'M' volleyball earns its pizza at Domino's Classic

By Jon Zemke

Daily Sports Writer

Thus far this season, the Michigan volleyball team has won 80 percent of its matches. Half of the time the Wolverines haven't allowed their opponent to win a game. And in their only two losses, Michigan took at least one game from a top-20-ranked opponent.

If the nonconference season is any indicator of how the Wolverines will fare in the Big Ten, the percentages are in their favor.

"I think this weekend prepared us very well for the Big Ten season," Giovanazzi said. "We are playing better against top-20 competition, and the Big Ten has five or six potential top-20 teams."

Michigan traveled to Albuquerque, New Mex., for the Domino's Pizza Classic on Saturday, Sept. 19th. The four-team tournament was hosted by New Mexico and included No. 20 San Diego and Kent.

FILE PHOTO Chereena Tennis and the Michigan volleyball team want to be a national force. They'll have a chance starting this weekend with the beginning of the conference season.

Michigan opened the tournament against New Mexico and its loud home crowd in 'The Pit.' The Wolverines put the Lobos away in four games behind the strong performance of sophomore Joanna Fielder. Fielder set career highs with six blocks and led Michigan with a .455 attack percentage.

Senior Linsey Ebert led the Wolverines in digs (13) and service aces (3). Karen Chase, also a senior, posted a team-high 16 kills, and true freshman Shannon Melka lead the team with 24 assists. An impressive .391 attack percentage was turned in by Anne Poglits, a junior.

The win gave Michigan a 1-0 advantage in its first meeting against the Lobos.

The Wolverines then faced their second top-20 opponent in a week by taking on San Diego. The Toreros dominated the first two games - 15-5 and 15-11 respectively - before Michigan came back and took the next two, 15-13 and 15-8. The fifth and final match proved to be more than the Wolverines could handle as they lost 15-12.

"We started out slow in the first two games, but we rallied in the next two," Giovanazzi said. "However, we started down 0-5 in the last game, and while we fought back, it's tough to come back like that in a final game."

Melka led the way for Michigan by posting a career best in assists (41) to lead both teams. Chase once again led Michigan in kills with 20. Ebert chipped in a solid attack percentage of .389, and also led the team with five blocks in the loss.

The Wolverines scored a season-high 86 digs, surpassing the previous best of 74 that Michigan scored against 19th ranked Texas A&M.

The loss was the Wolverines second of the '98 season.

To close out the non-conference schedule for the '98 season, Michigan faced Kent University of the Mid-American Conference. The Golden Flashes provided little resistance as they succumbed to Michigan in three easy matches, 15-7, 15-10 and 15-8.

"We served them off the court," Giovanazzi said. "Our servers did a great job, we got nine aces out of 45 points."

The previous two games of the day had drained Michigan's starters, so Giovanazzi had to dig into his bench for help.

Freshman Nicole Kacor rose to the occasion, seeing her first extended playing time of the season. She led the team with four serving aces and 15 digs, both career highs. Kacor also came in second with nine kills, a career high.

Sophomore Alija Pittenger led the team with 22 assists, and Ebert again led the team with five blocks. Fielder also provided a solid .412 attack percentage, her second best outing for the '98 season.

"Kacor played the entire match, and Melka set really well this weekend," Giovanazzi said. "I think the young ones are playing better every time they go out."

The Wolverines open the Big Ten season on Friday against Purdue.

09-21-98