ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan volleyball team (3-15, 1-8 Big Ten) continues its three-game road stretch, heading to Evanston, Ill., for a Saturday night (Oct. 21) matchup against Northwestern (9-10, 3-6 Big Ten) at Welsh-Ryan Arena. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. CDT and will be streamed live on B1G+.
Notes
• Michigan sits at 3-15 overall and 1-8 Big Ten after losing in four sets to Michigan State on Wednesday. The Wolverines have had one of the toughest schedules in the nation ranking 32nd in opponent win percentage. U-M’s opponents hold a collective 202-119 record with a .629 winning percentage.
• In the conference, Michigan ranks in the top five in three categories — aces per set, team attacks per set and team service aces. The Wolverines have 116 service aces on the season for 1.84 aces per set. Both rank third in the conference, while the aces-per-set mark ranks 34th nationally. U-M also ranks third in attacks per set (33.95).
• The Wolverines have had a balanced attack this year with five players ranking the in the top 50 of the conference, tied with Indiana and Wisconsin, in kills per set. Kendall Murray leads the team in kills (155) and kills per set (2.46). She is just 28 kills away from setting a new career high and ranks 26th in the conference in kills per set. Jacque Boney is second on the team in kills with 131 with a 2.30 kills-per-set average. Valentina Vaulet is the third Wolverine with more than 100 kills this season and sits at 128 with 2.29 kills per set. Boney ranks 34th in the conference with Vaulet at 36th. Amalia Simmons is fifth on the team in kills with 85 but is fourth in kills per set at 2.02. Serena Nyambio has 102 kills on the season, including eight against Michigan State, to rank 48th in the conference and has passed her total of 89 from last year.
• Five players in the Big Ten have had six service aces or more in a match this season with Michigan having three of them. Murray leads the team in aces with 24 and had six in a five-set loss to Bowling Green. Vaulet has 20 aces thus far, having collected six in a four-set win over Northwestern. Lydia Johnson paces the Big Ten with seven, coming in her career debut in the Wolverines’ win over Sacred Heart.
• After taking over setting duties in the match against Indiana (Oct. 14), freshman Morgan Burke earned her first career start against Michigan State. For the second match in a row and the third time in her career, Burke led the team in assists with 25 in the four-set loss in East Lansing. She also tallied four kills and a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage, a team-leading 17 digs, three service aces and four block assists. Burke now has 136 assists on the season and is looking to continue this growth through the latter half of conference play.
• Following Burke, a trio of freshmen also have made an impact this season. Vaulet is third on the team in kills and is second on the team with 20 aces. Carly Greskovics made her first career start on Oct. 1 against Wisconsin and has appeared in every set since. On the season, Greskovics has 24 digs and four assists. Lydia Johnson appeared in the last three matches after a few matches off and has 46 kills on the season with 22 blocks.
• Recently surpassing 100 kills on the season, Nyambio leads the team in hitting percentage at .299 and just tied team leader Boney with 46 blocks. In the midweek matchup against Michigan State, Nyambio tallied eight kills with a .333 hitting percentage and five blocks. When the Wolverines faced off against Northwestern earlier in the season, Nyambio led the team in hitting percentage at .471 and totaled five blocks.
• Northwestern is 9-10 on the season and 3-5 in Big Ten play. All time, U-M leads 51-29 in the all-time series and is coming off a four-set win against the Wildcats on Oct. 6, halting a six-game losing streak against NU. In that contest, the Wolverines held the Wildcats to a .117 hitting percentage with Scottee Johnson’s 18 digs, Brooke Humphrey‘s 15, and Nyambio leading the team with five blocks. Four Wolverines tallied double-digit kills which complimented Vaulet’s six aces to earn the win in Crisler Center.
