LISTEN: Volleyball v. Indiana

LISTEN LIVE at 7 as Michigan volleyball takes on Indiana at Cliff Keen!

Andrew Goddeeris, Chris Kudialis, and Michael Fienberg on the call.

Volleyball v. OSU

LISTEN LIVE as Michigan looks to bounce back from a tough loss to PSU and take down the Buckeyes at Cliff Keen at 6 pm.

Andrew Goddeeris and Chris Kudialis on the call.

Cliff Keen Confidential

The Michigan women's volleyball team is the best kept secret on campus.

By now, everyone knows that Yost is a legendary place to watch hockey, that the lacrosse team is a juggernaut, that the only team with maybe more offensive firepower than Denard Robinson is the softball team, or that the soccer teams play in one of the nicest new venues in the country. But what people around campus don't seem to realize is that the most exciting young team on campus doesn't play at the Big House - they play in tiny Cliff Keen Arena.

The football team is obviously, far and away, the premier team on campus. Every game is like a holiday, each win a momentous occasion, each loss casting gloom and doom over Ann Arbor. But when you remove the immense meaning of each game, pound for pound, the Michigan women's volleyball team is the most electric team on campus, as anyone who witnessed their stunning comeback victory over Minnesota on Saturday will attest to.

Down 2-0 headed to the locker room, Michigan was out of sorts. They were pummeled 12-25 in the first set, and lost a hard fought second set 23-25. Minnesota, the #14 ranked team in college volleyball, was big and physical, dominating play at the net behind sophomore Tabi Love. There was a palpable sense of disappointment in the crowd, who had the previous night witnessed Michigan run over an overmatched Iowa squad. This was Michigan's first chance of the season to beat a ranked team, and a Big Ten foe at that. 2-0 felt like an insurmountable hole to climb out of.

And then, a ray of hope. Behind 7 kills from Alex Hunt and 4 from Claire McElheny, Michigan took the third set 25-22. A buzz was restored to Cliff Keen as Michigan was finally able to solve the 6'-6" Love. In a back-and-forth fourth set, Hunt got help from freshman Jennifer Cross and McElheny, and Michigan won 25-23. Michigan believed, and so did the Cliff Keen crowd. After falling down 9-6 in the decisive fifth set, Michigan battled back, and Alex Hunt's career-high 28th kill sealed the upset for the Wolverines.

I, for one, was calling the game for MGoBlue.com and I went nuts. Like, screaming hysterically. The show the Wolverines put on was incredible. Easily in the top two comebacks I've witnessed as a Michigan student (Tate v. ND in 2009 #1, Denard's ND comeback was never in doubt). I know it's just one win, but what a massive, massive win for this Michigan team.

And it's only going to get better. This team is built for something special. Lead by senior All-American setter Lexi Zimmerman, perhaps already the greatest Wolverine volleyball player ever, and junior outside hitter Alex Hunt and libero Sloane Donhoff, Michigan is experienced and talented where it counts. Michigan also sports a fantastic group of talented freshmen in Molly Toon, Jennifer Cross, Lexi Erwin, Brittany Lee, and Ally Saybol, all of whom have gotten extensive playing time so far this season. Toon, Cross and Erwin especially have shown the ability to take over a game and provide solid secondary options to Hunt. Add in solid depth from McElheny, Courtney Fletcher, and Karlee Bruck and Michigan has the veteran leadership to make a run at not only a Big Ten championship, but a national championship.

That road continues this weekend as the Wolverines go on the road to Ohio State and Penn State. Michigan has a legitimate shot to take down the fabled Nittany Lions and emerge from this weekend with a sweep and a message to the world of college volleyball that they are title contenders. Sweep, and Michigan should return to Cliff Keen the following weekend to a standing ovation, and I'd expect the team to draw a packed house. Get on the bandwagon now, Michigan fans, because this volleyball season has the potential to be historic.

Michigan Athletics... According to Me

While it has been a rough week for me personally, with school work starting to pile up, I still made time to make my usual rounds through the blogosphere and podcast universe. A couple things I especially liked this week:

For those of you who haven’t made this connection themselves, I’m a huge Bill Simmons fan because….well, because I’m a huge fan of pop culture and sports (When my family plays “Trivial Pursuit: DVD Pop Culture Edition,” it’s my four family members vs. me. Not trying to brag, but this is the only way to make it fair). Simmons is the best in the business at blending these together. Anyways, Simmons does a great job of talking to former ESPN ombudsman LeAnn Schriber in his podcast this week. I really enjoyed the past few podcats because he has been critical of ESPN with John Walsh and Schriber. He gives his “gripes” with ESPN, and proposes changes to their coverage.

