Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Illinois
MSU Volleyball Thumps Illinois In Four Games
11/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 22, 2002
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Michigan State volleyball team earned a crucial road victory Friday night at Illinois, rallying for a 22-30, 30-27, 30-28, 32-30 victory that greatly aided MSU's bid to make a ninth-straight NCAA Tournament. The victory pushes the Spartans back over the .500 mark in the Big Ten at 9-8, and MSU's overall record improves to 17-10. Illinois slipped to 11-15 overall and 5-12 in the Big Ten.
MSU had career nights from two Spartans, as sophomore Kim Schram (London, Ont.) pounded a career- best 26 kills, including 13 in the third game alone, and junior Jenny Rood (Ada) slammed a career-high 25 kills and added a season-best 13 digs. MSU, which typically relies on a balanced attack, instead set most of its balls for that duo, who had 122 of MSU's 191 attack attempts. Schram had 71 by herself, which was 19 more than her previous career-high.
The match had some statistical oddities, as the Spartans were outblocked by a margin of 17 to 7.5, but racked up a season-best 88 digs while holding a huge advantage in that category over Illinois, which had just 57. Also, MSU won despite having no service aces for the first time all season.
Defensively, in addition to Rood's season-high in digs, junior Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.) had a career-high 18 digs to go with 65 assists, junior Emmy Miller (Okemos) had 16 digs and redshirt freshman Marley Bellwood (Battle Creek) dug a career-best 15 balls. Even MSU's front row players had career-highs, as Rood had a career-best nine digs and senior Angela Morley (Holland) had a career-high eight digs to go with 11 kills and four blocks.
In the opening game, Illinois led 21-19 late in the game when the Fighting Illini scored seven of the next eight points to open a 28-20 edge. Illinois hit a sizzling .455 during the game, pounding 22 kills with just two errors, to earn a 30-22 victory in the game. MSU hit .214, collecting 16 kills, but the Spartans had seven attack errors. Rood and Schram had four kills each to lead MSU in the opening game.
In the second game, MSU trailed 14-11 when the Spartans went on a 5-1 run thanks to a pair of kills from Rood, and kills by Schram and Wallin, to earn a 16-15 advantage. Illinois reclaimed the lead at 19-17, but MSU answered with three straight and eight of the next 11 to move ahead 25-22. Illinois jumped back on top, 27-26, but a Morley kill tied it, a Rood kill gave MSU the lead and two Illinois hitting errors closed out the game in MSU's favor, 30-27. MSU hit only .163 in the game, but Illinois cooled off considerably, getting only 11 kills and making 10 errors for a .021 attack percentage. Rood collected nine kills and Schram six for the Spartans in game two.
Game three was close all the way, as neither team could build a lead of more than two points most of the way. A Rood kill gave MSU a 22-21 lead, but after Illinois forced the game's 18th tie at 22, the Illini added three more points to take a 25-22 edge. Trailing 26-23, Schram took over, pounding five kills in the games next eight points, with the last one giving the Spartans a 29-28 lead. An Illinois attack went wide and MSU had a two-games-to-one lead. Schram was dominant in the game, pounding 13 kills with one error on 22 swings. As a team, MSU had 20 kills in the game and hit .298
In the fourth game, again neither team could establish a sizeable lead. MSU held a 21-19 lead after a kill by redshirt freshman Brooke Langston (Germantown, Tenn.), but Illinois answered with four straight points to grab a 23-21 edge. MSU closed within one point on five occasions after that, but could not tie the score until an Iiini error knotted the score at 29. Illinois took a 30-29 edge, but Schram pounded a kill followed by back-to-back kills by Rood to give MSU the victory. MSU improved its impressive record in games that go extra points to 11-2 this season as Rood had nine of MSU's 23 kills in the final game.
Colson's 65 assists moved her into sixth place on the MSU single-season assist chart with 1315 assists this season. Also, Rood and Morley both surpassed 900 career kills. Rood's 25 kills now give her 914 kills for her career, while Morley's 11 kills push her career total to 904.
Michigan State will have a short night, travelling to Purdue to play the Boilermakers Saturday at noon.
