Struggling Gophers look to right the ship with pair of games in Michigan

Six weeks into the 2011 season, the No. 14 Gophers volleyball team finds itself in the same position as a year ago.

Minnesota (8-5, 1-3 Big Ten) heads east this weekend to play at No. 18 Michigan on Oct. 7 and unranked Michigan State on Oct. 8.

The Gophers played poorly last weekend against Ohio State and Penn State, but it has been a historically difficult road trip for the team.

“We had this last year,” sophomore outside hitter Ashley Wittman said. “Every team goes through a little bit of a rough patch in their season, and this just might be ours.”

In 2010, the Gophers suffered their most lopsided defeat of the season at Ohio State after losing at Penn State the previous night.

Flip the order of the two losses, and it’s the same story in 2011. Minnesota looked sluggish and overmatched in its straight-set losses to the Buckeyes on Sept. 30 and to the Nittany Lions on Oct. 1.

What’s different from last year, when the Gophers returned home following the sweep, is that they must now try to rebound on the road — where they’ve played a bulk of their schedule to date.

They’ll start at one of the toughest gyms in the nation — Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Minnesota hasn’t won at Michigan since 2005. Last year, the team blew a 2-0 sets lead to the Wolverines on Sept. 25, losing 16-14 in the fifth set.

 “It’s an environment that has robbed us of some wins for whatever reason,” interim head coach Laura Bush said. “I don’t want to give too much credit to a place as a reason for us losing.”

Playing conference road matches in general has been tough on the Gophers. Since winning 3-0 at Michigan State to open the 2010 conference season, Minnesota is 4-7 on the road in the Big Ten with only one win against a ranked opponent.

Michigan is ranked No. 18 after losing in straight sets at home to Nebraska on Oct. 1. The Wolverines played without team kills leader Alex Hunt (shoulder injury) in both the Nebraska loss and the team’s home sweep of Iowa on Sept. 30.

“We might be playing them at the right time,” Bush said. “They had their best hitter out all weekend, and she’s a big strength for their offense.”

Bush said she expects Hunt will play Friday, but the senior outside hitter is listed as day-to-day.

The Gophers rank last in aces (0.67 per set), 10th in blocks (1.73), and ninth in hitting percentage (.164) in Big Ten matches this season.

They also lead the Big Ten with 103 hitting errors through four conference matches.

“We need to clean up our unforced errors, whether it’s a net error, a service error or balls we hit out of bounds,” junior Mia Tabberson said.

Many of those errors have come late in sets when the Gophers had a lead. Minnesota has been in a position to win several sets despite its poor play.

“We just need to be a little more focused at the end and have the drive to get those final points,” Tabberson said.

Tabberson leads the Big Ten with 12.00 assists per set, 11.92 in conference play.) Freshman Kellie McNeil played well subbing in as setter against Northwestern, though.

Bush said she has yet to decide whether to start Tabberson or freshman McNeil at setter this weekend.

“What we know right now is that if [Tabberson] struggles, [McNeil] can come in and energize the team,” Bush said. “What we don’t know is if [McNeil] were to struggle, can [Tabberson] come in and energize the team?

“At some point we might have to find that out. I feel more comfortable and confident with [starting Tabberson].”

Minnesota’s second match of the weekend — at Michigan State — will be a challenge in its own right. The Spartans haven’t defeated Minnesota since 2007, but they took Nebraska to five sets on Sept. 30.

“They’re hungry to upset someone,” Bush said. “I’m sure they feel like they might have been robbed in not beating Nebraska.”

But the Gophers, who have underachieved in the Big Ten this season since going 7-2 in nonconference play, may be the hungriest team in conference.

“I’m looking for a big step,” Wittman said. “I’m looking for two wins this weekend.”