Michigan State University
Northwestern
Volleyball Routs Northwestern, 3-1
10/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 4, 2007
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State volleyball (10-7, 1-4) earned its first Big Ten victory in 2007 with its 3-1 rout of Northwestern (10-6, 1-4) Wednesday night on the Big Ten Network. Three Spartans posted double-digit kill numbers, as three other Spartans tallied double-digit dig numbers.
Heather McDaniel tallied a career high against the Wildcats in a breakout game, with 13 digs.
"We needed this win - so we practiced hard, and we started putting everything in order. And really, McDaniel made incredible saves that kept the team in the game," said head coach Cathy George.
Katie Johnson led MSU with 18 kills, followed by Ashley Schatzle with 16 and Vanessa King with 14. King was the floor leader with a solid .667 hitting percentage.
On the defensive end, Miken Trogdon paced the Spartans with 16 digs, while Lauren O'Reilly tied her career high in digs with 11. With a team total of 54 digs, the Spartans improve to 6-2 when posting at least 50 digs in a match this season.
Michigan State started off the night with an incredible game one, posting a .606 hitting percentage on 23 kills and only three errors. Schatzle led game one at the net offensively with eight kills while MSU received plenty of attack help from King, who made four kills out of four attempts, hitting a perfect 1.000. Trogdon anchored the backcourt early and often, picking up six digs in game one. The Spartans took 1-0 match lead with the 30-28 win.
In game two Michigan State stayed strong and continued to dominate at the net with 15 team kills and four team blocks. Through the game two 30-27 win, the Spartans had totaled 38 kills, hitting .412, and also 27 digs. Northwestern's defense suffered under MSU's constant attack; the Wildcats had only 16 digs through the second game.
Though King crushed out six kills in game three and McDaniel played the backcourt for 13 digs, Northwestern rallied enough to pick up game three 30-25, forcing a game four. The Wildcats tallied just one more kill than the Spartans but hit successfully with only six hitting errors. NU also penetrated the net defensively with six blocks to shut down the Spartan offense.
In game four, Michigan State and Northwestern were matched with 14 kills each, but MSU's hitting efficiency minimized hitting errors, allowing the Spartans to post points at the net. At the end of the final game, Michigan State totaled 11 mores kills and nine more digs than the Wildcats.
With the win, the Spartans turn around and play at Michigan Friday night. The 7 p.m. match kicks off the annual State Pride Flag rivalry between the intrastate rivals. MSU swept the Wolverines last year, going 2-0 in the series for the first time since 2001.
Live radio and stats are available for the MSU-UM match at www.msuspartans.com.
