Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Iowa
Spartan Volleyball Sweeps Iowa
11/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 15, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team had a much-needed dominant performance, sweeping Iowa, 30-20, 30-26, 30-17, Friday night in Jenison Field House. The victory snapped a two-match losing skid for MSU and improved the Spartans' record to 16-9 overall and 8-7 in the Big Ten. Iowa lost for the ninth consecutive match to slip to 8-17 and 2-13 in the Conference.
MSU outplayed Iowa in seemingly every facet. The Spartans hit .287 on 49 kills, while Iowa managed just a .120 attack percentage on 36 kills. MSU had edges in digs (47-44), blocks (8-4) and service aces (8-3).
Junior Jenny Rood (Ada) had a team-high 12 kills while redshirt freshman Megan Wallin (Sarasota, Fla.) pounded 11 kills to pace MSU. Junior Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.) recorded her team-best 11th double-double with 37 assists and a team-high 11 digs. The Spartans also had a spark from junior Stephanie Knopp (Cupertino, Calif.), who collected seven kills and seven digs while playing L2 for the first time in her career.
"This team wants to play well again. It wants to believe in itself again," said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. "I think our players will go to bed feeling very good about themselves tonight and eager to get up tomorrow and play Minnesota."
In the opening game, MSU trailed 11-10 when Iowa errors helped trigger a 13-2 run to give the Spartans control at 23-13. Five attack errors, a service error and a setting error contributed to Iowa's downfall. Wallin's fifth kill of the game put the Spartans up by a game, as MSU hit only .205 but limited Iowa to a .135 percentage.
Game two was much closer, as Iowa held an 18-16 lead at one point. With the score tied at 19, senior Angela Morley (Holland) slammed a kill, followed by an Iowa error, a solo block from sophomore Kim Schram (London, Ont.) and another Iowa error. Iowa closed within 24-23 but kills by Schram and Wallin kept MSU on top and the Spartans closed out the game on a kill by Knopp.
The Spartans clicked on all cylinders in game three, hitting .500 by pounding 18 kills with just two errors on 32 swings. MSU scored the first four points, pushed the lead to 10-4, then 20-9 and the match was all but over. Rood keyed the surge in game three with four kills, three blocks and a service ace. Iowa managed only seven kills in the game while attacking at a .107 percentage.
Senior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) added seven kills and seven digs for MSU, while junior Emmy Miller (Okemos) collected nine digs. Colson, Rood and Morley had two service aces apiece for the Spartans.
Michigan State will battle No. 6 Minnesota Saturday night at 8 p.m. in Jenison Field House. The Golden Gophers swept Michigan Friday night to improve to 27-3 overall and 14-1 in the Big Ten.
