Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Northwestern
Volleyball Bags 'Cats
10/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 15, 2000
Evanston, Ill. - Michigan State defeated Northwestern 7-15, 15-10, 15-10, 15-8 in Evanston, Ill., on Saturday night. The Spartans raise their record to 12-5 overall, 5-3 in the Big Ten, while the Wildcats fell to 4-14 overall and 1-7 in the conference.
Sarah Gustin led the Spartans with 21 kills to go with nine digs and six blocks. Erin Hartley added 17 kills, 11 digs and four blocks, while Angela Morley added 11 kills on .529 hitting, a career-high five digs and eight blocks. Maren Witzel, filling in for an injured Jessica Sanborn, who was hurt in pre-game warm-ups, played well with seven kills and five blocks. MSU tallied a season-high 18 blocks.s
Michigan State took a 3-0 lead to open the match. Northwestern scored six-straight to take control of the match and cruised to a 15-7 win. MSU had six service errors in the game. The Wildcats hit .421 to the Spartans' .214. Gustin had four kills and two digs to lead the Spartans.
Michigan State hit .300 to .089 in game two. After leading early again at 3-0, the score was tied three times. At 9-9 State scored four straight on a Hartley service ace, blocks by Witzel and Rood, a Rood kill and a Northwestern blocking error gave the Spartans a 14-9 lead and a hitting error three sideouts later saw MSU win 15-10.
The Spartans came out with guns blazing in the third game and opened a seemingly insurmountable 10-0 lead. N'western had other ideas and rallied to within two at 11-9. The Spartans finally put the clamps on and closed out a 15-10 game.
Tied at 4-4 in game four, Michigan State took charge of the match and opened up a 10-5 lead. Another Wildcat rally awaited the Spartans to get to 10-8. The teams traded nine sideouts before block assists by Morley and Gustin gave MSU its 11th point. After a Northwestern timeout, Maren Witzel served up an ace, Landry and Morley shared another block and consecutive NU hitting errors ended the match with a 15-8 MSU win.
