Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Illinois
No. 18 Volleyball Falls to Illinois Friday, 3-0
10/17/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 17, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Brooke Langston and Jenny Rood both hit better than .400 with 10-plus kills each in Michigan State volleyball's 3-0 loss to Illinois in Jenison Field House Friday. The Illini won the match with games scores of 30-24, 30-25, 30-25. No. 18 Michigan State drops to 11-6 overall and 3-4 in the conference, while Illinois moves to 14-3 overall and 5-2 in league play.
"Illinois is a physical team," said head coach Chuck Erbe. "They came right after us tonight. We made mistakes and they didn't. We're like Jekyl and Hyde; we're a different team when our backs are to the wall."
Illinois' Jessica Belter, a junior outside hitter, had 16 kills on 19 attacks, with just three errors for a blistering .737 attack percentage. She also contributed four block assists. Lisa Argabright added 10 kills on .316 hitting to go along with three service aces, two digs, two block assists and a block solo. The Illini outhit State, .288-.232, but MSU committed 10 service errors and nine receiving errors in the match to UI's six service and two receiving errors.
"The difference in this match was 16 points, all in serve-receive," said Erbe. "We had 19 service and receiving errors. We need to improve."
Langston led the Spartans, hitting .643 with 10 kills and an error on 14 attacks. Rood had 11 kills on 20 attacks for a .400 attack percent. Each of them contributed three block assists. Senior setter Nikki Colson had 39 assists, four digs and two block assists to go along with her lone kill on the night.
The loss Friday marked MSU's fourth consecutive weekend-opening loss of the year; all four have come in Big Ten play.
The Spartans host Northwestern Saturday at 7 p.m. in Jenison Field House. The match will be broadcast on espn2 Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
ILLINOIS 3, #18 MICHIGAN STATE 0 1 2 3ILLINOIS 30 30 30#14 MICHIGAN ST. 24 25 25
UI K E TA Pct.1 15 7 32 .2502 16 4 29 .4143 17 7 43 .233TOTAL 48 18 104 .288
MSU K E TA PCT.1 14 8 36 .1672 20 8 38 .3163 14 6 38 .211TOTAL 48 22 112 .232
