Here goes nothing in the first national semifinal. We know the storylines entering this match. We know what’s at stake. It’s time to just play some volleyball.
Early on, the Wolverines seemingly had the answer for Texas’ huge scorers Bailey Webster and Haley Eckerman at the net, sending back swing after swing from the Longhorns’ two biggest scorers. 1-1 was a hugely long rally, ending in favor of the Wolverines with Claire McElheny from the right side. McElheny got Michigan’s first three points on kills, and they briefly went up 4-2, but the Longhorns responded with 5 straight to go up 7-4. Lexi Erwin finally sided the Wolverines out on that point, but whatever answers Michigan had for Bailey and Haley at the net didn’t last long, as Eckerman’s kill and a big block double shared by Eckerman and Sha’Dare McNeal made it 10-5, prompting Michigan’s first timeout.
The run extended out of the timeout. Michigan setter Lexi Dannemiller kept feeding Irwin, not that you could really blame her, and Texas continually had the answer. When Khat Bell took a joust up the middle on a rally that had the Wolverines all out of system, that made it 14-5. And Michigan burned their second timeout, looking in obvious trouble.
Erwin at last ended the run out of the second timeout, to make it 14-6. It brought her back to the service line, where she had started the match, to indicate Texas’ level of dominance to this point. Despite the fact that Erwin has been the tournament’s most prolific scorer, Karch Kiraly noted that Michigan may be better off with her in a back-row rotation (she plays all six), as it allows them to have two additional hitters in the front row. And indeed, on 16-6, Erwin came up with a kill from center-back.
But it was just all Texas all the time in this set. Michigan’s sideout percentage was just dreadful in this first set. Except for very early in the set and Dannemiller’s service ace trailing 20-8, the Wolverines never took a point on serve. The Longhorns simply made no mistakes, in any facet of the game. The Texas block visibly keyed to Erwin, who took the strong majority of Michigan’s swings but never got anything going. Webster’s cross-court swing from outside the left antenna finished off the Wolverines 25-11.
Michigan came out well in the first set. After Texas scored one on Eckerman’s massive jump-serve, her second serve wasn’t so effective, and the Wolverines were able to side out. They rattled off three more to go up 4-1 before Texas could side out. At 4-2, Eckerman, who had been consistently leaping over the block, made a mistaken downward-angled shot — which wound up right in the arms of the Michigan block. It got the Wolverines up by three, but the Longhorns ran the set back to even at 6, the run including a line/out call against Michigan that looked wrong.
Visibly, this looked like a mismatch. Michigan had one player that physically looked like she belonged with Texas, that being middle blocker Jennifer Cross, but a few of the other matches were major Mutt & Jeff territory.
Dannemiller showed a little poise at 9-9, scoring with a dink after her previous attempt of same resulted in a net violation as she followed through with her left hand much too much. Not only getting the point for her team, it also rotated Eckerman out of serving position, so it was timely and a double win for the Michigan side. It was actually sideout volleyball for an extended stretch from that 6-all tie, with subsequent ties at every numeral rank until 12-12 and a blocking error gave Michigan a 2-point edge. With Erwin finding the floor on the next rally to make it 15-12 at the TV timeout, Michigan had quite impressively turned the page from getting their brains beat in in the first set.
Coming back from the timeout, 17-15 in Michigan’s favor was another really long rally. Kiraly noted the back-row defense of Cross to extend the rally, and Molly Toon‘s kill snuck between the block and the net to give the Wolverines the big sideout. At 18-15, Michigan were called for a touch on a wide hit by Texas. Their coach protested loudly, and replays showed why he may have been doing so. It didn’t appear that any of their blockers touched the ball, but Erwin, in left-back, did. Texas closed within a point at 20-19 after a big serve from Hannah Allison got the Wolverines out of system, resulting in a carry call.
