Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
UCLA
Volleyball Misses Sweet Sixteen Ticket
12/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Dec. 3, 2000
Los Angeles, Calif. - The Spartan volleyball team began the 2000 season with a goal, to make it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA volleyball tournament. The team fell just a few points short on Sunday, Dec. 3, losing to 11th-ranked UCLA 7-15, 15-13, 16-14, 6-15, 9-15. MSU ends its season at 18-13, while UCLA raises its record to 24-7 and advances to the next round to meet Pacific.
Junior outside hitter Erin Hartley led Michigan State with 21 kills, 18 digs and four blocks. It was Hartley's 19th double-double of the season. Freshman outside hitter Jenny Rood, senior middle Sarah Gustin and redshirt sophomore Angela Morley all had 16 kills. Gustin added seven blocks and Morley six.
Michigan State came out fast and played to a 5-0 lead in game one. The Bruins rallied back and eventually tied the score at six. The score was tied again at seven before UCLA won the next eight points straight and the game.
MSU again got out to a big lead in game two at 7-1. The Bruins proved relentless, however, and inched closer and closer, getting to within two at 10-8, at 12-10 and again at 13-11. Block assists by Hartley and Morley got the Spartans to game point but UCLA rallied off two points to close the gap to 14-13. After trading sideouts a Kyla Smith kill gave the Spartans the serve and a Bruin hitting error gave the Spartans the game.
Another MSU lead of 4-1 vanished in game three. Tied at 5-5, UCLA began a 8-1 run to take a commanding 13-7 lead. Trading five sideouts, Hartley gave the Spartans the serve and three consecutive UCLA errors got MSU to within three at 10-13. A UCLA timeout led to four traded sideouts but another hitting error by the Bruins gave MSU point number 11 and a seemingly untouchable lead was down to two points. Four more sideouts later and unbelievably, another Bruin error and then a huge kill by Jenny Rood tied the game at 13-all. A UCLA hitting error gave Michigan State its first lead since 5-4 but UCLA managed to sideout and tie the score at 14 after a Spartan ball handling error. Morley gave the Spartans a big sideout on a slide and then got the Spartans another lead on a kill down the pipe. The impossible became possible when State won the game 16-14 on a UCLA hitting error.
The fourth game was all UCLA, playing with its backs against the wall. The Bruins came out and established a 6-1 lead and never let the Spartans in, stretching it to 11-3. At that point, State found some fight and rallied to score three points and hold off UCLA on point number 14 for 14 sideouts. The Bruins went on to eventually win the game, 15-6.
In the all-important rally scored fifth game, State took an early 4-2 lead but saw UCLA come back to score six straight and take a 6-4 lead it would never relinquish, fighting to a 15-9 win.
