Michigan State University
Minnesota
No. 21 MSU Volleyball Swept By No. 8 Minnesota
9/27/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2002
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - In 2001, the Michigan State volleyball team had Minnesota's number, sweeping the Gophers both times the teams met. Friday night in the Big Ten opener for both squads, the No. 8 Gophers returned the favor, dumping the No. 21 Spartans, 30-23, 30-27, 30-28 at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota improved to 14-2 overall by beating a ranked team for the fifth time this season, while MSU slipped to 8-3.
Junior Sara Villwock (Fort Collins, Colo.), led Michigan State with 13 kills and 12 digs, but was the only Spartan to reach double digits in kills. Sophomore Kim Schram (London, Ont.) was held to single figures in kills for the first time this year, collecting nine, while senior Kyla Smith (Comox, B.C.) added eight kills and 11 digs.
Junior Nikki Colson (Lincoln, Neb.) dished out 41 assists for the Spartans while junior Jenny Rood (Ada) had a team-high five blocks.
Minnesota outhit MSU, .234 to .175, and outdug the Spartans, 51-45. The Gophers also had six service aces to just one for MSU, although the Spartans did outblock Minnesota, 10-7.
The Spartans and Gophers played evenly in the opening moments of the match, before Minnesota went on a 7-1 run to break away from a 9-9 tie. Michigan State scored six of the next eight points to close within two at 18-16 on a kill by Angela Morley (Holland), but would get no closer. Minnesota pushed the lead as high as seven en route to winning game one, 30-23. Villwock had five kills for MSU in the opening game, but the Spartans hit only .114 as a team.
The second game started out as much of the same as the teams were even for most of the early going. A Villwock kill tied the score at 12-12 before Minnesota scored five of the next six points to build a 17-13 lead, but this time MSU did rally. Trailing 22-18, the Spartans scored four straight points, capped by a block by Rood and Colson, to knot the score at 22. However, MSU could not forge ahead, and the Gophers pulled away for a 30-27 victory. Michigan State improved its attack percentage to .267 in game two and collected 18 digs, but allowed Minnesota to hit .349 while digging 20 shots.
The Spartans came out blocking in game three, stuffing more shots (five) in the game's first eight points than they had in the first two games combined (three) while building a 6-2 lead. Later, a 6-1 MSU run pushed the advantage to 18-10, and the Spartans still led, 25-19, before Minnesota came back. Four straight points pulled Minnesota within 25-23, and the Gophers later scored five more in a row to go ahead 29-27. MSU staved off one match point on another kill from Villwock, but the Gophers scored the next point to end the match.
"We competed up until about 11 or 12 points in game one then couldn't make big plays," said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. "In game two, I thought we competed better but couldn't finish. In game three, I thought we played a lot better, a lot more consistently, but at the end we got tentative and couldn't finish. That's disappointing."
Villwock has now posted six double-doubles in the eight matches in which she has played. Also for the Spartans, Morley had six kills, surpassing the 750 career kill mark. Morley now has 751 career kills.
Michigan State will visit Iowa Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET.