But Michigan’s block, which was all but literally nonexistent in the first set, was far more effective in the second. Michigan sure didn’t have the physical advantage against Texas, so they had to settle for a strategic advantage. On 22-20, Texas played one of their worst points of the match. After the Wolverines had to answer a roll shot with an off-balance diving dig, it was left to the libero Tiffany Morales to bump-set Erwin on the left side. Erwin got the ball over with what looked like one of her weaker contacts of the match. Except for the fac that the ball…just, fell in. Texas were just standing there looking at it. The Texas coach called time right afterward, even though the set was very nearly over at this point, and surely had words with his girls.
Michigan got to set point at 24-20 with a bad mistake from Texas libero Sarah Palmer getting called for a double contact. Texas staved off one, but Erwin evened the match with a left-side kill off the block and out.
The difference between the two teams when they came back from the locker room was striking. Michigan players were laughing, dancing to the music, and visibly having the time of their lives. Texas looked pensive and nervous.
It was an even, back-and-forth start to the set, though. Texas’ two bigs continued to struggle, despite massive physical advantages against the Michigan block. They were able to turn to senior leader McNeal, the only senior on the roster in fact, to come up with important sideouts to tie at the first four numeral ranks, but following a remarkably perfect back-set from Dannemiller to Erwin on the left side for an easy kill, Michigan went up two at 6-4. Michigan were doing what they had to do – spreading the ball around and playing some strategic shots. They maintained their advantage until Bailey Webster managed to score with a roll shot on a good tight set to tie the set at 9.
Michigan found a slight edge in the points that led to the TV timeout, with both Erwin and Toon coming up coming up big to give them the 15-13 edge. Erwin put the Wolverines up three again coming back from the timeout with a big service ace. She uncorked another nice serve on the next rally, but Texas’ reception was superlative and it didn’t get them out of system. They were able to win the rally and then ran off two more to tie the set at 16. Toon’s cross-court kill to make it 19-17 Wolverines, after another effective Michigan serve left the Longhorns able only to return a free ball, led to the Longhorns’ first charged timeout of the set.
Credit to Michigan with their strategy, both on offense and defense, coming out of the timeout. It was sterling. On 19-18, Erwin’s jumping bluff effectively caught the Longhorns off guard as Dannemiller went to the right side with McElheny. At 20-18, Bailey Webster looked primed for an attack from center-back – and found a perfect triple block waiting for her to put the Wolverines up three. The Longhorns took their second timeout here.
The Wolverines played an absolutely scintillating point on 22-19. A left-side hit rebounded off Toon in the back row, to Cross in at right front, who lunged for it with a one-handed jab, and then to Erwin – who found the floor yet again to put the Wolverines up by four. Texas responded with two in a row to close to 23-21, prompting Michigan’s first timeout since set 1, though the libero Morales very nearly caught up with the ball on 23-20 despite being about 20 feet away from the legal area of the court.
After a dreadful serve receive, Michigan managed to get a good pass on Texas’ subsequent swing to set up Erwin and give them set point at 24-21. Dannemiller chose to set Cross on 24-21, which I think surprised everyone in the gym, Cross included. Her hit went wide. The rally on 24-22, which Michigan nearly won a couple of different times, ended with Dannemiller trying to dink against a single block, but she wound up going straight into the net. With just one more set point in hand, Michigan took their last timeout.
The Wolverines received serve cleanly on 24-23. Dannemiller set for Erwin on the left side, and the ball came back to them. Two clean contacts later, with another good set among them, Erwin didn’t miss on her second attempt at set point, her 20th kill of the match.
Texas changed their rotation for set 4, and it paid off with early leads. At 5-3 Texas in the fourth set, Cross got away with a net violation. The antenna visibly wobbled (that’s one of the reasons there even is an antenna) as she brushed the net with her midsection when going up for a roll shot over top. Michigan won the ensuing rally, and the Texas coach was unhappy.
