The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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NCAA tournament: volleyball Michigan's Season Ends With Disappointing First-Round Exit For a moment, holding on to a 2-0 lead over LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Dec. 6, Michigan's volleyball team had a chance to turn its season around. If the Wolverines prevailed and then won another match, qualifying for their third straight Sweet 16, they could triumph over a tumultuous season that had been spiraling out of control with a 3-6 November and an 8-12 Big Ten campaign. But before they could even blink, the Maize and Blue had dropped the third game, 25-14, and soon the fourth game, 25-19, and then, like they had too often this season, the Wolverines fell in a five-game match. "When we went into the locker room after the loss, our coaches were talking, and we all said that was a microcosm of our season because in close matches, we didn't come Junior setter Lexi Dannemiller will out on top," head coach Mark Rosen said. be the lone senior on the squad "We went 3-6 in five-set matches this year. next season, when the Wolverines If we went 6-3, then we would have had a will try to take the lessons learned good year. Even winning half of them and this year and aim for a return to the we finish with a better record and go into Final Four. photo courtesy michigan athletic media the tournament with a better seed. relations "But the fact we lost so many speaks to that lack of resiliency and confidence this team struggled to find all season." The Tigers may have trailed 2-0, but they emerged from a break in the action with a plan to disrupt the Maize and Blue, perhaps knowing from scouting Michigan was a team that could be rattled. "They served differently, which forced us to adjust, and they defended really well, and we needed to respond, but after we lost that third set, our team did not respond in a good way," Rosen said. "We were nervous and tentative. You could see us freezing up a bit. We panicked, and as a coach that's not the response you're going for. "We were hoping for a different outcome because the year we were having was disappointing coming off the Final Four, and this was an opportunity. But give LSU credit, they became the aggressor and we were playing on our heels and could not find a way to recover."