Volleyball struggles to find stability

Good teams win games. Great ones do it consistently.

Although the Michigan volleyball team does not expect to win both of its matches this weekend - one is against No. 2 Penn State - the Wolverines are looking for a sign that this season might be a special one.

With just four games left on the regular-season slate, Michigan (10-6 Big Ten, 17-10 overall) is trying to gain its first-ever NCAA tournament berth and first post-season play since 1995, when it played in the now-defunct National Invitational Volleyball Championship.

But standing in the way is Indiana (4-12, 17-12) and Penn State (16-1, 15-1). Michigan plays at Indiana tomorrow and at Penn State on Saturday night.

"We're looking for a little momentum this weekend," Michigan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "We had a rally good night last Friday (against Iowa), then dominated in game two against Minnesota (on Saturday), but then we played really inconsistently. Its been a little bit of a trend for us in the past three weeks."

Calling it a trend is an understatement. Over the past three weeks, the Wolverines split both of their matches each weekend. At times they looked solid, destroying teams such as Iowa and Northwestern, but at other times they struggled. And this weekend looks to be no different.

But Michigan could find success against the Hoosiers. Indiana is a much less formidable foe than Penn State. After starting the season 15-0 and breaking into the top 25, the Hoosiers collapsed.

They have dropped nine of their last 10, and have only four conference victories.

11-20-97