And then it became a set of runs. The Longhorns ran out to an advantage at 8-4, when Dannemiller wound up being called for a net violation, and further to 10-5 at the end of a 5-1 run. Michigan responded with a 4-1 run to make it 11-9, culminating with what Kiraly called Toon getting a kill “out of nothing” as she sent a simple one-handed tap over the net to keep the ball in play, and it utterly befuddled the Longhorn front line. Texas called time here. Hook’Em Horns took four of the first five back to go up 15-10 at Michigan’s timeout.
Kiraly noted that everyone but Texas’ star outsides Eckerman and Webster were having solid matches. McNeal, Bell, and Molly McCage were all hitting well above .300, with Bell leading the way at .467 at that point. Michigan called their last timeout of the set at 18-11 after a flubbed set from Dannemiller, with it looking pretty clear that the match was bound for a fifth-set decider. Dannemiller continued to struggle coming out of the timeout, with her double hit putting the Longhorns up 10, and Webster’s left-side kill to double up the Wolverines at 22-11. Erwin managed to side the Wolverines out at 23-12, but they didn’t score again.
Next we were to see how the Wolverines would respond to a lopsided set loss for the second time in the match. Would it be as good for the mas the first time?
Texas changed their rotation again for the fifth set – Michigan did not. But that doesn’t matter so much, since the matchups changed anyway.
Texas took the first four points in the race to 15, with an ace by Kat Brooks among them and a bad couple of points on 2-0 and 3-0 for Michigan where they simply didn’t look like they knew what they were doing. Erwin looked like a true leader coming out of the timeout, approaching Dannemiller and putting her arm around her with a smile and some words of encouragement. And her sets looked a little better as the decider wore ore.
At 4-1, a Texas hit was called long by the flagger despite replays showing it landed well in. A couple of sideouts later, Cross took advantage of a poor set on the Texas side for Bell to allow an easy block, closing the set to within one. The Longhorns ran out to 7-4, but after the sideout, Texas’ pass on Erwin’s serve was an absolute shank, making it a one-point set again. Bell’s hit on 7-6 went long, but it was called for a touch at the net. Replays were inconclusive.
At 8-6, Texas setter Hannah Allison did what her counterpart on the other side of the net did a few times, flubbing a dink straight into the net. McElheny drew the set even at 8 with a quick hitter from the middle to prompt Texas’ timeout.
On the first point back, Webster got a kill on a fairly easy defensive chance for Erwin. She was visibly kicking herself afterward. The next two serves both went to Erwin, too, and on 10-8 Webster skied for a monstrous kill to prompt the Wolverines’ final timeout. McElheny managed to side the Wolverines out to make it 11-9, but they still had Erwin in the back row. Swinging from center-back, Erwin found a stifling triple block waiting for her. But Toon’s big kill from the left side finally rotated Erwin to the front, with a surmountable 12-10 deficit facing them.
On 12-10, Dannemiller fed Erwin, who uncorked a huge swing, only to be dug by Texas libero Sarah Palmer for a free ball. After the free ball, Dannemiller set Erwin again, for another huge swing. Again dug by Palmer, for a free ball. Dannemiller went back to Erwin again (because of course she did) on the next ball, and yet a-freaking-gain Palmer was there for the dig. But this time, Texas were able to set their offense, getting a kill from the left side to take probably the biggest momentum-point of the match.
Kat Brooks followed up with a service ace to make it match point for the Longhorns. McElheny saved one, off the right side, but Texas’ undeniable leader McNeal sent the Longhorns to the national championship match with a right-side kill.
#3 Texas d. Michigan (25-11, 21-25, 23-25, 25-12, 15-11)
Who could ask for more from a first national semifinal. Who could ask for more from a team like Michigan, of whom no one other than themselves expected anything. Who could ask more from a team like Texas to deliver when it counted. This, my friends, was championship volleyball any way you slice it. Forget the fact that Texas blew Michigan’s doors off in sets 1 and 4 – both teams played like they deserved to move on. But of course only one could, but I’m not convinced this result would happen any more frequently than the reverse if this match were played again and again.
Texas now await the winner of Penn State vs. Oregon.
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