Jam Jenison Tonight vs. Michigan
10/3/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| JAM JENISON - Michigan State vs. Michigan | |
| Dates | Friday, Oct. 3 East Lansing, Mich. Jenison Field House |
| Tickets & Packages | Family Four Pack (must order in advance) |
| Television/Video Stream | BTN + (subscription required) |
| Radio | Spartan Sports Network | Download the SSN App |
| Live Statistics | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | Michigan |
| Previews | Series Video Preview | |
| Social Media | @MichStVB  | Facebook  |
| Promotions | Jam Jenison; First 500 patrons receive free T-shirt |
SERIES NOTES
• Big Ten play continues this week, and Michigan State wraps up its home-and-home series with travel partner and archrival Michigan.
• Tuesday's game in Ann Arbor went to the Wolverines, 3-1. Each set was a tight affair, as the third set went to 26-24 and the fourth 25-23. Chloe Reinig led all players with 23 kills and hit .296, just one kill shy of her career best. Rachel Minarick recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 43 assists and 11 digs, while Alyssa Garvelink went for a season-best 12 kills and also added four blocks. Senior Jazmine White tied her career best with eight blocks, and Kori Moster had 22 digs. MSU hit just .143 on the night, including .061 in the first and .083 in the third set. Michigan got stronger as the match went on, starting out hitting .133 and moving forward to a .227 hitting percentage in the fourth set. Caroline Knop led the Wolverines with a double-double of 14 kills and 11 digs, while senior Lexi Dannemiller had 41 assists and 17 digs.
• Friday's game at Jenison Field House will be the annual "Jam Jenison" promotion. The Family Four Pack ticket package is available (only in advance), and the first 500 fans to arrive will receive "Jam Jenison" t-shirts. The game will have a live webstream via BTN+.
• Last year, a record 6,183 fans came out for the meeting of these two teams at Jenison Field House, believed to be the venue's largest attendance for an MSU athletics event other than men's basketball. • Michigan is 5-7 overall and owns a 0-2 record in Big Ten Conference play. The Wolverines were swept by Purdue and Indiana last weekend, as the Wolverines took each to five sets. This week's matches add another chapter in the State Pride Flag series - MSU has retained the Flag for the last four seasons, after a three-year run for the Wolverines (2007-09). Both schools have 12 Flag wins.
Michigan is 6-7 overall and owns a 1-2 record in Big Ten Conference play. The Wolverines were swept by Purdue and Indiana last weekend, as the Wolverines took each to five sets. This week's matches add another chapter in the State Pride Flag series - MSU has retained the Flag for the last four seasons, after a three-year run for the Wolverines (2007-09). Both schools have 12 Flag wins, and UM got a leg up on the 2014 series with a 3-1 win on Tuesday in Ann Arbor. In Tuesday's match, freshman Caroline Knop led the Wolverines with a double-double of 14 kills and 11 digs, while senior Lexi Dannemiller had 41 assists and 17 digs.
Dannemiller returned to the lineup last weekend after missing all of the pre-Conference schedule; she is averaging 10.29 assists and 2.57 digs per set in the matches since her return. Abby Cole (3.235 K/s, .385) continues to lead the offense, and contributes a team-best 1.10 blocks. Knop (2.52 K/s) and Krystalyn Goode (.243, 0.67 Blk/s) are also contributors to the offense.
TEAM NOTES
• The Spartans opened Big Ten play on the road for the third time in four seasons last weekend, and split its matches with Indiana and Purdue, both four-set affairs. The win at Indiana was MSU's 250th in the Big Ten Conference.
• MSU has a total of 138 blocks, the second-highest total behind Conference leader Minnesota (160). Coming into this week's action, MSU ranked third in the Big Ten with 2.68 blocks per set, good for 28th nationally.
• MSU plays seven of its first 10 Big Ten games away from Jenison Field House. The Spartans open with three straight road games in Big Ten play for the first time since 1996, when MSU played at Indiana, Purdue, and Northwestern. Friday's game kicks off a three-game homestand before four straight on the road at Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Penn State.
