Michigan State University Athletics
Volleyball Faces Michigan In Intrastate Rivalry Match
10/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2007
MICHIGAN STATE (13-10, 4-7) vs. #20 MICHIGAN (17-5, 5-5)
Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007 • 6:30 p.m.
East Lansing, Mich. • Jenison Field House
Promotion: 13th Annual Jam Jenison
Radio: www.msuspartans.com • John Kreger (PBP)
Live Stats: www. msuspartans.com
Series Information vs. Michigan: MSU leads 44-30-1
Last Meeting: October 5, 2007 • Ann Arbor, Mich. • UM def. MSU, 3-0 (30-21, 30-25, 30-23)
PDF of Complete Match Notes and Stats
EAST LANSING, Mich. - After suffering a 3-1 loss at Northwestern, Michigan State hosts the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the Jenison Field House. Michigan won the first bout in the State Pride Flag rivalry, besting MSU in three games, 30-21, 30-25, 30-23, in Cliff Keen Arena.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
No. 20 Michigan (17-5, 5-5) suffered a four-game upset against Purdue on Saturday after defeating Indiana on Friday in last week's matches. The Wolverines are second in two conference statistical categories, kills per game (16.47) and aces per game (16.47), while they also lead the Big Ten averaging 18.68 digs per game. Michigan will play at Northwestern on Friday before arriving in East Lansing to face the Spartans.
JAM JENISON
For the 13th year, Michigan State will hold its annual Jam Jenison Saturday against Michigan. The first 500 fans will receive free Jam Jenison t-shirts as the Spartans attempt to fill the field house. Last year, 2,812 fans came out to support the Spartans in their 3-0 sweep of the Wolverines to claim the State Pride Flag for the first time since 2001.
LAST TIME OUT
Michigan State volleyball (13-10, 4-7) couldn't hold off the Northwestern Wildcats at the Welsh-Ryan Arena Wednesday night, falling in four games (33-31, 27-30, 30-27, 30-24). Senior Katie Johnson led the Spartans with 25 kills and 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season, while Lauren O'Reilly and Ashley Schatzle also posted double-doubles.
O'Reilly led the Spartans with 45 assists and tacked on 11 digs; Schatzle put up 14 kills and tallied 13 digs. Miken Trogdon led the Spartans with 17 digs, tying her career high. Johnson also tied a season high with five aces. As a team, the Spartans' 69 digs were the most in a match thus far in 2007.
Last weekend, MSU upset No. 13 Minnesota on Saturday night in three games, defeating the Golden Gophers 30-28, 35-33, 30-22. Freshman setter Lauren O'Reilly dished out 54 assists, tying for fourth in assists in a three-game match. The win marked the first time MSU has defeated Minnesota in five seasons, dating back to Michigan State's 3-0 victory on November, 3, 2001.
On Friday night, MSU bested the Iowa Hawkeyes, 3-0 (30-24, 30-26, 30-25), in Jenison Field House. Senior Katie Johnson posted four blocks, passing the 200 mark in her career. Johnson now has 202 total blocks in her four years wearing the Green and White. Additionally, the Spartans were led offensively by senior Ashley Schatzle (17 kills) and defensively by senior Miken Trogdon (13 digs). Defeating both Iowa and Minnesota, the Spartans swept their Big Ten weekend matches for the first time this season.
MERRY KATIE AND ASHLEY
Senior outside hitter Katie Johnson has earned impressive offensive numbers throughout the 2007 season. Johnson has served 29 aces this season, second most on the team, and averages 0.37 aces/game, good for seventh in conference standings. Johnson had tallied five aces in a match twice in 2007, most recently against Northwestern on Oct. 24.
Johnson is among conference leaders in various categories, ranking seventh in points per game (5.01) and kills per game (4.24). With 331 kills, Johnon leads the Spartans, just one ahead of Ashley Schatzle's 300. Johnson has tallied double-digit kills in 17 matches and double-digit digs in four. She has paced the team in kills 12 times this season.
Against Northwestern on Oct. 24, Johnson logged a new season high in kills, cranking out 25 against the Wildcats. Classmate outside hitter Ashley Schatzle is second among teammates in kills (300) and digs (224). Schatzle also has numbers high enough to put her in the conference rankings, where she sits eighth with 4.23 kills per game; she also ranks 10th averaging 4.71 points/game.
Having led the Spartans in kills in 13 matches this season, the senior has tallied a team-leading 10 double-doubles. Schatzle has posted double-digit kill numbers in 19 matches and double-digit dig figures in 14 matches.
At the Harvard Invitational, Schatzle passed the 1,000 mark in career kills and now has totaled 1,198 kills in her three seasons for the Green and White; she also set a new career-high hitting percentage mark against Wofford with .667.
NOBODY DOES IT LIKE JENILEE
Topping the defensive effort at the net, Jenilee Rathje set a Big Ten Conference record when she recorded 11 blocks in MSU's match against Harvard. For her effort, Rathje was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 10. The conference record was previously held by teammate Vanessa King, who tallied 10 blocks against Purdue on Oct. 11, 2006. Since, Rathje has posted four games with 11 kills, most recently in the Spartans' 3-0 loss at Purdue.
