Confidence is the first step to success. At least that's what Michigan volleyball coach Mark Rosen is hoping. Rosen believes his 25th-ranked Wolverines can become a factor in the Big Ten this year as long as they have confidence in their long-term success.
"As long as they don't get down on themselves early on, they can do well," Rosen said.
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| FILE PHOTO The Michigan volleyball team, 3-0 and ranked No. 25 in the nation under new coach Mark Rosen, will have its hands full when it hosts the All-Sport Challenge at Cliff Keen Arena today and tomorrow. |
Michigan has yet to lose a game and the impressive showing has lifted the Wolverines into the top 25 for the first time in the program's history.
But the Wolverines are far from out of the woods yet. Their schedule only gets tougher. With the Big Ten, where the nation's best volleyball is played, looming on the horizon, the opponents in this year's All-Sport Challenge will be a good warm-up.
Host Michigan can count on home-court advantage, but how much home-court advantage is up in the air. Of the three teams visiting Cliff Keen Arena two of them are top-20 teams (No. 11 Pepperdine and No. 16 Arkansas) and the other (Syracuse) is a young developing team similar to the Wolverines.
"Both of them (Pepperdine and Arkansas) are fairly young teams," Rosen said. "They have a few senior players with some underclassmen making an impact."
One of those players is Pepperdine freshman Stacy Rouwenhorst. She led her team in kills in Pepperdine's last match with 33 and a .466 kill percentage. She also had a 24 digs to help boost the team's record to 2-0. Rouwenhorst is one of a trio of highly sought-after recruits in Pepperdine's freshman class.
But Rosen's primary concern isn't his upcoming opponents - it's the development of his own squad. Rosen said he didn't have a thorough knowledge of his team's next opponents, but he does know that his team needs to improve.
Fundamentally, service reception is the aspect of Michigan's game that "has to improve", Rosen said.
With co-Big Ten player of the week Joanna Fielder playing out of her mind while leading the team in overall performance, Michigan will have a few a solid core of young players it will depend on, including sophomore Shannon Melka, who has established herself as the Wolverines' setter, a position that had been up for grabs until late.
The Wolverines' attacking is also another area in need of work. With the graduation of all-time Michigan kill leader Karen Chase and her heir apparent, junior Sarah Behnke, recovering from illness, Michigan will turn to sophomore Nicole Kacor as its primary attacker.
Kacor saw limited action her freshman season, but had notched career-highs in kills last weekend with 15 and 18.
But the Wolverines have a more important area to improve in before they can compete with the top-25 teams on a consistent basis - focus.
"We need to approach every match with a more focused mentality," Rosen said.
Michigan's lack of focus has plagued the program since early last season. The Wolverines consistently failed to start matches strongly last season, and it seems to have carried over a little into this season, Rosen said.
Resilience will be Michigan's greatest asset this early in the season. The Wolverines have already battled back from a 7-1 deficit against the seventh-ranked Cougars to win the third and final game.
Despite his team's recent success, Rosen still has reasonable expectations for team heading into his first home weekend.
"We'd like to go 3-0, and 2-1 would be good, but we wouldn't want to go any lower than that," Rosen said.
What:
The All-Sport Challenge.
Where:
Cliff Keen Arena
'M' matchups:
today:
vs. Syracuse, 2 pm
vs. Pepperdine, 7:30 p.m.
tomorrow:
vs. Arkansas, 8 p.m.
The Latest: No. 25 Michigan will try for its second straight tournament title, after last weekends Outback Invitational championship.
09-10-99
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