By Anna Kayser
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The Iowa volleyball team comes off of a short practice week to play No. 27 Michigan in its first midweek game of the season at 7 p.m. today in Carver-Hawkeye.
Michigan won its last competition in two four-set matches against Ohio State and Maryland.
The Wolverines are 12-4 overall, 2-2 in the Big Ten.
A big point to the upcoming match is that Michigan’s defense is able to put together plays from scratch, and its offense can do the rest.
“They’re a good team, very scrappy,” Iowa freshman setter Brie Orr said. “They have a good setter, good defense, they get a lot of things up, and we just have to be able to terminate against them and not expect first ball kills.”
The Wolverine offense is ranked 26th in the nation, seventh in Big Ten with a .265 attack percentage.
Michigan’s setter, Mackenzie Welsh, is ranked close behind Orr in assists per set. Welsh comes in at No. 8 in the Big Ten with 10.67, and Orr outranks her at 6th, averaging 11.24 assists per set.
Iowa has focused on controlling the ball during long rallies, a testament to how good Michigan’s defense can be.
“Right now, in scouting we’re talking about their uniqueness; they grit and grind through rallies, so we’re expecting to see really long rallies,” senior middle blocker Kelsey O’Neill said. “Basically, we’re just going to have to fight through every single point. Nothing is just going to come easy to us.”
Sometimes, winning one seemingly small point can lead to a greater run, and potentially a win.
“I think just winning the long rallies is a huge game-changer in games,” Orr said. “If you have a long rally, everything’s going right, everyone’s getting things up, and then if someone’s able to put it down on your side, it’s a huge momentum changer.”
A big component to the Hawkeyes’ strategy is how alike both the teams are on paper and in size.
“They’re a little more evenly matched with us in the sense that they’re not as big as other teams we’ve played so far in the Big Ten. So I think that it’s going to be a really good matchup for us,” senior libero Annika Olsen said. “We really want to get them, it’s a win we want to get, so we’re excited to get to play them.”
Coming off of a tough weekend in Carver-Hawkeye, Iowa is taking what it learned and putting it into perspective leading into this week.
Having gone point-for-point during the entire match against No. 3 Minnesota on Sept. 30 gives Iowa a lot of confidence to play teams not ranked in the country’s top 10.
“I think even though we didn’t get the win on Saturday night and just last weekend in general, just knowing that we can hang with the best teams in the Big Ten,” Olsen said. “Obviously, Minnesota and Wisconsin are at the top of the Big Ten, and so to play Michigan whose more mid-level Big Ten team is going to be good for us knowing that we can still be confident in knowing that we can do well.”