Volleyball Travels to No. 18 Purdue, No. 16 Illinois

Nov. 20, 2008

Volleyball Coverage
• Cathy
• Natalie
• Vineece

Live Audio vs. Purdue |Live Audio vs. Ohio State

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The 2008 Michigan State volleyball team (14-13, 6-10 Big Ten) will hit the road for its final road trip of the regular season this weekend. The Spartans first stop will be at the Intercollegiate Arena to face No. 18 Purdue (21-8, 10-7) on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET. Their second stop will be No. 16 Illinois (21-7, 12-5) at Huff Hall. The match is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET. Both Purdue and Illinois rank in the top-10 in the RPI.

"I know our road is tough, and we play some good teams in the next four matches," head coach Cathy George said. "But if some good things happen in the next two weeks, we will have consideration for the NCAA Tournament. The Big Ten gets a lot of credibility, so it is important for us to fight our best fight to have that opportunity. I am pretty pleased to even be talking about that opportunity with such a young group."

The Spartans split their contests at Michigan and Ohio State last weekend. After falling 3-1 at Michigan, MSU bounced back to defeat Ohio State, 3-1, on Saturday. Currently, MSU sits at 6-10 in the Big Ten, just one match out of sixth place in the conference. As a conference, the Big Ten features four teams in the RPI top 10 and five in the top 25. Over the last three weeks, MSU has compiled a 3-3 record, keeping them in contention for the sixth-place spot in the Big Ten. That spot currently belongs to Wisconsin (7-9), a team that MSU beat on the road last month.

In the match against Ohio State on Saturday, MSU had five players post double-digit kill totals. Three Spartans - Kyndra Abron (Livonia, Mich.), Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.) and Becca Zlabis (Wheaton, Ill.) - tallied 12 kills while Megan Schatzle (Monroe, Mich.) and Natalie Emro (Wildwood, Mo.) posted 11 and 10 kills, respectively. The match marked only the second time since 2003 that the Spartans were able to have five players reach double digits. MSU did so last season against Illinois.

In the Spartans' win over the Buckeyes, Emro tallied the fourth double-double of her career after notching 10 kills while passing out 44 assists. In the match, Emro hit .625 and finished the match without an attack error, leading the team. Emro now ranks fourth on the all-time freshman assist list with 1,061.

Emro is not the only player climbing the MSU record books. Sophomore libero Allyson Karaba (Muskegon, Mich.) has tallied 444 digs on the season, the third-bests single-season total in program history. Karaba needs just 42 digs over the next four matches to move into second-place on the list. Nicole Zlabis is making her move up the freshman records as well. After posting 235 kills on 707 attacks this season, Zlabis ranks 10th and seventh, respectively, among MSU freshmen. Zlabis has led the team in kills six times in 2008. She ranks third on the team with 136 kills in Big Ten action.

The Boilermakers enter the weekend at 21-8 and 10-7 in Big Ten action. Purdue is led by senior middle hitter Stephanie Lynch. Through 108 sets, Lynch has tallied 386 kills with only 77 errors, giving her a .414 attack percentage. She is the only player in the conference to have more than 325 kills while hitting better than .400. Lynch ranks fourth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage and seventh in kills.

As a team, Purdue is hitting .233, the third-best efficiency in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have limited opponents to a clip of .186, due largely in part to their 2.64 blocks per set. Once again, Lynch leads the Boilers with 1.40 blocks per set. Illinois comes into the week having won eight of its last 10 contests, with their only losses coming to Penn State and Minnesota, who both rank in the top-five in the RPI rankings. The Illini are 10-3 at home this season and have won five of their last six at Huff Hall.

Illinois is led by the top attacker in the Big Ten this season, sophomore Laura DeBruler. DeBruler leads the Big Ten with 4.61 kills per set. She is also one of the top two-way players in the nation as well, ranking 10th in the Big Ten with 3.11 digs per set.

Live audio featuring the voice of the Spartans John Kreger, can be found at www.msuspartans.com along with a link to live stats.