Michigan State University
Iowa
MSU Volleyball Drills Iowa For Third Straight Win
11/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 2, 2001
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Michigan State volleyball team (14-6, 7-6 Big Ten) ran its winning streak to three matches with a 30-22, 30-16, 30-22 victory at Iowa (3-18, 1-12) Friday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Junior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) led Michigan State with a career-high20 kills and 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Senior Erin Hartley (Midland, Mich.) pounded 13 kills and had a match-high six block assists, while freshman Kim Schram (London, Ont.) had 11 kills. Sophomore Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.) dished out 50 assists and added nine digs for MSU.
Michigan State did a solid job defensively, collecting 54 digs and allowing only two service aces, while also outblocking Iowa, 8-5. Conversely, Iowa managed just 34 digs and surrendered six service aces to the Spartans. MSU dominated the hitting statistics as well, pounding 58 kills to only 34 for Iowa. The Spartans hit .302 for the match, while Iowa managed only a .096 attack percentage.
The Spartans led nearly all of game one, although the margin was slim through most of the game. With the score 23-20, a Rood kill started a 5-0 MSU run that put the match out of reach. Smith had eight kills in the opening game for the Spartans, who hit .366 during the game while racking up 21 kills.
Game two was much of the same as MSU hit .208 while limiting Iowa to a hitting percentage of -.024. The Spartans again pulled away from a slim margin late, as a Colson kill and back-to-back aces from junior Emily Engel (Bay City, Mich.) started a 13-2 run to close out the game. Hartley and Schram had six kills each during the game, while Smith had four kills and five digs.
MSU scored five straight points to take a 7-2 advantage early in game three, and never relinquished the lead, although Iowa again kept it close until the end. Smith added eight more kills in the game for Michigan State, which hit .302 during the game.
The Spartans conclude their road trip Saturday night at No. 24 Minnesota.
