Volleyball Closes Homestand With Wisconsin and No.14 Minnesota

Oct. 5, 2011

Michigan State vs. Wisconsin
Date	Friday, Oct. 7 - 7 p.m.
Location	East Lansing, Mich. \| Jenison Field House
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Wisconsin
Live Stats
Live Audio (Free)	SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Social Media	@MichStVB \| Facebook
Michigan State vs. No. 14 Minnesota
Date	Saturday, Oct. 8 - 7 p.m.
Location	East Lansing, Mich. \| Jenison Field House
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Minnesota
Live Stats
Live Audio (Free)	SpartanSportsNetwork.com
Live Video (Pay)	BTN.com
Social Media	@MichStVB \| Facebook

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team (13-3, 2-2 Big Ten) concludes its four-match homestand when it welcomes Wisconsin (10-6, 2-2 Big Ten) and No. 14 Minnesota (8-5, 1-3 Big Ten) this weekend. The Spartans open the weekend on Friday, Oct. 7 with a 7 p.m. contest against the Badgers. MSU will then face the Golden Gophers on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. Saturday's match will have live video streamed on the Big Ten Digital Network at BTN.com. John Kreger (play-by-play) and Andrea Nelson (color analyst) will be on the call. Both matches will also have free live audio streamed at SpartanSportsNetwork.com.

Scouting Michigan State
Leading the squad on the outside are seniors Kyndra Abron and Jenilee Rathje. To date, Rathje has recorded 4.19 kills per set, while Abron currently boasts 3.53 kills a set. At the net, Alexis Mathews is second in the conference in blocks with 1.38 per set. In the backcourt, Kori Moster anchors the defense with 2.65 digs per set, starting the last nine matches as MSU's libero.

Head coach Cathy George is in her seventh season at the helm of the Spartans, compiling a record of 112-95 at MSU. In her 25 seasons as a head coach, George has appeared in eight NCAA tournaments, including being the first woman to coach in the NCAA Division I Final Four in 1989. During her time at MSU, the Spartans have appeared in the tournament in three of her six seasons, including an NCAA Regional Semi-final appearance in 2007.

Scouting Wisconsin
Wisconsin currently sits at 10-6 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten. Leading the Badgers offensively is Crystal Graff. After the six weekends of action, Graff has tallied 2.66 kills per set. Defensively, Annemarie Hickey has recorded 5.04 digs a set while Alexis Mitchell leads the team at the net with 1.00 blocks per set.

Series History: MSU trails in the all-time series, 44-22.
Last Meeting: The Spartans were swept by the Badgers, 3-0, in Madison to split the season series following a 3-2 win by MSU at home.
Coach: The Badgers are coached by Pete Waite, who is in his 13th season with Wisconsin and posts an all-time record of 548-223, going 282-121 with the school.

Scouting Minnesota
Minnesota currently boasts a record of 8-5 and 1-3 in the conference, ranking 14th in the latest AVCA weekly poll. UM is led up at the net by Ashley Wittman. Wittman currently has 4.75 kills per set on the year. Defensively, Jessica Granquist and Ariana Filho are the top defenders in the back row and at the net, respectively. Granquist has 4.81 digs per set while Filho has 0.91 blocks per set.

Series History: The Spartans trail in the all-time series, 45-16.
Last Meeting: MSU fell to the Golden Gophers on Sept. 24, 3-0, to open the conference schedule. Nearly two months later, the two squads battled it out in a fierce five-set match, with UM taking the narrow 3-2 advantage.
Coach: Laura Bush is acting as interim head coach for UM while Hugh McCutcheon completes his appointment with U.S.A. Volleyball through the 2012 Olympics in London. Bush is currently 8-5 with Minnesota and 108-172 in her career.

Recapping Last Weekend
The Green and White suffered a tough 3-2 loss to No. 7 Nebraska on Friday, Sept. 30 inside Jenison Field House in the team's conference home opener. Although the Spartans fell short, senior Jenilee Rathje paced the squad with a career-best 27 kills and team-best 12 digs for her second double-double of the season and 10th in her career.

The Spartans closed out their first home weekend of the conference schedule with a 3-0 sweep of Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 1. Rathje once again paced the team for the second straight night in kills with 12.

