Michigan State University
Northern Illinois
No. 21 MSU Volleyball Sweeps Northern Illinois
9/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2002
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The No. 21 Michigan State volleyball team concluded its nonconference season with a convincing 30-20, 30-25, 30-19 sweep of Northern Illinois Friday night in Jenison Field House. The victory, which improved MSU's record to 8-2, gave Michigan State head coach Chuck Erbe his 200th victory as MSU's head coach. Erbe is now 200-102 in his 10th season in East Lansing, and has recorded an overall record of 510-223-3 in 22 years of coaching.
MSU featured a balanced offensive attack in which four players had 12 or 11 kills. Junior Sara Villwock (Fort Collins, Colo.), junior Jenny Rood (Ada) and sophomore Kim Schram (London, Ont.) had 12 kills each, while senior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) had a double-double with 11 kills and a match-high 14 digs.
Junior Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.), who ranks 10th in the nation in assists averaging 13.61 per game, had 44 more in the three games. Senior Emily Engel (Bay City) added eight digs for the Spartans.
"I felt all along coming into the season that the strength of this team is we have five hitters," said Erbe. "I like seeing this balance. I like seeing our players execute our system."
Michigan State dominated statistically, outhitting Northern Illinois (7-4) .352 to .103 and outdigging the Huskies, 43-33. The Spartans had just eight digs in the opening game before collecting 35 over the next two games. MSU also had nine service aces to just two for Northern Illinois, although the Spartans did commit 17 service errors while NIU had only six.
In the opening game, State led just 12-11 when a kill by Smith started a string of four points that gave MSU command. The lead grew to 22-14 on a Colson ace and Northern Illinois could get no closer than seven the rest of the way. MSU hit .483 in the opening game, pounding 18 kills to just eight for NIU.
In game two, MSU was much sloppier, hitting only .140, but managed to win anyway. Northern Illinois' last lead was at 3-2, but MSU could not pull away and led just 23-21 late in the game. A block by Colson and Rood started a string of five straight points that put the game out of reach, and Rood capped the streak with three straight aces.
The Spartans came out with more fire in game four, and slowly pulled away from an 8-8 tie. A Villwock kill stretched the lead to 17-11, and a pair of errors by the Huskies helped push the lead to 23-14. MSU ended the match on a kill by Rood, one of 19 kills by the Spartans in the game. MSU hit .515 in the game and recorded 18 digs.
Michigan State opens the Big Ten schedule next weekend when the Spartans meet No. 8 Minnesota in Minneapolis on Friday, Sept. 27.
