Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
8-3
Central Michigan
6-5
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 27 | 25 | 20 | 26 | 3 |
| Central Michigan | 25 | 15 | 25 | 24 | 1 |
Volleyball Wins Eighth Straight, Tops CMU 3-1
9/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 20, 2008
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- Allyson
- Jenilee
Mount Pleasant, Mich. - The 2008 Michigan State volleyball squad earned its eighth consecutive win after topping in-state rival Central Michigan, 3-1 (27-25, 25-15, 20-25, 26-24). The victory was the Spartans first at Central Michigan since 1986 and they have now won the past four matches against the Chippewas. Down 24-19 in the final set, MSU ran off seven straight points to take the final set 26-24. Sophomore Jenilee Rathje (Mount Pleasant, Mich.) led the Spartans with 21 kills, playing her first collegiate game in her hometown.
CMU seemed to feed off of the energy of their largest crowd of the season as the Chippewas were able to jump out to a 11-6 lead while hitting .455 early in the first set. A kill by freshman setter Natalie Emro (Wildwood, Mo.) would end that rally as the Spartans would slowly start to chip away at the Chippewa advantage. Rathje, a Mount Pleasant native, would rally her team with two consecutive kills cutting the lead to 13-10.
Rathje would continue her dominant play by sending a pipe ball through the CMU block then tallying an ace to pull the Spartans even at 14. Junior Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.) added a kill on the next play, giving the Spartans their first lead of the night at 15-14. The Spartans would have to fend off a Chippewa rally as they would come back to tie the score at 24, after trailing 23-20. CMU took the next point to jump ahead 25-24, but three-straight points by MSU shut the door, giving the Spartans a 27-25 victory in the first set.
Rathje did her part in the first set, tallying six kills to lead all attackers. King added four kills while hitting .800. Emro had a fine first set as well, handing out 15 assists, a set-high this season.
The start of the second set was dominated by the Spartan block. Tallying two-straight blocks, MSU was able to build a 4-0 advantage. MSU would extend their advantage to 13-3, giving them their largest lead of the night. Through those 13 points, five came by way of the Spartan block. From that point on, the green and white would not look back, taking the second set, 25-15. MSU tallied six blocks in the second set, holding the Chippewas to a .033 hitting percentage.
The Spartans hit .404 in the first set as every player hitting .333 or better in the first set, with the exception of Rathje. Rathje did manage to tally 10 kills on 23 attempts. She also lead the team in digs with seven and service aces with two. King would add three more kills to her total and register six block assists through the second set, accounting for 11 total points.
The third set would go back and forth until midway through as the Chippewas would pull away, gaining a 17-13 edge over MSU. The Spartans would not recover, dropping the third set 25-20. After hitting .404 in the first two sets, MSU hit .208 to as a team in the third, compared to .435 by the Chippewas.
The fourth set would would see the Chippewas continue their efficient attack as they committed just three attack errors in the two sets following the intermission. With the score at 24-19, the Spartans would fend off five straight set points off the arm of libero Allyson Karaba (Muskegon, Mich.) to knot the score at 24. After a Rathje kill, the Spartans would add one more point to complete the rally, running off seven-in-a-row while on the ropes, to win the fourth set 26-24, taking the match.
Rathje would finish the match with a team-best 21 kills while King pitched in 17 while hitting .600. Karaba tallied 16 digs to lead the team while Emro chipped in 54 helpers on the evening.
MSU will open Big Ten play next weekend as they play host to Ohio State and Michigan, as the team will look to "Bust Breslin." Also, the team will be on hand at the Meridian Mall in Okemos, Mich. tomorrow from 2:30-3:30 to sign autographs. Anyone attending the session will receive free admission to the Spartans match against Ohio State on Friday.
