Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
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Syracuse
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Volleyball Tops Syracuse 3-0 to Earn First Victory
9/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 5, 2008
- Cathy
- Allyson
NEWARK, Del. - The Spartan volleyball squad earned their first victory of the season after topping the Syracuse Orange, 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-18) on Friday afternoon in the first game of the Delaware Invitational at Viera Court in the Carpenter Sports Building. The win gives the Spartans their first victory of the season. Freshman Kyndra Abron (Livonia, Mich.) helped the Spartans earn the win as she tallied a career best nine kills while hitting .643. Abron did not have an error while the Spartans hit over .300 for the first time in 2008, hitting .304.
"It feels good, we really needed that after coming off of an 0-3 start," head coach Cathy George said. "It feels good to finally get that off of our plate."
The Spartans looked determined to leave last weekend's woes behind them, jumping out to a 5-0 lead over the Orange in the first set. During that stretch, the Spartans capitalized on the play of Jenilee Rathje (Mount Pleasant, Mich.), as she tallied a kill and a solo block sparking the Spartans hot start. Dominating the play at the net, the Spartans would go onto extend the lead to 13-6, forcing the Orange to take a timeout.
MSU would continue to block the attack of the Orange out of the timeout. On the first set play, the Orange sent a pass outside for an attack just to see it put back by Vanessa King (Spring Lake, Mich.) and Vineece Verdun (Bloomfield, Mich.), pushing the MSU advantage to 14-6. The Orange would close the gap slightly after the longest rally of the night saw Rathje send a pipe ball long, closing the gap to 21-20. The Spartans would round out the set on a 4-0 run, taking the set 25-20 to lead the match, 1-0.
Much of the Spartans success in the first set was due to their play at the net. The green and white tallied five blocks in the first set alone as both King and Rathje tallied solo blocks. The blocking seemed to intimidate the Orange throughout the set as the Spartan block forced Syracuse to hit only .053. Abron had her best set in a Spartan uniform as she led the team with three kills, converting on just three attempts. Verdun and Rathje also added three kills each, showing a balanced attack by the Spartans. Libero Allyson Karaba (Muskegon, Mich.) added six digs as well.
The Spartans continued to dominate at the net in the second set, but it was the play of the back row that kept several key rallies alive for MSU. In a rally that saw Karaba tally three digs, freshman Becca Zlabis (Wheaton, Ill.) sent a kill off the hands of the Orange defense extending the Spartan lead to 19-12. Once again the Orange would tighten the set, but the balanced and unpredictable attack of the Spartans proved to be too much as they took set two 25-21.
Abron continued to show why she was dubbed as the No. 14 prospect nationally as through two sets she tallied seven kills on nine attacks without an error. Her .778 hitting percentage was by far a team best through the first two sets. The Spartan block continued to dictate the Orange attack as they only hit .092 in the first two sets. Karaba pitched in eight digs, raising her match total to 14. Verdun also continued her fine play registering five kills, while hitting .300.
The Spartans would fall behind early after the break as the Orange capitalized on several miscues, taking a 9-5 lead. The Spartans would rally behind the play of Abron, outscoring the Orange 13-5, extending the advantage to 18-14. The Orange would fold from there, as the Spartans would take the third set 25-18. The Spartans hit .424 in the final set, sealing the victory. Karaba tallied 23 digs on the match, giving her 48 in the last two matches dating back to last weekend.
Zlabis had her best offensive match of the year after posting 12 kills while hitting .333 while Rathje pitched in 11 kills, the only two Spartans posting double-digit kills, showing a balanced offensive attack. Freshman Natalie Emro (Wildwood, Mo.) added 35 assists and four kills while Verdun finished with eight kills.
The Spartans will return to action tomorrow as they will play New Hampshire at 11 a.m. Live stats and streaming audio, featuring the voice of the Spartans, John Kreger will be provided at www.msuspartans.com.
