian Boesch • 14:54
time in watching and following along and then certainly in because of the fact you guys have scheduled such a. An interesting non conference feels like right now there's a pretty good handle on who you want to send out there. Are there individuals who are really chomping at the bit who are close to potentially maybe forcing your hand who haven't gotten a lot of playing time yet?
Erin Virtue • 15:14
Yeah. You know we have. We have seventeen on our roster. So our gym is competitive like we have. We're. I told the team this yesterday in practice actually as we head into the conference of we're going to be as good as we show up at practice and battle against each other every day. So the iron sharpens iron. We all know that old adage in a way that like we have to push each other every day. And so like you see someone that's gotten some time. Ellie White has come in and set and she's running our offense on our second team in an incredible way. She's getting better all the time with using a two setter offense. We've had her come in and at times for one of our setters and. And they know she's ready and I've talked to her about that a lot. She's one of our best servers off the bench. Carly Greskovics has come in, Trixie's come in. Hannah is like whether they're coming in a DS position, a server stabilizing our serve receive.
Erin Virtue • 16:08
But these three liberos that are not getting as much time are pushing us all the time. But that's been really, really fun to see. You have some young ones like Kapri Garnett and Jaden Jones, Megan Ingersoll, we've seen like a little bit here and there. Leni Stanton-Parker and they're, they're just waiting for their time, but they're putting in the time and training and getting better as a unit. But it's just, it's one ankle or one low performance before we are making a change. So we have to make sure that the depth stays ready and and motivated and that's not always an easy thing and I give a ton of credit
Brian Boesch • 16:42
to those guys you mentioned. Big Ten play is here Friday seven o' clock Penn State at Crisler then noon Sunday Washington. Tickets still available, MGO blue dot com slash tickets. Importance of setting the tone in Big Ten play because of just how deep this league has become?
Erin Virtue • 17:01
Yeah, you know, you set the tone, but really it's just we got to be one match at a time. This is the the first time in a long time that the Big Ten is you play everyone once. You get no second chances in the regular season before the Big Ten tournament. So a new, a new thing for us this year. But you know, we're all eyes on Penn State. Of course our staff will look ahead at the next couple of opponents as we see scout, but we're we're focused on one opponent at a time and that's a good team. They have a bunch of change from last year, different than some teams where they have a ton of different transfers and new people playing for them. And so yeah, we're all in on one match at a time and then we'll focus our eyes on Washington and both teams we won against last year and I know they're going to be hungry to get some payback.
Brian Boesch • 17:44
You mentioned new things with the Big Ten tournament recent years, the Big Ten
Brian Boesch • 17:47
media day as well.
Brian Boesch • 17:49
We've talked about this a few times before but but just the growth of the game and the hope to try to capitalize it at a place like Michigan that has had success in volleyball. You are rebuilding that success. How vital of a time is it right now for the sport to capture the eyes and the interest when it is an ascending opportunity?
Erin Virtue • 18:09
Yeah, I mean recruiting, we're a couple of years out but like just trying to grow our brands not only as Michigan, but Michigan volleyball. We're in the, in my opinion, the best conference in the country for volleyball and but just something that there's so much good and then how do we sustain and how do we continue to attract the best talent here and then bring people to watch this fun team in this fun conference? So there's all this thing, all these things kind of swirling around and so we're just trying to capitalize on it.
Brian Boesch • 18:39
Coach has to focus one match at a time, but you can either come Friday seven o', clock, Sunday noon against Washington or throughout the course of the season. MGO blue dot com TICKETS Coach, thanks as always for the time. Good luck this weekend.
Erin Virtue • 18:50
Thank you. Go Blue.
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Brian Boesch • 18:59
It's always a treat to have Erin Virtue on Conqu'ring Heroes and check out her team Friday night or Sunday afternoon at Crisler Center. Get your tickets. MGO blue dot com tickets we'll see if the Wolverines can capitalize on their nine and two start to non conference play as they begin Big Ten season. All right, that'll do it for me. Brian Bush thanks to Conor Stemme for his assistance in making this episode happen. Thanks to Sydney Miller and Jordan Manning for their contributions as well. And thanks to all of you. As mentioned, Michigan women's soccer will be our focus next week. Heck of a win for the Maize and Blue against number one Michigan State. Truly program history and Michigan history. So congrats to them. All right, thanks again for listening to Conqu'ring Heroes and go Blue.
Jeff Laurence • 19:43
Thanks for listening to Conqu'ring Heroes of our Michigan Athletics Podcast Network. MGO Blue Podcasts. The preceding has been a Learfield presentation of the Michigan Sports Network.
