After dropping its first two home matches all season against No. 11 Penn State and No. 10 Ohio State on Oct. 19 and 20, the future did not look so bright for the Spartan volleyball team.
The two losses closed out the first round of Big Ten conference play, with the Spartans having four wins and six losses against their conference foes.
What a difference a week can make.
The Spartans (13-6, 6-6 Big Ten) rebounded from the two disappointing home losses to kick-off the second half of the conference season with two wins last week at Jenison Field House, as they downed Michigan 3-1 on Oct. 24 and Purdue 3-0 on Friday.
“I think our team’s treating the second half of the Big Ten as almost a clean slate for us,” sophomore middle blocker Jenny Rood said.
The new “slate” for the Spartans doesn’t include any room for the Spartans to dwell on past defeats, senior outside hitter Erin Hartley said.
“I think we want to look at it like (a new season) because I don’t think the first half of the Big Ten went the way we wanted it to,” she said. “We’re 2-0 now in the second half and it’s reassuring.”
The Spartans have played like a team with no sense of the past in both their last matches, especially against U-M.
After the Spartans headed to the locker room after taking the first two games against the Wolverines, they struggled and lost game three.
In the previous meeting Oct. 3 against U-M, the exact thing happened through three games, and the Wolverines took games four and five to win the match 3-2.
But the Spartans didn’t let it happen again, as they rebounded from the 30-19 loss in game three to defeat the Wolverines 30-22 in game four.
Sophomore setter Nikki Colson said the Spartans have been a more confident and relaxed team, and it showed last week.
“It’s been a tougher mentality - a more of a refuse-to-lose mentality on the court consistently, not just every once in a while,” she said. “And I think we’re playing a lot more relaxed.”
Plus, junior defensive specialist Emily Engel said it feels like all the independent facets of their game are coming together.
“Our middles are doing a great job, and we’ve had great passing and aggressive serving,” Engel said.
“We’ve had so many more digs, so many more blocks; it feels like all the little things are starting to come together.
“It feels like everything is falling into place.”
And, luckily for the Spartans, it’s happening at the right time.
The Spartans have to make a strong run through the second half of their conference schedule in order to vie for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re playing more carefree, more mature, more relaxed and with more of a purpose,” Colson said. “It’s a whole different mentality out there.”
The new tougher, maturing Spartans also have an advantage preparing for their opponents.
“It’s much different when you watch a team on video than it is to actually have the experience of playing them,” Hartley said. “You play a team once, and you become that much more knowledgeable the second time around.
“And it’s showing.”
