Michigan out-hit Rutgers. Michigan out-killed Rutgers, out-dug Rutgers, sided out better than Rutgers and scored three more points than Rutgers across five sets. Michigan also missed 11 serves, and Michigan lost.
The Scarlet Knights beat the Wolverines 25-20, 25-21, 15-25, 19-25, 15-11 on Thursday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena, five days after the Halloween comeback in Evanston that ended an eight-match losing streak. It is the first time Rutgers has won consecutive matches since Penn snapped their
five-match run in Queens on Sept. 18, and both wins went the distance.
Michigan hit .287 with 71 kills and 23 attack errors on 167 swings. Rutgers hit .233 with 60 kills and 23 errors on 159. The teams finished with 10 blocks apiece, Michigan out-dug Rutgers 63-57 and sided out at 60.2 percent to Rutgers’ 58.3. Across five sets Michigan scored 102 points and Rutgers scored 99.
The difference was at the service line, and for once it went Rutgers’ way. Michigan missed 11 serves and aced Rutgers once. Rutgers missed five, less than a third of the 16 it missed at Northwestern, and aced Michigan four times.
In Queens, Rutgers lost by one point. In Evanston, they won by two. In Piscataway, they lost by three and won anyway.
A 23-15 Lead Gets Nervous in the First & 18 Ties Break Rutgers’ Way in the Second
Rutgers went up 3-1 on Malia Romes and Skylar George kills off Lily Bolen sets, then gave the next four away with Camille Edwards serving for Michigan. Ece Senyapici and Sydney Schnichels stuffed Romes, George had an attack error and Ella Demetrician’s kill put Rutgers down 3-5 before Edwards missed a serve of her own.
Karis Willow and Brooke Baldwin checked in at 4-5, and Willow tied it on her first swing. George then served three straight from 6-6 to 9-6, with a Willow kill off Baldwin, a Willow and Zharia Harris-Waddy stuff of Demetrician and a Harris-Waddy kill off Baldwin, and Michigan called timeout. Rutgers did not trail again in the set.
Cymarah Gordon dragged Michigan back within 14-13 with two kills and a block on George, and then Kenzie Dyrstad went to the line. She served four straight from 15-13 to 19-13, a Romes kill, an ace on Meredith Martin that forced Michigan’s second timeout, a Harris-Waddy kill and a George kill off a Jenna DeLaMater set. Baldwin served two more points off Michigan attack errors, and it was 23-15 three rallies later.
Then Rutgers stopped scoring.
George served, and Michigan took four straight on a Senyapici kill and three Rutgers attack errors, two by Avery Jesewitz and one by Willow, with a Rutgers timeout at 23-18 in the middle of it. A Demetrician attack error finally gave Rutgers set point at 24-19, Demetrician killed to save one, and Jesewitz killed off Baldwin to close it 25-20.
Four ties, three lead changes, and Rutgers won the set while being out-hit .212 to .206. Michigan missed three serves in it. Rutgers missed none.
The second was the longest argument of the night, 18 ties and six lead changes, and Rutgers never led by more than a point until the final three rallies. George, Willow and DeLaMater each missed a serve in the first 17 rallies, and Senyapici aced Jesewitz for a 6-8 hole, the only ace Michigan managed all night. Demetrician did most of the rest with eight kills in the set.
Romes kept Rutgers level with six kills in the set, and her kill at 18-18 was the 16th tie. Then Gordon killed three times in four rallies and Michigan led 20-18.
Rutgers took a timeout, and then took seven of the last eight points. George killed off a Kenzie Dyrstad set, Willow stuffed Demetrician solo for 20-20, and after Demetrician answered, Edwards missed a serve to tie it at 21. Harris-Waddy went to the line and stayed there. Demetrician had an attack error, Michigan called timeout, Jesewitz terminated for 23-21, Michigan was called for a team error at set point, and Willow and Natalie Robinson stuffed Demetrician to end it 25-21.
Rutgers hit .452 in the second with 16 kills and two errors, its best set of the night, and Michigan did not record a block.
Then Rutgers hit .116.
One Tie & No Lead Changes, Twice
DeLaMater missed the first serve of the third, which turned out to be a fair preview. Romes tied it at 1-1 off a Robinson set, and that was the only tie of the set. Jenna Hanes and Gordon put Michigan up 3-1, and after George killed off Kenzie Dyrstad, Rutgers committed three straight attack errors, from Harris-Waddy, Willow and George, to fall behind 2-6 and call timeout.
Michigan never led by fewer than two again. Rutgers got within 12-15 out of the media timeout on kills from Harris-Waddy and Robinson, and within 14-18 on a Robinson solo stuff of Schnichels, but Hanes, Gordon and Demetrician answered every push. Schnichels served Michigan to 14-21 behind two Gordon kills, and after a Gordon attack error, Martin served the last three on two Demetrician kills and a Senyapici kill for 25-15.
Rutgers swung 43 times in the third, more than in any other set, and hit .116 with 12 kills and seven attack errors. Michigan hit .400.
Alleigh Dutton and Jesewitz started the fourth with DeLaMater on the bench, and it did not help. Gordon and Hanes stuffed Jesewitz on the first rally. After a Schnichels service error made it 2-3, Hanes killed and Martin served three straight on kills by Senyapici, Gordon and Demetrician for 2-7, and Rutgers called timeout.