It Starts At The Top
MSU has received plenty of support this season offensively from its senior class. A group which entered Michigan State as the seventh-ranked recruiting class in the nation in 2008, the seniors added Jenilee Rathje to their class following her redshirt season. Entering conference season, the seniors make-up 67-percent of the team's offense, with 218 kills coming from Rathje and 187 kills coming for 2009 AVCA All-America Honorable Mention Kyndra Abron. Defensively, the senior class makes up for 55-percent of the team's total dig tally, lead by Carli Weiler's 130 digs. At the net, the senior class comprises 85-percent of the team's block total. Abron paces the group with the second-most on the team, 47 blocks.

Sweeping Success
The Spartans have found success in 3-0 matches this season, posting an 11-1 record. Of MSU's 13 wins thus far this year, 11 of which of been 3-0 sweeps for the Green and White. MSU started off the season by winning the first six matches of the season in straight sets, the first time since 1975 the Spartans have topped their first six opponents without dropping a set.

Conference Laurels
Freshman Kori Moster was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, as announced by the conference office two weeks ago (Sept. 26). The award marked the first in Moster's career.

Come One, Come All
Season tickets are now on sale for the 2011 Michigan State volleyball season. Reserved seat season tickets are priced at $56 for adults and $28 for youth and seniors, while general admission season tickets are priced at $42 for adults and $28 for youth and seniors. With the purchase of season volleyball tickets fans also earn three Spartan Points for each consecutive year they maintain Spartan volleyball tickets. Spartan Points help in determining seat adjustments for both men's basketball and football. With the next seat adjustment occurring in 2014, fans have the opportunity to earn up to nine (9) Spartan Points to their account via the purchase of volleyball season tickets for the next four seasons.

Preseason Recognition
Prior to the 2011 season, several Spartans were recognized for their work both on and off the court. Senior Jenilee Rathje was tabbed as one of 17-members of the Preseason All-Big Ten Team. Rathje found herself on the conference coaches' radars after earning first-team All-Big Ten and AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honors her sophomore campaign.

As a team, the Spartans were selected to finish sixth in the conference, as selected by the conference coaches in August.

Rathje was also recognized by the conference in July for her dedication to her class work. Rathje was one of 534 student-athletes to receive Big Ten Scholar Athlete distinction. In order to be recognized, each student-athlete must achieve at least a 3.7 or higher for the corresponding academic year.

Playing With CLASS
Senior Jenilee Rathje was named as one of 30 candidates to be named for the 2011 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.

For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

Spartan Sports Network
The Michigan State volleyball team will have its entire home schedule aired live on SpartanSportsNetwork.com this season.

In addition to the free audio stream on spartansportsnetwork.com, the games will also be available on the free Spartan Sports Network Mobile App. In 2010, Spartan Sports Network teamed up with JacAPPS to have the app available for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. The application features live streaming of Michigan State broadcasts, along with coaches shows, feature programming, highlights, archives, social connectivity and more.

To listen to the games on spartansportsnetwork.com, simply click on the appropriate game link on the main page in the "Spartan Sports 24/7 Box", located on the right-side of the page, or click on the "Spartan Sports 24/7" link at the top of the site.

Big Ten Digital Network
The Big Ten Digital Network combines streaming audio and video content from all 12 member institutions with hundreds of additional untelevised games streamed exclusively from the Big Ten Network to offer the most online video coverage of Big Ten athletics anywhere in the world. The Big Ten Digital Network features live game broadcasts, exclusive behind-the-scenes video, game highlights, original programming and press conferences from 25 men's and women's sports across the Big Ten Conference, with additional coverage from conference postseason tournaments and events.

MSU is currently scheduled to have 10 total matches covered by the BTDN, with the possibility of additional matches selected after the Big Ten Network selects its wildcard matches.

Fandemonium
Annually, the Spartans have found themselves as one of the national leaders in attendance among NCAA Division I teams. Michigan State has been ranked in the top-25 in average attendance in 15 of the last 16 seasons. MSU posted a program best sixth during the 1996 campaign. To date in the 2011 season, the Green and White finds themselves ranked 31st after six weekends of action with 10,094 fans. In MSU's eight home contests to date, it has averaged 1,262 fans.