All Blue Issue 7: The Fall Wind-Down Begins
It's Friday. One week from today the first post-season event, the Big Ten Cross Country Championship, will occur. Women's soccer plays their last regular season match Sunday, the men do the same a week later, and then it's tourney season. (Except in volleyball, which goes on well after the rest of the fall sports.) Time flies. Let's talk sports.
BluTV
| Day | Date | Time | Sport | Opponent | Location | TV/Stream |
| Sunday | 10/22 | 4p | ā½ļø Men's Soccer | Penn State | Away |  |
| Friday | 10/27 | 7p | š Volleyball | #11 Penn State | Home | |
| Sunday | 10/29 | 2p | š Volleyball | Ohio State | Home |  |
Two weeks of chart this week. Your headliner here is the first ever volleyball game on Fox. Like, over the air antenna Fox. Pretty cool I think, though even as a Michigan fan it seems weird it's this game and not, say, the #1 v. #2 matchup at the top of the conference. Go to Crisler, make us look good on TV.
Programming Note
I got married three years ago and next week I am finally taking a honeymoon. Hooray! No All Blue next week, but we'll do a Monday special the next week talking conference tourneys.
Three Previews
Men's Tennis: ITA Midwest Regional, Saturday-Monday, hosted by Michigan, Draws
Individual tennis season is creeping to a close, but not before Michigan hosts the ITA Midwest Regional. The winners in both singles and doubles will receive auto-bids to the ITA Fall Nationals, which will be the first weekend of November in San Diego.
After qualifying, Michigan has managed to put an impressive seven athletes in the main draw in singles, along with four doubles teams. As a reminder, only six athletes start most matches, which has to make you feel good about the depth of this team going into the dual match season.
In singles, Sophomore and Ann Arbor native Mert Oral was the lone Wolverine who pushed through qualifying, losing just one set in his three matches to move to the main draw. The Wolverines' top seed is Will Cooksey at #7, an impressive feat given that this is his first time playing in this event. The only athlete who has played in a main draw before is, Jacob Bickersteth a 12th seed.
The doubles main draw is already in action, and the Bick/Cook team has already won their first match, while newcomers Patorn Hanchaikul and Nicholas Steiglehner have fallen.
The best team in Ann Arbor is likely Ohio State, with three athletes in the national top 15. Last year, this event had an All Blue final, with Gavin Young falling to Andrew Fenty. Can Michigan get hot again?
Women's Soccer @ Ohio State, Sunday Oct. 22, 1p, B1G+
After an impressive run to start the season that got them all the way up to #14, Michigan's hit a bit of a rough patch. Despite their continued presence in the NCAA Tournament picture, a loss to Ohio State on Sunday could leave Michigan out of the Big Ten Tournament, depriving them of important opportunities to help their case to make the field for the big one. To it's credit, Big Ten women's soccer does a full "Decision Day", with the whole conference kicking off this Sunday at 1. The scenarios are complicated, but a win in Columbus at least puts them above Ohio State.
Ohio State's resume is not unsimilar to Michigan's. They're a game better than Michigan within the conference, their scoring margins are both on the plus side but under 0.5. This is going to be a defensive battle. My prediction? First goal wins.
Volleyball v. Ohio State, Sunday Oct. 29, 2p, FOX
It's no secret it's been a tough season for Volleyball. Since picking up their lone conference win, Michigan has dropped four straight, though you certainly can't blame them for falling victim to #2 Nebraska just like everyone else. At this point, all we can hope is that Michigan finds its footing a bit. And Network TV is a big stage to try to find it on.
The Buckeyes have been ranked as high as #12 but have slumped to a 7-11 record. While that still puts them right in the middle of the road in the Big Ten, they do not have any notable upsets to speak of. The other night, Michigan took the first set against MSU, making it only the second match of the season where they've grabbed a set. You're looking for little victories wherever you can find them. Maybe Crisler Arena has one big victory in it.
Three Recaps
#15 Field Hockey
v. #16 Penn St, 2-1 W
Hoo boy did they need that one. Michigan is still clinging to it's last hope of making the NCAA Tourney without quite winning the BTT, thanks to what is, incredibly given their rank, just their second conference win. Penn State opened the scoring quick, getting their first and only goal just five minutes into the match. Their four first quarter shots would be the Nittany Lions' last shots on goal until they added one more in the fourth.
Is that good?
Meanwhile, Michigan staged its comeback. Less than halfway through the second quarter Michigan found the equalizer; Kate McLaughlin took a shot just a few feet from the net, and Isabella Palde was right at the goal line ready to tip it in. Michigan found its winner in the third, with Kate McLaughlin shooting an absolute rocket of a backhand from just a foot inside the circle. Michigan got 8 shots off in the fourth to no avail, but if you've got enough possession to take 8 shots it'll certainly help you protect a 1-goal lead.
Michigan has two matches left, a tune-up @ CMU and Senior Day v. MSU. Somehow the MSU match is a must-win to qualify for the home BTT, but MSU should be overmatched.
Women's Tennis
ITA Midwest Regional, East Lansing, MI (mostly)
A week before the men, the women played in the ITA Midwest Regional. An incredible eight Wolverines won at least one singles match at this tournament, with over half of the eight quarter-finalists coming from the University of Michigan. While most of this tournament was played in East Lansing, when Kari Miller and Julia Fliegner both won semis to set up an All Blue final, it seems they figured they might as well do it at home. Despite being down a break early in both sets, Miller ultimately won in straight sets.
It wasn't the only trophy Miller took home that weekend. She joined with Jaeden Brown to complete a Michigan sweep of the regional, winning doubles over a team from OSU. Just like in singles, all three doubles teams won at least one match.
Miller, Brown, and probably several others will now go to San Diego for Fall Nationals. The draw is not yet out.
Men's Golf
Everett Buick GMC Classic, Little Rock, AR, 4th place
Just a week after winning their second tournament of the season, men's golf continued its impressive run of form by taking fourth in Little Rock. Though champion LSU had a significant hold on the lead, Michigan finished just two strokes out of second place.
The Wolverines were paced by Hunter Thomson, who finished second overall individually. It was Thomson's second silver of the season, and his third tournament leading the Wolverines. Ben Hoagland also finished 20th, while Jude Kim finished 33rd, marking three Wolverines who finished even par or better.
Golf has just one more tournament before the winter break: On Monday they travel to Oklahoma to play The Clerico, hosted by Oral Roberts.
