Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
South Florida
No. 19 MSU Volleyball Beats South Florida, 3-1
9/14/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 14, 2002
TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 19 Michigan State volleyball team won its second match of the day, rallying from behind to defeat South Florida, 27-30, 35-33, 30-23, 30-24, Saturday night at the South Florida Adidas Invitational. The victory gave MSU (7-2) a 2-1 record in the tournament, tying the Spartans with the host Bulls (7-3) and Georgia Tech for the best record in the tourney. The field's other team, No. 24 Kansas State, finished 0-3.
Junior Sara Villwock (Fort Collins, Colo.), senior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) and junior Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.) all had double-doubles to lead MSU. Villwock had 18 kills and 10 digs, Smith had 17 kills and 13 digs and Colson added 11 digs and 60 assists. Junior Jenny Rood (Ada) chipped in with 13 kills, sophomore Kim Schram (London, Ont.) had 12 kills and junior Emmy Miller (Okemos) had a team-high 14 digs.
Smith was joined on the all-tournament team by senior Angela Morley (Holland) who had six kills and five blocks after collecting 12 blocks in the afternoon match.
"I'm proud of our team that they recovered their spirit and didn't back away from a rowdy crowd and an intense match," said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. "I also have a sense of relief that hopefully we're out of the doldrums we were in for a couple of matches."
It was a tremendous team effort," Erbe added. "We played Michigan State volleyball the last two matches, especially tonight."
Michigan State jumped on top early in game one, using a 4-0 run to take a 12-6 lead. South Florida answered quickly, scoring nine of the next 10 points to move ahead, 15-13. The Bulls extended the lead to six points at 29-23, but MSU wouldn't go down easily, scoring the next four points capped by back-to-back kills by Rood, before USF finally prevailed, 30-27. South Florida collected six service aces in game one while MSU had none.
South Florida held a 4-1 lead in game two when MSU scored six straight points including three kills by Villwock. MSU led by as many as four before South Florida came back. The Spartans still held a 22-21 lead, but USF scored five of the next seven points to go ahead 26-24. MSU evened the score then fought off four game points before finally taking a lead at 33-32. After USF tied the score at 33, Morley and Smith pounded back-to-back kills to even the match at one game each. The Spartans hit .318 in the game thanks to a balanced attack, getting four kills each from Morley, Smith, Villwock and Schram.
South Florida never led in game three, as MSU pulled away from a slim 9-8 edge by scoring nine of the next 11 points to build an 18-10 advantage. Villwock sparked the run with two kills and a solo block. The Bulls never got closer than four points, as MSU won the game 30-23 to move ahead in the match, two games to one. MSU improved to .395 in the game, pounding 18 kills with only three errors, led by five kills each from Smith, Villwock and Schram.
In game four, MSU trailed 5-2 when the Spartans scored six straight to take an 8-5 lead. USF later scored six straight of their own to go up 14-12, but MSU scored the next three points to regain the lead. The score was tied at 22 when a Smith kill was followed by a Villwock kill and solo block that gave MSU command. Villwock added two more kills as MSU stretched the lead, and a South Florida hitting error gave MSU a 30-24 victory and the match.
MSU outhit the Bulls, .313 to .174, outdug USF, 59-47, and outblocked the Bulls, 15-9. The Spartans had nine solo blocks, including four from Villwock, which is tied for second-best in school history for a four-game match. MSU also held South Florida's Michelle Collier, who had 63 kills in the Bulls' first two matches of the tournament, to only 15 kills with 10 errors on 47 swings.
"It was a successful weekend," said Erbe. "I'd like to play Georgia Tech again right now. I think we finally found our team. But you have to go forwards, you can't go backwards. Hopefully we can use this as a springboard into next weekend and into the Big Ten."
Michigan State plays its final nonconference match of the regular season when it hosts Northern Illinois next Friday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m.
