ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The West Virginia volleyball team’s offensive woes continued as the Mountaineers suffered a 3-0 setback at Michigan in the finale of the Michigan Invitational at Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday evening. The Wolverines took the match in set scores of 25-20, 25-23 and 25-17.

 

Morgan Montgomery led the offense with 11 kills, but the Mountaineers hit .180 for the match compared to Michigan’s .278 attacking percentage. Hannah Shreve was solid on both sides, finding the floor for 10 kills and posting a team-best four blocks. Caleah Wells added nine kills, earning all-tournament team accolades. Mia Swanegan and Bridgett Talia each had four kills.

 

Brittany Sample had 31 assists for the Mountaineers, while Gianna Gotterba led the team with 13 digs. West Virginia struggled serving, as Sample recorded the lone ace of the day with six team serving errors on the scoresheet.

 

After falling to George Washington Saturday morning, West Virginia’s continued to struggle early into set one of its match against the host Wolverines. Michigan raced out to a 6-0 lead, forcing Sunahara to burn an early timeout. The Mountaineers were able to regroup, hitting .235 for the set, but were unable to overcome the early deficit. A Michigan attacking error cut WVU’s deficit to three at 19-16, and a pair of kills from Montgomery kept it at three with Michigan leading 21-18. Both teams got sloppy as the set came to a close, combining for five errors, with the Wolverines closing things out with a 25-20 win on a WVU service error.

 

Wells led the Mountaineers with five kills in the second set as the Mountaineers fought a close battle with the Wolverines. Michigan again took an early lead, going up 6-2, before the Mountaineers regrouped in a timeout. Soon after, Montgomery found the court and Wells put a pair through the pins on a 4-0 run that closed the gap to just a point with Michigan leading 11-10. The Wolverines used a timeout to kill the WVU momentum, but the Mountaineers remained within a point on a Montgomery kill. Back-to-back blocks, combined with a kill by Talia, kept West Virginia in the set late, trailing 19-18, before Michigan used three kills and an ace to push its advantage to 23-18. Consecutive errors by the Wolverines again brought WVU within two, down 23-21. Michigan regrouped to take the 25-23 win on a WVU attacking error, pushing its lead to 2-0 in the match.

 

Led by Montgomery’s five kills, the Mountaineers kept things close for most of the third set despite hitting .049 as a team. Michigan had a slim advantage at the start before a pair of Wolverine errors and a Montgomery kill tied the set 7-7. Back-to-back kills by Montgomery later knotted things, 10-10, before Shreve put one down to give WVU an 11-10 lead. Five straight WVU attacking errors put Michigan in front 19-14, and the Wolverines rolled from there. Michigan took the set 25-17 to win the match 3-0.