• Last season, each team won on its opponent's home floor, the second straight season that the rivals each won on the road. MSU has split each of the last four regular-season series with its archrival.
• MSU has won the State Pride Flag in each of the past four seasons. With each team winning on its rival's floor, the 2013 Flag winner was decided by the total number of sets won; MSU fell to UM 3-1 in East Lansing, but swept the Wolverines in Ann Arbor to win that comparison.
• Michigan State fell out of American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll on Sept. 22. The Spartans debuted at No. 16, and now after five weeks MSU is no longer receiving votes.
• In a streak which was halted Sept. 22, MSU was in the AVCA top 25 for 21 consecutive weeks, the longest streak since appearing for 43 straight weeks from 1995-97.
• Penn State (No. 3), Wisconsin (No. 6), and Nebraska (No. 8), are the B1G teams which appear in this week's top 10. Purdue (No. 15), Illinois (No 16), and Minnesota (No. 18) make it six teams in the top 25 for the Big Ten, while Northwestern is among the teams which received votes.
• For the second straight year, Cathy George and her staff have brought in a top-seven recruiting class. The 2013 class was ranked No. 7 by PrepVolleyball.com, and the 2014 edition is No. 6.
• The Spartans went 7-4 in non-conference action, but also played the perhaps the toughest pre-Conference schedule in Cathy George's tenure.
• In all, eight of MSU's 11 non-conference opponents won 18 games or more in 2013, and combined for a 63.1% winning percentage.
• While MSU's four pre-Big Ten losses is the most in the Cathy George era, the 1997 team was the last to lose four non-conference games - but like the current team, also played three squads in the top 20 of the AVCA poll that season.
• MSU's final seven non-conference opponents (UNC, Duke, Oregon, Oregon State, Western Kentucky, LIU-Brooklyn, and Milwaukee) are a combined 61-21 (.743) in the non-conference portion the season. Three of those teams (No. 20 North Carolina, No. 19 Duke, and No. 18 Oregon ) were in the top 25 when they played MSU, and two others (Oregon State and Western Kentucky) were receiving votes.
• Among other Big Ten teams, only Illinois has also played five games against non-conference teams which appeared in the top-25 or are receiving votes. Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nebraska are the teams which also played three top-25 teams in their non-conference schedule. MSU's strength of schedule is 12th in the country.
• MSU went 6-9 against ranked teams in 2013, with four of the losses coming to NCAA finalists Penn State and Wisconsin. MSU is 0-4 this season vs. ranked opponents.
• Michigan State's strong schedule was an effort to acclimate a young team to the rigors of Big Ten play. The Spartans have a seven-member freshman class, and have 12 freshmen and sophomores on an 18-player roster. MSU regularly has six freshmen or sophomores (and a senior libero) on the floor.
• MSU lost 55.9% of its kills from its 2013 team to graduation (fourth nationally), 56% of its blocks (third), and 53.9% of its assists (13th).
• This season, MSU has won the first set in 11 of 14 matches - its only first-set losses came to North Carolina on Sept. 5, (a 3-0 Tar Heel sweep) at Purdue last Saturday, and Tuesday at Michigan. MSU is 8-3 when winning the first set.
• MSU shattered its home attendance record in 2013, with 43,368 fans over 15 home matches. MSU brought nearly 10,000 more fans to Jenison Field House last year than it had in 2012. The 43,368 was 11th nationally in 2013; its average of 2,891 per game was also 11th. MSU's crowd of 6,183 for the Michigan match on Oct. 23 set an attendance record for the volleyball program at Jenison Field House.
• In its first two home matches of the season, the Spartans averaged 2,360 fans at each contest vs. Duke and North Carolina. Overall, MSU averaged 2,101 fans in its non-conference season.