Rutgers got within two three separate times, at 8-10 on a Bolen ace and a Romes kill off Kenzie Dyrstad, at 10-12 on back-to-back Demetrician attack errors, and at 17-19, when a Willow solo stuff of Schnichels put Bolen at the line and she served two straight on George and Romes kills, both off her own sets. Schnichels killed twice to make it 17-21. Kenzie Dyrstad and George got it back to 19-21, and Schnichels and Gordon killed again. With Morgan Burke serving at 19-23, Bolen was called for a ball-handling error, and Romes’ attack error ended the set 19-25.
Rutgers lost the fourth by six despite four Michigan service errors and none of its own. One tie in each set, both at 1-1, and no lead changes in either, and across the two Rutgers hit .118 with 21 kills and 12 errors on 76 swings.
Two sets up had become two sets all, was this another Purdue Fort Wayne incident in waiting?
Tied at 9, Then Jenna DeLaMater Goes to the Line
The fifth had eight ties and four lead changes in a set to 15. Romes killed off Bolen on the first rally and was stuffed by Demetrician and Hanes two rallies later. Kenzie Dyrstad aced Michigan for a 3-2 lead, George killed off Bolen for 4-3, and Gordon and Demetrician put Michigan back up 5-4. Edwards missed a serve, Senyapici killed, and Jesewitz answered off Baldwin at 6-6.
Harris-Waddy then served Rutgers to 8-6 on a Demetrician attack error and a Jesewitz kill set by George, and Michigan called timeout. Schnichels killed, Trixie McMillin came on to serve, and Robinson’s attack error tied it 8-8. Willow killed off Baldwin, Demetrician killed again, and it was 9-9.
Jesewitz killed off Bolen for 10-9, her third kill of the set, and DeLaMater went back to the line.
Michigan did not side out again until it was 14-9.
George killed off Bolen for 11-9 and a second Michigan timeout. Schnichels had an attack error, Romes killed off Bolen for 13-9, and Rutgers won the next rally for match point at 14-9.
Michigan saved two. Gordon killed, Ellie White came on to serve and set Demetrician for her 25th kill, and on the next rally Bolen found George, who put it away for 15-11.
Stats Breakdown
Romes led everyone in Scarlet with 18 kills on 40 swings and five attack errors, .325, for 18.5 points. Thirteen of the 18 came off Bolen sets. George added 13 kills on 35 attempts with five errors, .229, plus 11 digs and the match-ending kill, three of her kills coming in the fifth without an error.
Jesewitz finished with 10 kills on 26 swings and five errors, .192, but none of the errors came in the fifth, where she had three kills. Harris-Waddy hit .300 with eight kills on 20 attempts, two errors and an ace. Willow had seven kills and five errors on 19 swings, .105, and five blocks, three of them solo, including the stuff that tied the second at 20 and the one with Robinson that ended it. Five errors and five blocks in the same match is Willow in miniature. Robinson had only three kills on 14 swings but six total blocks, two solo, tied with Senyapici for the match lead.
The setting split was Baldwin 24, Bolen 23 and Kenzie Dyrstad five. Kenzie Dyrstad led Rutgers with 13 digs and two of its four aces, DeLaMater and Baldwin dug 10 apiece, and Michigan out-dug Rutgers 63-57. Aspen Maxwell and Imani Howell again did not appear.
Michigan’s offense was two players. Demetrician took 55 swings, 15 more than anyone else on either side, and turned them into 25 kills, 11 attack errors, .255 and a match-high 26 points. Gordon had 20 kills on 37 attempts with three errors, .459, for 21 points. Below them, Schnichels hit .065 with eight kills and six errors on 31 swings. Burke had 31 assists, Edwards 24 and Martin 19 digs, and Edwards also missed four of Michigan’s 11 serves.
What Worked (and One Thing That Didn’t)
The serve, finally.
Rutgers missed 17 serves against Penn, 17 against St. John’s and 16 at Northwestern. They missed five on Thursday, and none in the first, fourth or fifth sets. Michigan missed 11, and every one was a point Rutgers did not have to earn in a match it lost on total points. DeLaMater, who missed three of Rutgers’ five, served the four straight points that decided the fifth.
Serve receive, too.
One ace allowed in five sets, and it did not land on George. Opponents have hunted George all season, and Michigan never got a serve past her.
Malia Romes.
She led Rutgers in kills and points in a match where its attack went cold for two full sets, scored in every set, and opened the fifth with a kill. For a freshman middle, that is the line that gets a team through a five-setter.
The one thing that didn’t work was the middle of the match.
Rutgers hit .452 in the second set and .116 in the third. Across the third and fourth, the Scarlet Knights hit .118, committed 12 attack errors, never led and lost by a combined 16 points. That is the floor-and-ceiling swing that has followed this team all year, only this time both teams showed up inside one night. A 2-0 lead at home should not need a fifth set.
Rutgers is 12-13 and 3-10 in the Big Ten and stays home for USC on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
Two wins in a row, both in five.
Michigan had more kills, more digs, more points and the better hitting percentage.
Rutgers has the win.
