The MSU volleyball team continued to struggle mentally in a disappointing three-game lossto Michigan on Wednesday night at Jenison Field House.
The No. 14 Spartans (9-4 Overall, 1-2 Big Ten) looked ready to go early, opening up an 8-5 lead on the visitors from Ann Arbor in game one. The lead quickly evaporated as U-M (10-4 Overall, 2-1 Big Ten) reeled off seven straight points and never looked back.
"It's the same old story," senior setter Nikki Colson said. "We're not consistent enough, we don't compete hard enough and we're not as aggressive as we were earlier in the season."
Consistency is the issue surrounding the team, and it again was the big problem Wednesday night. MSU got good play from a few players but couldn't put together anything that would work.
The Wolverines had a lot to do with it, as they scorched the Spartans in every aspect of the game.
"I thought the biggest thing we did was handle our emotions," U-M head coach Mark Rosen said. " I thought we were very steady and didn't make a lot of mistakes."
Michigan calmly built a two-game lead with ease, 30-20 and 30-23. U-M took advantage of MSU miscommunications and mistakes. In the third game, MSU had a lead, but gave way to the systematic Michigan team, who looked like they were on a life or death mission.
"We were pretty much in system most of the night," Michigan junior setter Lisa Gamalski said. "Everybody was clicking tonight."
After losing the lead, the MSU players didn't give up but looked shocked at the beating they were receiving.
Numerous receive errors and miscommunications occurred among the Spartan players, leaving head Coach Chuck Erbe wondering who he could put out on the floor.
U-M dominated the night, putting down kill after kill. On the night, the Wolverines had a .371 hitting percentage to MSU's .149 - more than .200 points better than the Spartans.
A bright spot for MSU was sophomore middle Megan Wallin, who led the team with 11 kills and a .526 hitting percentage. Despite her excellent performance, Wallin was frustrated with her team attitude.
"We say we wanted to win, but we weren't getting the job done," Wallin said. "We weren't following through with what we were saying."
Earlier in the season, MSU was all action and no talk, but for some reason the team has seen a complete turn around in their mentality. The Spartans looked like a No. 14 team two weeks ago, but have since fallen off course.
Head coach Chuck Erbe said players are confused, and there is nothing he can do.
"It's going to be like this until they make a decision," Erbe said. "I said this to them in the locker room - Izzo says this - 'Players play, tough players win.' Right now, we don't have a lot of tough players."
MSU hosts the No. 20 Wisconsin Badgers at 7 p.m. on Friday.