This made me think of the web site I work for (MGoBlue.com), and some of the changes I would make or things I would do differently if I were in power. Granted, Simmons has way more power at ESPN than I do at MGoBlue. Lemme put it to you this way: People beg Simmons to write more columns and do more podcasts. At MGoBlue, I’m the one racing just to do post-game coverage. So, his suggestions might actually get picked up. Mine have a much slimmer chance.

Awesome. Glad we cleared that up.

Nevertheless, I know a lot of you visit MGoBlue.com and watch the highlights that are up there. So here are my suggestions on changes I would make if I ran my own website:

More Athlete Blogs: Michigan has some of the most talented and intelligent athletes in the country, so why not showcase them? For example, Tim Kalczynski wrote an excellent live blog about the Baseball team’s trip to Iowa last week. I talked to Tim about his blog in the beginning of the season. He seemed a little embarrassed when I brought it up and said he didn’t have a great passion for writing. However, I’ve talked to a lot of people who really liked this post. Shout-out to our boy FormerlyAnonymous at Varsity Blue for mentioning this quicker than I could.

But why not do this for more sports? I give Michigan Baseball SID Matt Fancett a lot of credit. He is responsible for UM Volleyball as well, and used this idea a little bit at the end of the season with the team’s two seniors (Karpiak and Hance). This season’s “Captain’s Corner” blog for Baseball has been written nicely and at semi-regular intervals. These types of blogs can be very entertaining when you get the right people to write them. UM Hockey’s Chris Summers would have been the ideal candidate for this last year…along with Eric Puls from Basketball.

I mentioned this in The Mixer last week, but I’m still pushing for it. Puls has a great perspective from his spot on the team! If he is uncomfortable writing, I’ll volunteer my services and transcribe it form him. It’ll be the most read journalist/athlete duo since Barkley and Wilbon did a book together!

…OK, maybe that’s a stretch. But there is definitely a market for more student athlete insight!

Institute a podcast: This is probably my most realistic idea I’ll mention in this post. The website tried this with the “MGoBlue Report,” but there was one problem: It didn’t physically work!!!! I tried this link on five computers, and not a single one could play this file. So I technically have never heard an episode of the “MGoBlue Report.” But I like the attempt.

Here’s my plan: Make three “multimedia podcasts” that consist of the following: 1) A normal news-bulletin type podcast giving an update on scores, injuries, highlights, etc. etc. This could be done in video form too, almost like a Michigan Sportscenter (I’d watch!). 2) A coaches show, where you interview a different coach each week and ask them questions about the team and the season (i.e. The Rosen Report for Volleyball last year). 3) A show interviewing student athletes, and/or media members that cover U of M athletics, covering a wide variety of topics off-the-field and on-the-field. This is to be hosted by Yours Truly. Or Doug Karsch. Actually, Karsch already has his own radio show. Forget him! I’m doing this show. I’m calling the shots in this “never-in-a-million-years-will-this-occur” scenario. Number 3 goes along with my point that some of these athletes are extremely interesting and intelligent and would make great guests.

My first guest on this show? Eric Puls, for reasons already mentioned. Goalie Emmy Scheidt from Women’s Lacrosse, and Matt Miller from Baseball would be high on this list as well. Miller was very well-spoken and Scheidt is the funniest athlete I’ve talked to this season. Hey, even the varsity club sports are shown some love on my show!

More money for Michigan Sports TV: I’m biased because this is the department where I spend my time. However, if the University invested in more camera and editing personnel (while keeping all the great producers/editors already there), we’d have more highlights, videos, and interviews for MGoBlue. The biggest complaint I get from viewers is the fact that MGoBlue doesn’t put up enough coverage of the smaller sports outside of football. With limited resources, and football the obvious money maker for the Athletic Department, football is what people are going to get. With more personnel, better equipment, and better compensation, this problem would end and niche viewers get to see their favorite teams on a semi-daily basis. This will increase hits for the website. More hits translate to greater advertising, which means more money for Michigan. Everyone wins.

I really enjoy working for the AD and it has been a great experience. And if nothing changes, I won’t have any problems still working there. I love that job. But if these changes come to pass, I want to be able to show them this and say “Hey! I called this….. What’s that, Bill Martin? Sure, I’d accept a full time job.”

If this were the 90’s cartoon “Doug,” this is the part where the little dream bubble pops and I realize I have 5 more pages to write for tomorrow. Dammit.

Like the blog? Hate it? Are there changes to the website you'd like to see that I didn't mention? Leave them in the comments section