Rathje currently leads MSU with 89 total blocks (seven BS, 82 BA), averaging 1.14 BPG.
Rathje was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 10, after she tallied 29 blocks in four matches as the Spartans won the Harvard Invitational. She set a Michigan State freshman blocks record with 11 stuffs against Harvard on Sunday as she earned her first career double-double with 11 kills.
THE O'REILLY FACTOR
Freshman Lauren O'Reilly has jumped right into her role in running the offense. The starting setter has posted 1,013 assists so far this season, averaging 12.82 assists/game, good for third in the Big Ten rankings. O'Reilly also leads the Spartan serving offense with 31 aces. She averages 0.39 aces per game, which ranks sixth among conference leaders.
O'Reilly earned her first career Big Ten Player of the Week award on Oct. 22, guiding Michigan State to its first conference weekend sweep of the season with wins over Iowa and No. 13 Minnesota. She combined for 17 assists per game on the weekend with 48 against the Hawkeyes and 54 against the Golden Gophers; the latter ties for fourth in the MSU record book in assists in a three-game match.
Behind O'Reilly, the Spartans hit at a combined .326 clip over the weekend, including a .400 mark against the nationally-ranked Gophers. The Langley, British Columbia, native also recorded five service aces on the weekend, including match point on Saturday to seal the Spartans' upset over Minnesota.
KING OF THE NET
Sophomore middle blocker Vanessa King has sparked the Spartan offense since the beginning of Big Ten action; King's conference hitting average, .323, is seventh-best among Big Ten leaders. In league play, King has posted 38 blocks (two solo, 36 assist) in 34 games, compared to 28 blocks (one solo, 27 assist) in 39 non-conference games. Additonally, over the season, King has posted double-digit kills in six matches.
In 2006, King posted one of the best defensive performances by a freshman in Michigan State history. She saw action in all 31 matches, and finished the year ranked third with 87 block assists and tied for fifth with 1.00 blocks per game in the MSU freshman record book.
THE INCREDIBLE HOHLK
Senior outside hitter Jessica Hohl paces the starters' hitting percentage category with .291. Hohl has 144 kills on 330 attempts with 48 hitting errors. Additionally, this is Hohl's third season to earn more than 100 kills for the Spartans, totaling 644 in her career.
TROGDON IN THE TRENCHES
Starting libero Miken Trogdon continues hold down the backcourt for Michigan State, leading the Spartans in total digs (231) and digs per game (3.12). The senior has paces the Spartans's defensive statistic, tallying 12 matches with digs in double digits and recording the most digs in 11 matches, including the last six consecutive bouts.
MSU MILESTONES
Head coach Cathy George picked up her 400th career win against Wofford on Sept. 7, 2007 at the Harvard Invitational; George is now 409-264 all time. George entered her third season with the Spartans with a 396-254 record, accumulated in more than 20 years worth of coaching at North Dakota State, Texas-Arlington, Western Michigan, and MSU.
HEAD COACH Cathy George
Third-year head coach Cathy George entered the 2007 campaign riding high on last year's successes. Guiding MSU to the 2006 NCAA Tournament in just her second season at the helm of the Spartan program, George has quickly led the Green and White back to its place as a nationally-prominent program. George led a rebuilding Spartan squad to a 19-12 overall record, including a 10-10 (6th) Big Ten Conference mark in 2006, and its first trip to postseason play since 2003. During her first season with the Spartans (2005), George directed MSU to a 12-18 record, including a 5-15, ninth-place finish in the conference standings. Overall, George holds an MSU overall record of 44-40 and conference mark of 19-32.
36 and COUNTING
MSU's 2007 campaign marks the beginning of the 36th season of Spartan volleyball. Carol Davis was the first head coach in the history of the program during the 1972 season and led the Spartans through the 1973 campaign. Current head coach Cathy George is the fifth head coach in MSU volleyball history. Before calling Jenison Field House its home prior to the 1991 season, Spartan volleyball played its home contests at IM West.
GREEN and WHITE ATTENDANCE
As years past, the Spartans continue to attract fans to Jenison Field House for home matches. At the Spartan Invitational, 3,106 fans attended MSU's three weekend matches, helping State sweep their opponents to win the tournament. Hosting Iowa for the Green Hair Dare, 1,760 fans set the 2007 attendance record. So far in 2007, a total of 12,549 fans have attended matches in Jenison Field House; Michigan State averages 1,394 attendees a match.
MSU drew its largest crowd in recent history on Nov. 22, 2006, when it hosted cross-state rival Michigan; 2,812 fans watched the Spartans sweep the match and ultimately the 2006 series.
SCHEDULE NOTE
Michigan State will face nine teams that competed in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, (Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, St. John's, Southern California and Wisconsin) including six (Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue, Southern California and Wisconsin) that were ranked in the 2007 preseason poll by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).
NEXT IN LINE
The Spartans travel to Wisconsin and Illinois Nov. 2-3 for a weekend pair. The Spartans lost to Wisconsin in four games and Illinois in five earlier this season. The Badgers currently rank second in the conference while the Fighting Illini are tied for seventh.
