Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
6-4
Western Kentucky
11-3
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Kentucky | 11 | 21 | 16 | 0 |
| Michigan State | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Spartans Rebound With Sweep of Western Kentucky
9/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Spartans rebounded from a rough five-set loss to LIU-Brooklyn in their first match of the day. Each team went 1-1 on Friday, as WKU defeated Milwaukee in the morning, then the Panthers turned around and knocked off LIU-Brooklyn in the first game of the evening session.
Chloe Reinig led all scorers with 12 kills, hitting a career-best .632, committing no errors on 19 swings, and adding a pair of blocks (one solo). Allyssah Fitterer had 11 kills and five blocks, while Talyor Galloway had 10 kills, four digs, and a pair of blocks. Jazmine White had six kills and four blocks, and Alyssa Garvelink had four blocks and five kills. Rachel Minarick returned to the lineup after missing the morning session, contributing 34 assists, seven digs, and three blocks.
As it did in the morning match, MSU came out aggressive at the net, and recorded 7.5 team blocks as it jumped out to a 13-5 lead. The Spartans kept their foot on the gas, posting a 25-11 win in the opening frame behind four kills and four blocks from Fitterer and five kills from Reinig.
The second set was closer, with the Spartans building to a 18-14 lead before blowing it open with a four-point streak on a pair of Fitterer kills, a White termination, and a Minarick service ace; the Spartans all but handed it back with three straight errors, and an Alyssa Cavanaugh kill made it 22-18. The teams traded points, but a Cavanaugh kill cutting the deficit to three was the closest that the Toppers would come in the set - Reinig scored MSU's final two points, and sealed the second-set win to take a 2-0 edge. Galloway had six of MSU's kills in the set, while Reinig had five and Fitterer four. Through two sets, the Spartans boasted a .397 hitting percentage, with both Fitterer and Reinig failing to record an error on 18 and 17 attempts, respectively.
The Spartans hit their match low in the third set, with as many errors (six) as they had in the first two sets combined, hitting .250 (15-6-36). MSU used a balanced attack, as four players had three kills each in the final frame, and Minarick had eight assists and two blocks to contribute as well. A point-for-point battle to a 12-11 MSU advantage opened up once MSU reeled off a 9-2 run, allowing MSU to take a 20-13 lead and coast to the victory.
The tournament resumes at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, as LIU-Brooklyn tangles with Western Kentucky before an MSU-Milwaukee nightcap at 7. All football ticket holders can get free admission to the volleyball matches by showing their EMU ticket stub.
