Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Northwestern
Spartan Volleyball Outlasts Northwestern In Five Games
11/29/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - With an NCAA Tournament bid hanging in the balance, the Michigan State volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit to outlast Northwestern in five games, 29-31, 30-19, 27-30, 31-29, 15-9, Friday night (Nov. 29) before a crowd of 2,107 at Jenison Field House. The Spartans improve to 19-10 (11-9 Big Ten) with the win and now stand alone in fifth place in the Big Ten standings, which greatly strengthens MSU's chances for an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. The pairings for the NCAA Tournament will be announced Sunday, Dec. 1 at 9 p.m.
The Spartans used a balanced attack to beat the Wildcats (17-14, 10-10 Big Ten), as five players reached double-figures in kills. Kim Schram (So., London, Ontario) led the team with 19 kills and had a career-high eight blocks along with six digs. Angela Morley (Sr., Holland) added a double-double with a team-best 10 blocks (three solo, seven assists) and 13 kills. Nikki Colson (Jr., Lincoln, Neb.) also recorded a double-double with 65 assists and 10 digs.
Kyla Smith (Sr., Comox, British Columbia) - who sat out last weekend's matches with an elbow injury - came close to notching a triple-double as she tallied 16 kills, nine digs and seven blocks. Jenny Rood (Jr., Ada) and Megan Wallin (Fr., Sarasota, Fla.) also recorded double-digit kills for the Spartans with 14 and 12, respectively.
Michigan State held statistical advantages in every major category, including an impressive 21.5 to 9.5 advantage in blocks. MSU also had more kills (76 to 66), digs (53 to 43), assists (69 to 60) and service aces (8 to 5). In addition, the Spartans hit at a .274 clip compared to Northwestern's .162 percentage.
"I'm very proud of this team right now," said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. "We stood tall during crunch time tonight. This is a quality win against a tough opponent and helps us tremendously in our quest for an NCAA bid. We had great distribution tonight with five separate players reaching double-figures in kills. It was monumental having Kyla (Smith) back in the lineup, and Angela Morley played big at the net."
Northwestern was up two games-to-one and led 24-19 in the fourth game when Michigan State battled back for a 12-5 run to take the game 31-29, extending the match to a fifth and deciding game. The Spartans never relinquished the lead in the fifth game, dominating the action for a 15-9 win. Schram capped off the final two plays of the match with two powerful kills, both assisted by Colson. MSU is now 4-0 in fifth games in Big Ten action.
"This win shows how much character this team has," said Morley. "We knew if we could just get it to a fifth game, we would be all right. When we started to come back, the crowd really got behind us, and we just rode the momentum till the end."
MSU lost a tough first game, 31-29. The Spartans possessed a 29-27 lead and had the serve, but Northwestern blasted three consecutive kills to take a 30-29 advantage. NU's Cassie McKnight ended the game with a service ace.
The Spartans came out smoking in the second game, determined to even the match at one game apiece. MSU never trailed in the game and hit at an astonishing .607 clip, led by Jenny Rood's six kills for an .857 percentage.
The third game went back and forth, as each team failed to get a lead larger than three until deep into the game. With the score knotted at 25, the Wildcats went on a 3-0 run to take a 28-25 advantage. The Spartans would not get closer than two points the rest of the way, and lost 30-27 to fall two games to one.
Michigan State concludes the regular season Saturday night (Nov. 30) against No. 15 Wisconsin (22-8, 13-6 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. at Jenison Field House.
