Spartans Wrap Three-Game Homestand vs. Nebraska, Iowa
10/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| Michigan State vs. No. 8 Nebraska, Iowa | |
| Dates | Friday, Oct 10 vs. Nebraska | Sat. Oct. 11 vs. Iowa East Lansing, Mich. Jenison Field House |
| Tickets & Packages | (F) Family Four Pack | (S) Four Seats, Four Treats Order Tickets |
| Television/Video Stream | (F) Big Ten Network |
| Radio | Spartan Sports Network | Download the SSN App |
| Live Statistics | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | Nebraska | Iowa |
| Previews | Video Preview | Cathy |
| Social Media | @MichStVB  | Facebook  |
| Promotions | FRIDAY: MSUFCU Night, Girl Scout Night SATURDAY: Breast Cancer Awareness - wear Pink!, Post-Game Autographs - Sophomores |
Oct. 9, 2014
SERIES NOTES
• Michigan State wraps up a three-game homestand this weekend with games at Jenison Field House against No. 8 Nebraska and Iowa.
• Friday's game will air live on the Big Ten Network, the third straight week that the Spartans are featured on the Conference package. Both Friday and Saturday's game will have a broadcast on SpartanSportsNetwork.com, with play-by-play man Keaton Gillogly on the call.
• Friday's game at Jenison Field House will be an MSUFCU game, where credit union members can get two free tickets for the game against the Huskers. On Saturday, the team will hold its annual Breast Cancer Awareness game, and will wear pink jerseys.
• Ticket packages are available for both games, but must be purchased in advance. Friday's package is the Family Four Pack, which provides four tickets, four fountain beverages, and four concession items (nachos, hot dog, or pretzel). The Four Seats, Four Treats promotion is four tickets and four MSU Dairy Store ice cream sandwiches. Visit the the Spartan Ticket office online for more details.
• No. 8 Nebraska is coming off a weekend of highs and lows - the Huskers knocked off No. 3 Penn State at the Devaney Center on Friday, but suffered a 3-1 loss to unranked Ohio State on Saturday. Overall, Nebraska has played the toughest schedule in the country, and owns a 9-4 overall record and 3-1 mark in Big Ten play.
Twins Amber and Kadie Rolfzen lead the Husker attack; Kadie averages 3.54 kills per set (good for sixth in the Big Ten) and hits a team-best .262, while Amber adds 2.15 kills per set. Setter Mary Pollmiller is seventh in the league with 10.04 assists per set, and libero Justine Wong-Orantes averages 3.91 digs per set.
• Iowa went 8-3 in non-conference play, but is still in search of its first Big Ten Conference win this season after an 0-4 start. The Hawkeyes, under the guidance of first-year head coach Bond Shymansky, will play at Michigan on Friday before coming to East Lansing on Saturday.
Alex Lovell paces the attack with 3.37 kills per set, while Allesandra Dietz leads the Hawkeyes with a .364 hitting percentage and contributes 2.19 kills per set and 0.79 blocks, a team best in both hitting and blocks. Michelle Fugarino averages 4.15 digs per set, which is seventh in the Big Ten, and Hawkeye setter Alyssa Klostermann (6.21 assists/set) and Kaylee Smith (5.60) contribute as well.
TEAM NOTES
• For the second consecutive year, a record number of fans came out for the `Jam Jenison' game vs. Michigan. Friday's attendance of 6,218 is believed to be the venue's largest attendance for an MSU athletics event other than men's basketball, and eclipsed last year's crowd of 6,182.
• MSU plays seven of its first 10 Big Ten games away from Jenison Field House. The Spartans opened with three straight road games in Big Ten play for the first time since 1996, when MSU played at Indiana, Purdue, and Northwestern. After this weekend's games vs. Nebraska and Iowa, MSU will play four straight on the road at Maryland, Rutgers, Ohio State, and Penn State.
• In an unprecedented occurrence, Michigan State shared the State Pride Flag with Michigan. A sole winner could not be determined through three tiebreakers: matches won (split), sets won (four each), and points (scored (196 each over eight sets). MSU has maintained at least a share of the State Pride Flag in each of the past five seasons. Since the competition for the flag began in 1990, each school has 12 outright wins - and now, one shared title.
• Michigan State fell out of American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll on Sept. 22. The Spartans debuted at No. 16, and now after six 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. 5), Wisconsin (No. 6), and Nebraska (No. 8), are the B1G teams which appear in this week's top 10. Purdue (No. 14), Illinois (No 15), Minnesota (No. 23) and new entry Northwestern (24) make it seven teams in the top 25 for the Big Ten, while Ohio State, with its upset of the Huskers last week, is among the teams which received votes.
