Michigan State University Athletics
Spartan Volleyball Gears Up For NCAA Tournament
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Dec. 4, 2002
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THIS WEEK IN SPARTAN VOLLEYBALL:
NCAA TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND
Michigan State (19-11) vs. George Mason (22-7)
Saturday, Dec. 7, 4 p.m.; South Bend, Ind.; Joyce Center
If MSU wins Saturday:
Michigan State (19-11) vs. Notre Dame (23-7) or College of Charleston (29-5)
Sunday, Dec. 8, 4 p.m.; South Bend, Ind.; Joyce Center
Radio and Internet Broadcast: The matches will be broadcast live on WDFN 730 AM and www.msuspartans.com with John Kreger calling the play-by-play action. Coverage begins at 3:45 p.m.
MSU SELECTED TO NINTH STRAIGHT NCAA TOURNAMENT: The Michigan State volleyball team earned its ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid Sunday night (Dec. 1). The Spartans, in the West region, will play George Mason (22-7) Saturday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. in the first round in South Bend, Ind. This will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. The winner advances to play Sunday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. against the winner of Friday's second match between host Notre Dame (23-7) and College of Charleston (29-5).
NCAA HISTORY IN BRIEF: MSU is 9-8 in eight previous NCAA Tournament appearances, all under head coach Chuck Erbe. MSU's first NCAA appearance was in 1994 when it lost in the first round to Texas A&M. In 1995 the Spartans advanced to the Final Four where they lost to Nebraska in five. MSU returned to the regional finals the following year but fell to Florida, 1-3. In 1997, State bowed out in the second round to Nebraska, 0-3. Pepperdine ended the Spartans' 1998 season in the first round in a five-game thriller and did it again in 1999, this time winning in four in the second round. In 2000, MSU defeated Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the opening round before falling at UCLA in five games. Last season, the Spartans topped Notre Dame in first round but lost to host and sixth-seeded Wisconsin in the second round, 3-0.
GEORGE MASON AT A GLANCE: The Patriots (22-7, 14-2 CAA) are making their fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and have a 1-4 program mark in tournament history. George Mason earned an automatic berth by winning this year's Colonial Athletic Association Championship (CAA) over James Madison Nov. 24. GMU enters Saturday's match riding a seven-match winning streak and has won nine of its last 10. The Patriots are led by two-time CAA Player of the Year Aline Pereira and CAA Setter of the Year Jesica Umansky. Pereira tops the nation in kills with 6.64 per game, while Umansky leads the Patriots with 12.27 assists per game and 57 service aces.
NCAA TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW: The NCAA Division I Volleyball Championship field of 64 contains 31 automatic bids and 33 at-large bids. The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and placed within four regions. The teams with the top seeds were Southern California (West), Stanford (Pacific), Nebraska (Central) and Northern Iowa (East). Team pairings were determined by geographical proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during the first and second rounds.
The Big Ten and the Pac-10 led all conferences with eight teams selected. In the 22-year history of the championships nine schools have been crowned champion, all of which are in this year's bracket, including defending champion Stanford. Four teams (Pacific, Penn State, Stanford and UC-Santa Barbara) have earned bids to all 22 championships.
SCOUTING THE SOUTH BEND REGIONAL -
GEORGE MASON
The Patriots (22-7) will put a seven-match winning streak on the line against Michigan State Dec. 7. George Mason won this year's CAA regular season title with a 14-2 mark and captured its sixth conference tournament title with a win over James Madison in the championship match.
GMU (1-4 NCAA Tournament record) is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance and the first since 1996. That year, the Patriots earned a first-round bye but were defeated by Wisconsin in the second round. The team's lone postseason victory came in 1995, when it knocked off Indiana, 3-0, in the first round before bowing out to No. 1 Nebraska. GMU's other tournament appearances came in 1993 and 1994.
George Mason is led by two-time CAA Player of the Year Aline Pereira (Sao Paolo, Brazil) and CAA Setter of the Year Jesica Umansky (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Pereira leads George Mason, the CAA and the country with an average of 6.64 kills per game (711 total), while Umansky leads the Patriots with 12.27 assists.
HEAD COACH: Pat Kendrick (George Mason, 1982); Record (Overall - 341-242, 18th year; at George Mason - Same)
SERIES HISTORY VS. MSU: First meeting. The Spartans are 3-2 all-time vs. CAA Opponents (1-0 vs. Delaware; 2-2 vs. Hofstra).
NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish (23-7) claimed both the Big East regular season and tournament championship. Notre Dame - seeded 16th overall in the tournament - is hosting the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996. ND is 4-1 in NCAA action at home since garnering its first postseason berth in 1992.
Emily Loomis leads the offensive attack with 3.66 kills per game while hitting at a .284 clip. Katie Neff and Lauren Kelbley are also effective offensive threats, averaging 2.85 and 2.80 kills per game, respectively. The Irish are especially strong at the net, averaging 3.67 blocks per game, which is tied for first in the nation. Four players all average over one block per game, including Lauren Brewster, who notches 1.70 per game (fifth in the nation). Kristen Kinder is the team's setter and averages 11.19 assists per game.
HEAD COACH: Debbie Brown (Arizona State, 1982); Record (Overall - 416-184, 18th year; at Notre Dame - 299-101, 12th year)
SERIES HISTORY VS. MSU: MSU leads, 6-3. The Spartans defeated Notre Dame in four games in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Erin Hartley led MSU with 16 kills while the team hit for a .346 percentage. MSU has won four in a row over the Irish, with ND's last win coming Sept. 3, 1994 at the Joyce Center. MSU last won at Notre Dame Sept. 10, 2000, in five games. The Spartans' overall record in South Bend is only 1-3.
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
The Cougars (29-5) won the Southern Conference Tournament over Georgia Southern to earn an NCAA automatic bid, the program's first in school history. Charleston, which was also the Southern Conference regular season 3co-champion, is riding a 22-match winning streak into the tournament, which is the second longest in the nation behind Nebraska.
The Cougars finished the regular season leading the SoCon in hitting percentage and are 20th in the nation with a .273 percentage. Stephanie Ballard leads the team with 3.91 kills per game, but three other Cougars also average over three kills per game (Shawn Beckham, Alisa Long and Tara Green). Mary Sabatino, a 2002 SoCon All-Tournament selection, paces the offense with 12.80 assists, which is good for 20th in the nation.
HEAD COACH: Jewel McRoberts (Furman, 1993); Record (Overall - 150-109, eighth year; at Charleston - 125-94, seventh year)
SERIES HISTORY VS. MSU: First meeting. Michigan State has never faced an opponent from the Southern Conference.
LAST TIME OUT: MSU split a pair of matches last weekend, but a five-game win over Northwestern Friday (Nov. 29) brightened the Spartans' tournament hopes before being officially announced Sunday evening.
With an NCAA Tournament bid hanging in the balance, MSU overcame a 2-1 deficit to outlast Northwestern in five games, 29-31, 30-19, 27-30, 31-29, 15-9. The Spartans used a balanced attack to beat the Wildcats, as five players reached double-figures in kills. Kim Schram led the team with 19 kills and had a career-high eight blocks along with six digs. 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.
In the regular season finale Nov. 30, Wisconsin swept MSU, 30-24, 30-19, 30-27.
KEEP ON BLOCKING IN THE FREE WORLD: Angela Morley broke the school record for total blocks Oct. 26 against Illinois, collecting 11 block assists to push her career total blocks mark to 589. Morley, who also owns the school record for career block assists, is now fourth in Big Ten history in block assists (548) and total blocks (632). She is only the fifth player in Big Ten history to amass at least 600 career total blocks.
Morley is third in the Big Ten and 29th nationally in blocks (1.38 per game). She has twice hit the 12-block plateau in matches this season (9/14 vs. South Florida; 10/4 vs. Ohio State), which is tied for the fourth best performance in a single match in MSU history. She tallied 10 blocks in a key five-game win over Northwestern Nov. 29.
Morley reached another milestone in the South Carolina match Aug. 31 as she recorded her 500th total block, becoming only the third Spartan in school history to do so.
In addition to blocking, Morley is also a superb hitter at the net. Her .326 hitting percentage is fourth in the Big Ten and she is second in MSU history with a .310 career percentage (927 kills, 316 errors, 1,968 attempts).
PERFECT SETUP: Co-captain and setter Nikki Colson, who ranked third in the Big Ten and 12th nationally in assists last season (12.99 per game), is putting up even better numbers in 2002. Colson leads the team with 1,467 assists (13.10 per game) in 30 matches this season. She recorded a career-high 68 assists against No. 11 Penn State Nov. 1. The junior ranks fourth in the Big Ten in assists and 17th nationally.
