Volleyball Hosts No. 19 Illinois, No. 18 Purdue This Weekend

Oct. 22, 2008

Volleyball Coverage
• Cathy
• Vineece
• Mischelle

Live Video/Audio vs. Illinois |Live Video/Audio vs. Purdue

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2008 Michigan State volleyball team (11-8, 3-5) will continue Big Ten play this weekend as it plays host to a pair of ranked opponents, as No. 19 Illinois and No. 18 Purdue make their way to East Lansing. The Spartans will square off against Illinois on Friday while they will clash with Purdue on Saturday. Both matches are slated to begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be played at Jenison Field House, where the Spartans are 7-1 on the season.

"We're going into another tough weekend against Illinois and Purdue," head coach Cathy George said. "Both teams are ranked and both extremely solid from pin-to-pin. They are going to be tough to defend against. But we do like the fact that we are back at home and we will look to take some energy from that."

The Spartans will look to rebound after losing two hard-fought matches last weekend to No. 12 Minnesota and Iowa. MSU was able to put together one of their finest defensive efforts last weekend and will look to carry that into the weekend series. Anchored by libero Allyson Karaba (Muskegon, Mich.), MSU corralled 129 digs in eight sets, including 68 in the match at Minnesota.

Junior middle hitter Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.) has been the Spartan's top weapon as of late. King is averaging 3.06 kills per set and is hitting a team-high .362. For her career, King is hitting .312, which has moved her to third-place on the all-time list. King also leads the Spartans in blocks (92) and total points (274). Her 1.30 blocks per set ranks her sixth in the Big Ten while her .362 hitting percentage ranks seventh.

Senior Heather McDaniel (Madison Heights, Mich.) is coming off of a successful road trip. McDaniel, who had played at defensive specialist throughout the entire season, saw time in the outside hitter spot at Minnesota and Iowa. She was able to post nine kills from the left side at Iowa, matching her career-best, set back in 2006 against Villanova.

Purdue and Illinois met Wednesday night in a battle for sole possession of third-place in the Big Ten. Illinois won the match, 3-0, in Champaign, putting Illinois in third at 6-3. With the loss, Purdue drops to 5-4 in the Big Ten. Purdue has one of the top players in the conference in middle hitter Stephanie Lynch. Lynch currently ranks third in the Big Ten with a .422 hitting percentage and has 268 kills on the season, averaging 3.62 per set, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten. She is the only player in the conference to have more than 250 kills while hitting better than .400.

Saturday's match will begin a three-week auction that will raise money for the MSU Pediatric and Adolescent Hematology/Oncology Clinic, the clinic that has played a critical role in the treatment of Adalin Farnum, the daughter of women's soccer associate head coach Tammy Farnum.

The auction will begin at Saturday's contest against Purdue and run through halftime of the match against Indiana, scheduled for November 8. Bids will only be taken at the three volleyball matches leading up to Indiana. Bidding numbers will be available at the silent auction table at Jenison Field House. There will be at least 13 pairs of the pink Nike volleyball shoes up for bids at the event.

Live video/audio, with the voice of the Spartans John Kreger, can be found for both matches at www.msuspartans.com.