• The first RPI for women's Division I volleyball was announced on Monday, Oct. 6, and the Spartans are 33rd in the first ranking. MSU, while with a 9-6 record, is bolstered by a strength of schedule ranked 10th in the country. Nebraska's SOS is first, with Michigan (third), and Wisconsin (fifth) the other Big Ten teams with top-10 schedules.
• MSU averages 2.71 blocks per set, good for third in the Big Ten and 25th nationally. MSU's total team blocks (151.5) is 58th nationally. MSU is behind Minnesota (3.16 blocks/set) and Nebraska (2.87) in the Big Ten.
• MSU has limited its opponents to a .161 hitting percentage, good for third in the Big Ten and 40th nationally.
• 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) went 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 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 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 12 of 15 matches - its only first-set losses came to North Carolina on Sept. 5, (a 3-0 Tar Heel sweep) at Purdue (Sept. 27), and at Michigan (Sept. 30) MSU is 9-3 when winning the first set.
• The Spartans rank 10th nationally in average attendance, (2,788), as 16,725 fans have taken in a volleyball match at Jenison Field House this season, the 12th highest total among Division I programs.
• 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.
PLAYER NOTES
• Chloe Reinig was nearly unstoppable against Michigan, recording 49 kills in a split with the Wolverines. Reinig led all hitters in both matches, finishing with 23 kills on Tuesday in Ann Arbor, then came back with a career-best 26 in Friday's win at home.
• Reinig's Saturday effort is the most by any player in a Big Ten match this season, and the second-most by any Big Ten player in any match in 2014.
• Reinig has moved into fifth in the conference in kills at 3.64 per set, and averaged a league- best 6.12 per set last week against the Wolverines.
• Reinig has gone for 20+ kills four times this season, including in back-to-back matches vs. Michigan.
• Reinig ranks seventh in points (4.05/s). In conference games only, she is averaging 4.81 kills per set (second in the B1G), and 5.19 points.
• Senior Jazmine White tied her career best with eight blocks at Michigan, and is averaging 1.31 overall (sixth in the Conference) and 1.50 in B1G games, tied for fifth.
• In addition to White, two other players are among Big Ten block leaders. Freshman Alyssa Garvelink is 14th overall (1.02 blocks/s) and is averaging 1.31 in B1G games, good for eighth. In Conference contests, Allyssah Fitterer's 1.19 is 11th.
• Garvelink had a career-high 12 kills at Michigan, and added four blocks. Her previous high was nine, set at Indiana (Sept. 26). She had eight kills in the home match against the Wolverines last Saturday.
• Allyssah Fitterer has double-digit kills in 11 of MSU's 15 matches this season, but was held to five and seven against the Wolverines. However, she has only had the high kills for MSU in six of the 15 matches; Reinig has had eight, and the duo shared the team high (13) vs. Indiana.
• Freshman Rachel Minarick had 43 assists and 11 digs in the Tuesday match at Michigan, and leads the team with four double-doubles this season. She had 44 assists and a season-best seven kills (hitting. 636) on Saturday against the Wolverines.
• 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 four career Big Ten games, she has averaged 10.44 assists (seventh in the B1G), 1.69 digs, 0.62 blocks, and hit .436 (17-0-39).
• Minarick ranks eighth in the Big Ten overall in assists per set (9.70), and second among B1G freshmen in that category.
• Kori Moster averages 4.57 digs per set, which ranks third in the Big Ten. She had 39 in the two matches vs. Michigan.
• Moster's 1,924 career digs ranks 10th 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 is seventh among active players in career matches played (119), and 12th in sets played (432).
• Moster needs just seven digs to move into seventh place in the B1G ahead of Iowa's Janet Moylan (1,931, 1987-90), and 33 to tie sixth-place Kaleena Walters of Penn State, who had 1,957 from 2002-05. Moster is third in the B1G in digs per set overall (4.57)
• Moster's 23 digs at Purdue is the fourth-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 13 of the 15 Spartan matches this season; In 119 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. She set a career high with three service aces against Michigan (Oct. 3)
• 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 Toliverhas missed the last eight matches with injury, and played sparingly in her first action back against Michigan (Oct. 3). Halle Peterson was injured in the Oregon match, and both are questionable for this week's matches vs. Nebraska and Iowa.
• 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.