Colson recorded her 2,000th assist against Ohio State Oct. 4 and moved into fourth place on the all-time MSU assists chart (currently: 2,868 assists) vs. Michigan Oct. 30. Her 1,467 assists in 2002 are good for third best in an MSU season and she is only 33 away from becoming only the third Spartan to total 1,500 assists in a single season (record: 1,559). Colson also leads the team with 14 double-doubles (assists-digs) on the year, including a 65 assist-18 dig effort vs. Illinois Nov. 22. She has amassed 60 assists on four occasions this season.
VILLWOCK SIDELINED: MSU added a powerful punch to the lineup with the addition of outside hitter Sara Villwock, a junior transfer from Colorado. But injuries limited Villwock to eight matches this season, and she will seek a medical redshirt for this season due to a stress injury to her foot.
Villwock had made an impact this season for the Spartans, collecting six double-doubles in eight matches. In her first weekend as a Spartan, Villwock was named the MVP of the MSU Volleyball Classic after posting double-doubles in two of the weekend's three matches. Villwock blasted a season-high 18 kills in MSU's win at South Florida Sept. 14.
Villwock was a two-year starter with Colorado and led the Buffaloes to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2000 and 2001. The Fort Collins, Colo., native averaged 2.73 kills and 2.35 digs during her stint in Boulder, and was a Fab 50 selection by Volleyball Magazine in high school.
SUPER SOPH: Sophomore Kim Schram made a big splash in her rookie season for the Green and White by earning All-Big Ten freshman honors with 285 kills, which was the fifth best total in Spartan freshmen history. Schram is proving once again that she is an integral part of the team as she is leading the team with 414 kills (10th in Big Ten; 3.73 per game).
She has led the Spartans in kills in 12 matches and posted a career-high 32 kills at Purdue Nov. 23. The 32 kills tied for fifth best in a match in MSU history, and Schram became the first Spartan player to collect 30 or more kills since Jenna Wrobel slammed 36 vs. Wisconsin on Nov. 27, 1998. Schram hit for an impressive .538 with only four errors in the match. The night before at Illinois, Schram recorded 26 kills, which was a career-best for less than a day. For her efforts, Schram was named co-Big Ten Player of the Week Nov. 25. Schram has posted double-digit kills in 24 of MSU's 30 matches this season. She is only one kill away from reaching 700 for her career.
SPECIAL K: Senior Kyla Smith, MSU's breakout performer of the year in 2001, is making the most of her last season with the Green and White. Smith pounded a season-high 18 kills to go with 10 digs vs. Illinois (Oct. 26) and added a career-best eight blocks. She has recorded eight double-doubles this season, and is third on the team in digs with 240 (2.38 pg) and in kills with 304 (3.01 pg).
ROOD AWAKENING: Junior Jenny Rood has been unkind to opponents at the net this season as she is second on the team in blocks with 99 (27 solo, 72 assists) and in kills with 386 (3.64 per game, 12th in Big Ten). Rood has hit for double-digit kills in 23 of the 28 matches she has played in, including a career-high 25 kills at Illinois Nov. 22. She also blasted 24 kills in the five-game win vs. Penn State Nov. 1.
Rood switched from middle to outside hitter Oct. 18 at Wisconsin for the first time since her freshman year. In the first match in her new spot, Rood pounded a team-best 19 kills. Against Indiana Oct. 5, Rood hit for an astounding .600 (14 K - 2 E - 20 TA).
ACES WILD: Senior Emily Engel, whose 65 service aces in 2001 were second in the Big Ten and the most by any Spartan since 1983, is once again leading the team with 27 service aces this season. Engel needs four more aces to reach 100 for her career.
AND THE EMMY GOES TO...: Defensive specialist Emmy Miller, who has seen the most time at the new libero position, has fit in well to her spot, as she is first on the team in digs with 311 (3.05 per game, ninth in Big Ten). Miller posted a career-high 20 digs against Georgia Tech Sept. 14 and was also named to the WMU Invitational All-Tournament team.
THE WALL - REUNION TOUR: Redshirt freshman Megan Wallin collected a career-high nine blocks (one solo, eight assists) Oct. 19 at Northwestern, then added eight Oct. 26 vs. Illinois. Wallin has been a regular in the main rotation in the last 14 matches, having played in every game during that time. Wallin, who had a career-best 13 kills vs. the Illini, also smashed 11 kills and hit .562 vs. Oakland in her first collegiate match (8/31).
