Michigan State University Athletics
Volleyball Opens 2000 Season on Friday
8/30/2000 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Aug. 30, 2000
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team opens its 2000 season by hosting the sixth annual L&L/MSU Volleyball Classic on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 1-2 in Jenison Field House. Participating teams are Rutgers, Eastern Washington and Northeastern.
Dave "Mad Dog" DeMarco of 730 AM WVFN will broadcoast his nightly show from Jenison Field House from 5-6 p.m. on Friday to kick off the Classic.
Northeastern and Eastern Washington begin the Classic at 5:30 on Friday, followed by Rutgers and Michigan State at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Eastern Washington and Rutgers face off at 10 a.m. and Michigan State meets Northeastern at noon in the morning session. The evening session begins at 5:30 p.m. with Northeastern vs. Rutgers and ends with Eastern Washington vs. Michigan State at 7:30 p.m.
The Spartans, 12-5 all time in the L&L Classic, are looking for a third tournament title. MSU won the Classic in its inaugural season, 1995, and again in 1998. Michigan State has not faced any of the 2000 L&L opponents in its 28-year history. The Spartans, ranked preseason No. 20, went 21-13 overall and 10-10 (T-5th) in the Big Ten in 1999, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before getting knocked off by Pepperdine.
Rutgers was 15-14 in 1999 and finished third in the Big East Conference with a 8-3 record. The Scarlet Knights are coached by Ann Leonard-House (UMass-Lowell, 1985) who has a 86-98 record through six seasons at Rutgers and is 267-186 in 13 years as a head coach.
Northeastern ran up a 20-12 record in 1999, placing third in the America East Conference with a 10-4 record. The Huskies begin a new coaching era in 2000 under Ken Nichols (UMass-Dartmouth, 1989). Nichols has a 53-40 career record in three years as a head coach.
Eastern Washington took a 24-8 overall record and a 12-4 Big Sky Conference record (2nd) to the NCAA Tournament in 1999. It was the second consecutive trip to the postseason for the Eagles. The team, which lost in the first round to UCLA, is guided by first-year head coach Wade Benson.
