Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Indiana
MSU Volleyball Closes Regular Season With Another Victory
11/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2001
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team (20-7, 13-7 Big Ten) closed out the regular season with a 30-22, 23-30, 30-25, 30-24 victory against Indiana (8-20, 5-15) Friday night in front of 1,431 fans at Jenison Field House. The win allowed Michigan State, which went 9-1 in the second half of the Big Ten season, to finish the regular season in a fourth-place tie in the Big Ten standings with Illinois. The Spartans also accomplished a 20-win season for the 12th time in school history and sixth time in the last seven years.
Senior Erin Hartley (Midland, Mich.), playing in her final home match, went out in style, pounding a match-high 21 kills while adding eight digs, four blocks and four assists. Junior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) had a double-double, recording 15 kills and 11 digs, as did sophomore Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.), who collected a career-high 64 assists and 12 digs.
Freshman Kim Schram (London, Ont.) and sophomore Jenny Rood (Ada, Mich.) each had double-digit kills for MSU, pounding 17 and 11, respectively. Freshman Diana Steplyk (Libertyville, Ill.) had 11 digs, while sophomore Emmy Miller (Okemos, Mich.) had a career-high with 10.
Michigan State, which hit .291, opened the match by falling into a 4-0 hole, but the Spartans quickly climbed out of it. Trailing 8-6, MSU reeled off nine straight points, and Indiana never got closer than six the rest of the way. Rood had six kills in the opening game, while Steplyk had seven digs.
The second game was very tight through the early going, with nine ties including the last one at 15-15. But Indiana scored eight of the next nine points to take command, and the Hoosiers outhit MSU, .275-.136 in the game to even the match at one game each.
Game three was another close affair with nine ties, but at 17-17, a Schram kill gave MSU a lead it would not relinquish. A kill by Rood gave the Spartans a 24-19 lead and MSU hung on to win the game by pounding 22 kills and hitting .459. Schram had seven kills while Hartley added six in the game.
Indiana continued to hang tough in game four, taking an early 10-7 lead and holding that lead until a kill from Rood evened the scored at 18. A Schram kill gave MSU a 21-20 lead and the Spartans slowly pulled away, capping the victory on Hartley's ninth kill of the game.
MSU finished the match with 60 digs to 53 for Indiana, and the Spartans held a whopping 77-52 edge in kills. The Hoosiers kept it close by recording six service aces with only two service errors, while MSU managed just two aces and had 14 errors. Indiana also outblocked MSU, 13-11.5.
Michigan State is expected to be one of 64 teams competing in the NCAA Tournament next week. The Spartans will learn their fate Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. when the brackets are announced. First round matches will take place either Thursday, Nov. 29, Friday, Nov. 30 or Saturday, Dec. 1.
