Volleyball Plays Host to Northwestern & No. 21 Wisconsin

Oct. 8, 2008

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EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2008 Michigan State volleyball squad (10-5, 2-2) returns home this weekend as it continues Big Ten Conference play against Northwestern and No. 21 Wisconsin. The Spartans will square off against Northwestern on Friday and Wisconsin on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be played at Jenison Field House.

After a 10-0 month of September, the Spartans lost their first two matches since the opening week of the season as they dropped two road contests at Indiana and No. 1 Penn State last weekend. MSU will look to rebound from that performance this weekend as they return to Jenison Field House, a welcomed relief for the Spartans as they are 6-0 at home this season. The six consecutive home victories is the program's best home record to start a season since 2002.

Junior middle blocker Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.), freshman setter Natalie Emro (Wildwood, Mo.) and sophomore libero Allyson Karaba (Muskegon, Mich.) have led the Spartans as of late. King is hitting .357 this season and needs just nine kills to take the team lead with 174. King also leads the team in blocks with 69, averaging 1.25 blocks per set total points (207.5).

Emro has helped fuel the potent Spartan attack, averaging 10.58 assists per set, guiding MSU to a third-place rank in the Big Ten with 13.00 assists per set. Emro has also been a force at the net, totaling 69 kills while hitting .309. She has also pitched in 37 blocks which ranks her second on the team, behind King.

Karaba has made great strides in her play this season. Since earning her firsts start at libero against Wichita State, Karaba has averaged 4.60 digs per set and has five 20-dig performances, with her most coming last Friday at Indiana when she tallied a personal-best 27. On the season, Karaba has only 11 reception errors from the libero position.

MSU has received key contributions from several players as of late, highlighted by the play of freshman Kyndra Abron (Livonia, Mich.). Abron has posted double-digit kill efforts in three of her last four matches, including a personal-best, 12, at Indiana. Abron also added 10 kills while hitting .600 against Ohio state during that span. Sophomore Megan Schatzle (Monroe, Mich.) has also improved her play as of late, tallying 25 of her 48 kills in the last three matches. Schatzle helped lead MSU to victory over No. 21 Michigan by posting a career-best 12 kills.

Northwestern enters Friday's contest at 0-4 in Big Ten play and 6-9 overall. The Wildcats rank last in the Big Ten in both hitting percentage (.201) and opponents hitting percentage (.213). Since the onset of Big Ten play, Northwestern is hitting .172 as a team, ranking them ninth in the Big Ten. Northwestern is led by a trio of hitters - Sabel Moffett, Chelsey Hyser and Brittani Gray - who have all tallied more than 140 kills. Hyser leads the team with 168 kills and Moffett has added 155 while hitting a team-best .336.

Moffett and Hyser are the only two players on the Wildcat roster that are hitting better than .200. Gray is third on the team with 140 kills but is hitting just .145 from the left side.

Heading to East Lansing as the nation's No. 21 team, Wisconsin is once again one of the perennial powers in the Big Ten. The Badgers have finished ranked in the top 25 in every season since 1996 and have spent 60 consecutive weeks ranked in the AVCA/CBS Top 25 poll. The Badgers streak of ranked weeks was put in jeopardy after they lost both of their week-one Big Ten matchups, at Iowa and Minnesota. They were able to rebound last weekend, earning wins against Michigan and Ohio State at home. Wisconsin ranks third in the Big Ten with a .255 hitting percentage.

Live video and audio, featuring the voice of the Spartans John Kreger, along with live stats will be provided at www.msuspartans.com.