Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
19-13
Loyola Marymount
23-8
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 25 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 3 |
| Loyola Marymount | 15 | 19 | 25 | 21 | 1 |
Spartans Down LMU, Advance in NCAA's
12/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Palo Alto, Calif. -- Michigan State extended its winning streak to six by downing Loyola-Marymount in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21) on Friday night in Palo Alto, Calif. MSU is now 19-13, and eliminates LMU, ending the WCC champions' season with a 23-8 mark. MSU will play the winner of Bakersfield-Stanford in a 10 pm ET match on Saturday at Maples Pavilion, the top-ranked Cardinal's home floor. That match will air live on Pac-12 Networks.
For the Spartans, sophomore Chloe Reinig led all scorers with 19 kills, hitting .417 and adding four blocks, while Allyssa Fitterer, tied her season best with 16 kills, hitting a match-best .444 and added three blocks (one solo). Senior libero Kori Moster finished her night with 26 digs, moving her into sole possession of third place among all-time Big Ten career dig leaders (2,205). She is just 15 digs shy of tying Jennifer Beltran of Illinois, who sits in second place.
Freshman setter Rachel Minarick finished with 48 assists, three kills, five digs, and five blocks in her first career NCAA Tournament match, while classmate Alyssa Garvelink made her debut to the tune of 10 kills and a match-high six blocks, hitting .389.
MSU has now won at least one NCAA Tournament match in each of the last four seasons, just the second time in school history that the feat has been accomplished. The 1999-2002 teams also accomplished that feat, but reached the Sweet 16 only once, in 2002 - the current seniors have been to the Round of 16 in each of the last two seasons.
Continuing a trend from recent matches, Michigan State jumped out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set, with Moster posting three digs and an ace before forcing the Lions to call timeout. The Spartans pushed their lead to 12-6 ,hitting .500 to that point of the opening set, as Garvelink put up a pair of blocks and Reinig led MSU with two kills. Back-to-back terminations by Reinig made it 16-9, but LMU countered with two straight kills from Litara Keil and Sarah Sponcil. The Spartans put together several small runs of two or three points, getting a big kill from Jazmine White to take their largest lead at 23-14; a Hubbard service ace gave the Spartans set point. After a Sponcil kill for the Lions, Fitterer closed it out for a 25-15 win in the opening set.
MSU came ut quickly again in the second set, as Moster served MSU to a 4-0 lead, as she opened the set with an ace and got some help from a nice block from Minarick and Garvelink. The Lions quickly got back into it, trimming MSU's lead to 5-4on an ace and kill by Amber Mirabello, With the teams tied at 7-7, Fitterer had four straight MSU kills in a 4-1 Spartan run, opening up the lead to 12-8 and forcing LMU into a timeout. Out of the break, the Spartans had back-to-back hitting errors, but Fitterer got a kill on a block out of bounds to get the sideout. As MSU took a four-point lead at 15-11, the Lions called a timeout to regroup, and then put three straight points on the board out of the break on a pair of kills by Sponsil and a block by Suaava. The Spartans came back with a 5-1 run, featuring three LMU errors, a block by White, and a kill by Garvelink, to make it 20-15. A 3-1 Lion run, off kills from DeWitt and Keil, made it 21-18, but Fitterer put an end to that run with her ninth kill. A long shot by LMU pushed it back to five points, Fitterer and Minarick combined on a block to make it 24-18, but after the Lions fought off set point, a Hannah Tedrow serve went long to hand the second set to MSU, 25-19, along with a 2-0 match lead.
In the third set, MSU found it tough to get any separation, and with the Lions trailing 6-4, the Lions went on a 8-0 run, aided greatly by five straight Spartan errors. With LMU leading a 12-6, a big swing from Garvelink got the sideout, but Suaava got it back with a big swing of her own. MSU chisled the Lion advantage down to three points at 15-12, but LMU pushed it back out to six (19-13) on a block and a kill by DeWitt. The Lions got to 20 points for the first time in the match holding a six-point lead, (20-14), but the Spartans continued to fight . MSU came alive with a 4-1 run, continuing to go to Reinig, who scored three of four Spartan points, to make it 23-21 in favor of LMU. A light tip over the net that landed right on the line got LMU the sideout to 24-21, and Suaava's kill on a block out of bounds got the Lions in the match, trailing 2-1.
In the fourth set, LMU jumped out to a 3-1 edge, trying to set the tone with a big block and a pair of big swings by Keil. With the LMU lead no larger than two up to an 8-6 edge, the Lions got three straight points on an ace that kissed the tape and fell short and a pair of MSU miscues to pull ahead 11-6, forcing the Spartans to use a timeout. MSU cut it to three before the a Sponcil kill and ace by Avery Bush, but Fitterer's sharp-angle shot stopped the run. A shot wide by LMU was followed by a Hubbard ace and Fitterer kill, trimming the Lions' lead to 13-12. After an LMU timeout, a big solo block by Fitterer, followed by another Hubard ace to give MSU back the lead, but it was short-lived as the LMU countered with a 5-1 run to make it 18-15. The Spartans got Reinig back into the front row, and promptly responded with a 4-0 run to pull ahead 19-18, using a pair of kills and a block from the sophomore in that run. Out of an LMU timeout, the teams traded points to get to 21-19 (MSU's points coming from a Fitterer/Minarick block and Reinig kill, her fifth of the set). Suaava pulled the Lions within a point at 21-20, but back-to-back kills by Reinig and Galloway gave MSU a three-point edge. Leading 23-10, a service error gave LMU the sideout, but Garvelink recorded her 10th kill of the match, followed by Fitterer's match-clinching shot, that sent the Spartans into the second round.
POST-MATCH QUOTES:
Head Coach Cathy George:
"First off, hats off to a good Loyola-Marymount team - they battled back into it when we got a pretty good start on them. I thought that we got a little off track there in the third set, but I'm proud of the way we battled back - they got up on us by five in the fourth set after winning the third, but we stuck to it and kept our composure. This is another step for a young team, and the experience of today will serve us well. We took a big step with the run we had to put together at the end of the season, and I'm continuing to see us make strides. There are no "easy" matches in the NCAA Tournament, and we will have our hands full again tomorrow."
Senior Captain Kori Moster (libero)
"We're probably playing the best we have all year, which is what you strive for when it comes to the post-season. You want to peak at the right time. I'm very proud of the way we've grown this season, and for us seniors, it's great to see how this team has come together."