PLAYER NOTES
• Chloe Reinig paced the offense for the Spartans on Tuesday at Michigan, finishing one kill and one attempt shy of her career bests. She had 23 kills on 54 swings, hitting .296 and adding four blocks. Her previous Big Ten high kill performance was 15, set last Saturday at Purdue. She has gone for 20+ kills three times this season, recording a career-best 24 vs. LIU-Brooklyn on Sept. 20.
• Reinig's 24 kills vs. LIU-Brooklyn remains the third-highest total by a Big Ten player in a match this season, and the second-most in a five-set match. Her 55 swings in that match is the fifth-most by a B1G player this season, while her .632 hitting percentage vs. WKU is the fifth-best by a B1G player in 2014.
• Reinig ranks eighth in the Big Ten in kills (3.41/s) and is 11th in points (3.83/s). In conference games only, she is averaging 4.25 kills per set (third in the B1G), and 0.83 blocks.
• Senior Jazmine White tied her career best with eight blocks at Michigan, and is averaging 1.35 overall (fourth in the Conference) and 1.67 in B1G games, also fourth.
• White had five and seven blocks against Indiana and Purdue, respectively, while adding six kills and hitting .357 against the Boilermakers last weekend.
• Allyssah Fitterer has double-digit kills in 11 of MSU's 14 matches this season. However, she has only had the high kills for MSU in six of the 14 matches; Reinig has had seven, and the duo shared the team high (13) vs. Indiana.
• Freshman Alyssa Garvelink had a career-high 12 kills at Michigan, and added four blocks. Her previous high was nine, last Friday at Indiana (Sept. 26). Averaging 1.25 blocks per set in B1G games, she is tied for 12th in that category.
• Freshman Rachel Minarick had 43 assists and 11 digs in the Tuesday match at Michigan. She just missed a double-double with 42 assists and nine digs in a four-setter at Purdue last Saturday. She leads the team with four double-doubles this season.
• Minarick missed the first game of the Spartan Invitational with injury, but averaged 10.5 assists, 1.5 kills, 2.17 digs, and 0.50 blocks per set in the final two matches of the tournament. In her three career Big Ten games, she has averaged 10.25 assists, 1.92 digs, 0.75 blocks, and hit .357 (10-0-28).
• Minarick ranks eighth in the Big Ten in assists per set (9.59), and second among B1G freshmen in that category.
• Kori Moster averages 4.60 digs per set, which ranks second in the Big Ten. She had 22 at Michigan on Tuesday.
• Moster's 1,907 career digs ranks 13th all-time in the Big Ten annals, and is eighth among active Division I players. She has held the school record since her junior season. She also tied for sixth among active players in career matches played (118), and 13th in sets played (428).
• Moster's 23 digs at Purdue is the third-highest total in a Big Ten match this season. Her 27 digs vs. Oregon State (Sept. 13) remains the second-highest total for any Big Ten player in a match this year as well.
• Moster has posted double-digit digs in 12 of the 14 Spartan matches this season; In 118 career matches, Moster has been held with less than 10 digs only 17 times; six of those occasions were her first six collegiate matches.
• Moster is one of the 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.
• Moster is the only player in program history to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and she has now done it in back-to-back seasons. She led the Big Ten in 2013 in digs per set (4.70), her career-best average and good for third in the MSU single-season recordbook.
• Ryian Hubbard and Abby Monson were called into duty to set against LIU-Brooklyn, as both Minarick and Halle Peterson missed the match due to injury. Both posted double-doubles: Hubbard, a former high school setter, had 29 assists and 14 digs, while the freshman Monson had 17 assists and 13 digs.
• Monson played just two sets against Purdue, but was third on the team with seven digs.
• Moster and Jazmine White will serve as team captains in the 2014 season. Moster is the third three-time captain in program history, along with Nikki Colson (2001-03) and Katie Johnson (2005-07).
• Taylor Galloway took a then-career high 51 swings against Oregon State on Sept. 13, then bettered it in her next match, with 61 attempts against LIU-Brooklyn Only one player - Annie Drews of Purdue - has had more in a game this year, with 65 in a five-setter against Western Kentucky. Drews also has the single-game high in a B1G game, with 56 in Saturday's four-set win vs. MSU.
