Box Score Aug. 26, 2017 Box Score
2017 USC/LMU All-Tournament Team 
Connecting at a .325 hitting percentage as a team on Saturday night, #16 Michigan (2-1) earned a 25-21, 25-20, 25-23 sweep of LMU (1-2) to close play at an invitational hosted by LMU and USC over the weekend.
Following the conclusion of the match, junior Sara Kovac and senior Kristen Castellanos were named to the All-Tournament team.
Kovac finished the three matches with 28 kills on 54 swings, averaging 2.80 kills per set while hitting .352. The native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada also added five block assists. Kovac finished the tournament on a high note against Michigan, leading all players with 11 kills and three block assists.
Castellanos, serving as LMU's libero, served up three aces while accumulating 37 digs to average 3.70 per set over the course of the tournament. The native of Los Angeles, Calif. paced all competitors on Saturday night with nine digs.
Adeja Lambert led the way on the attack for Michigan, posting 10 kills, but Cori Crocker, Claire Kieffer-Wright and MacKenzi Welsh all hit .500 or better in the win. Crocker finished with seven kills on 10 attacks with just one error (.600), followed by Kieffer-Wright (.556) and Welsh (.500). Kieffer-Wright also excelled from the service area, posting three aces to guide the Wolverines to five on the night.
The Lions came out strong in each of the first two sets, capturing early leads, but Michigan roared back in both periods to eventually take a 2-0 lead into the break. The Wolverines hit a blistering .545 without an attacking error in the first set, led by five kills from Lambert. Carly Skjodt did virtually all her damage in guiding the way in the second, collecting each of her five match kills on just seven attacks as Michigan hit .345.
Carrying momentum into the third, Michigan jumped out to an early lead of its own, and never relinquished that lead, en route to the sweep. Despite that fact, LMU gave the Wolverines all they could handle in the final points, fending off three match point chances to cut the deficit to 24-23 and force a Michigan timeout. LMU actually got another swing on the attack out of the break, but Megan Rice, who finished the match with 10 kills, was blocked by Crocker to seal the sweep.
LMU will return to action on September 1 at 11 a.m. when it travels to the Oregon Classic to take on Northern Illinois. The Lions will then square off against the host Oregon Ducks at 8 p.m. later that night.
