TAYLORSVILLE, Utah – LOVB Madison was down two sets to one Thursday night, trailed 24-21 in the fourth, and was in danger of not only losing the match but also seeing its winning streak snapped.
Well, the streak is now at five after Madison continued its remarkable turnaround with a 20-25, 25-15, 17-25, 32-30, 15-7 victory at LOVB Salt Lake.
Match stats | LOVB Madison roster | LOVB Salt Lake roster
Annie Drews Schumacher went off for a LOVB-best 26 kills, hitting .362 after having just five errors in 58 attacks.
"Annie was just a beast," Madison coach Matt Fuerbringer said.
The previous best for kills was 25 by Salt Lake's Skylar Fields, who did not play Thursday. Annie had nine kills in the fourth set alone and has had 17 or more kills in six consecutive matches.
"When we really needed it, we were on the money," said Annie, who added a fifth-set ace, two blocks and 12 digs. "We served well and passed well when we needed it for those big kills at the end."
No one was bigger at the end than Jennifer Janiska, the German veteran who had four of her 14 kills after Madison took a 9-4 lead. She hit .382 as all of her kills came in the last four sets and added a block, nine digs and an assist. She doubled her previous best in kills.
"Jennifer came in and played lights out for us and really turned the match around," Matt said.
Sarah Franklin added 10 kills, three aces, a block and 12 digs. Ana Beatriz Correa had seven kills, an ace, three blocks, six digs and an assist. Anna Hall, who had five kills, also added an ace, five blocks and five digs.
Setter Lauren Carlini, whose team hit .290, personally boosted that percentage with five kills in nine errorless tries, 55 assists and 10 digs. Libero Milica Medved had 15 digs and seven assists.
The victory left Madison 6-7 and two games back of idle Houston in the six-team standings. Madison can't catch first-place Atlanta (10-3), but hopes to pass Houston to gain the first-round bye into next month's LOVB Finals that comes with finishing second.
"I don't think we played our best volleyball and Salt Lake City, they were playing really well," Matt said. "They were digging everything and their serving was insane."
With Utah governor Spencer Cox and his wife, Abby, in the stands at Bruin Arena, Salt Lake was so close to wrapping the match up in four sets. It took a 21-24 lead but Madison, out of timeouts, rallied to tie it at 24, fighting off five match points in total before cashing in on its third set point with an ace by Danica Markovic.
"They just kind of gave us a crack there at the end," Matt said. "And then we got that momentum. But it took a lot of effort and grit for our team to stay in it when a team is playing that well."
It was all Madison in the fifth, as Annie opened the set with three kills in her team's first four points.
"We battled and we pushed them and they pushed us. When it comes down to this part of the season that's what we want," Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said. "In that sense I'm happy but disappointed that we couldn't pull it off and finish the fourth set."
Roni Jones-Perry was tremendous for Salt Lake, leading with a season-best 24 kills, which tied Atlanta's Danielle Cuttino for third-most in a LOVB match. Roni hit .273 and had five blocks and five digs.
"Jordyn (Poulter) was putting me in really good spots," RJP said.
Haleigh Washington had 13 kills with no errors in 21 attacks to hit .619 and had two aces, a dig and an assist. Heidy Casanova had nine kills, a block and eight digs and Serena Gray, playing the last three sets, had seven kills with one error in 10 swings to hit .600 and added two blocks and a dig. Dani Drews, getting time on the right side, had five kills with one error in 20 attacks, an ace, five digs and an assist.
Salt Lake hit .254, which included 16 kills with one error in 30 swings in the third set. Setter Jordyn Poulter had 48 assists, an ace, a block and 12 digs. Tamaki Matsui, who set in a double-sub with Drews, had seven assists and six digs, and libero Manami Kojima had 22 digs and three assists.
Salt Lake dropped to 5-8 and will be caught by the winner of Friday’s match between LOVB Austin and LOVB Omaha, which starts at 7 p.m. Central and can be streamed on ESPN+.