• Galloway had her ninth carer double-double and second of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs vs. the Blackbirds.
• Freshman Holly Toliver, who is third on the team in kills, has missed the last eight matches with injury. Halle Peterson was injured in the Oregon match, and both are doubtful for this week's matches vs. Michigan.
• MSU welcomed four newcomers, a freshman class ranked No. 6 in the country by PrepVolleyball.com. Alyssa Garvelink, Rachel Minarick, Abby Monson, and Holly Toliver form the incoming class; Minarick, a two-time AVCA All-American, is the No. 21 Senior Ace by PrepVolleyball.com and last summer was the MVP at club nationals where she led Sports Performance to a National Championship. Minarick (No. 22), Garvelink (No. 26), and Toliver (No. 31) appeared in the rankings by PrepVolleyball.com of the nation's top seniors, while Monson was an Honorable Mention.
• Ryian Hubbard and Abby Monson were called into duty to set against LIU-Brooklyn, as both Minarick and Halle Peterson missed the match due to injury. Both posted double-doubles: Hubbard, a former high school setter, had 29 assists and 14 digs, while the freshman Monson had 17 assists and 13 digs.
• Monson played just two sets against Purdue, but was third on the team with seven digs.
• Moster and Jazmine White will serve as team captains in the 2014 season. Moster is the third three-time captain in program history, along with Nikki Colson (2001-03) and Katie Johnson (2005-07).
• Taylor Galloway took a then-career high 51 swings against Oregon State on Sept. 13, then bettered it in her next match, with 61 attempts against LIU-Brooklyn Only one player - Annie Drews of Purdue - has had more in a game this year, with 65 in a five-setter against Western Kentucky. Drews also has the single-game high in a B1G game, with 56 in Saturday's four-set win vs. MSU.
• Galloway had her ninth carer double-double and second of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs vs. the Blackbirds.
• Freshman Holly Toliver, who is third on the team in kills, has missed the last seven matches with injury. Halle Peterson was injured in the Oregon match, and both are doubtful for this week's matches vs. Michigan.
• MSU welcomed four newcomers, a freshman class ranked No. 6 in the country by PrepVolleyball.com. Alyssa Garvelink, Rachel Minarick, Abby Monson, and Holly Toliver form the incoming class; Minarick, a two-time AVCA All-American, is the No. 21 Senior Ace by PrepVolleyball.com and last summer was the MVP at club nationals where she led Sports Performance to a National Championship. Minarick (No. 22), Garvelink (No. 26), and Toliver (No. 31) appeared in the rankings by PrepVolleyball.com of the nation's top seniors, while Monson was an Honorable Mention.
• Moster is one of the 30 candidates for the Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition.
• Moster is the only player in program history to be named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and she has now done it in back-to-back seasons. She led the Big Ten in 2013 in digs per set (4.70), her career-best average and good for third in the MSU single-season recordbook.
• Moster and Jazmine White will serve as team captains in the 2014 season. Moster is the third three-time captain in program history, along with Nikki Colson (2001-03) and Katie Johnson (2005-07).
• Freshman Holly Toliver, who is third on the team in kills, has missed the last five matches with injury. Halle Peterson was injured in the Oregon match, and both are projected to be out this weekend for the Big Ten openers. .
• MSU welcomed four newcomers, a freshman class ranked No. 6 in the country by PrepVolleyball.com. Alyssa Garvelink, Rachel Minarick, Abby Monson, and Holly Toliver form the incoming class; Minarick, a two-time AVCA All-American, is the No. 21 Senior Ace by PrepVolleyball.com and last summer was the MVP at club nationals where she led Sports Performance to a National Championship. Minarick (No. 22), Garvelink (No. 26), and Toliver (No. 31) appeared in the rankings by PrepVolleyball.com of the nation's top seniors, while Monson was an Honorable Mention.
