Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
8-6, 1-2B1G
Michigan
6-7, 1-2B1G
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 20 | 25 | 24 | 23 | 1 |
| Michigan | 25 | 22 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
Tight Battle Goes to Wolverines, 3-1
9/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
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.
Michigan built to a three-point lead in the opening set as the teams climbed into the teens, first doing it at 15-12 and maintaining it through an MSU timeout at 19-16. The Spartans were effective at the net with four blocks to that point, but had as many hitting errors as they had points (4). Out of the timeout, Fitterer got the sideout with a kill from the right side, but Michigan pushed its lead to five and then six points, pushing the Wolverines to set point at 24-18. Reinig came back with a big kill, and White put up a big block in the middle with Minarick to cut it to four, but Caroline Knop finished it off for UM with her team-best fourth kill of the set. Reinig led MSU with four as well, while White had three blocks.
MSU built to a steady lead in the second set, and had an advantage of as many as six points (19-13). The Spartans got to set point at 24-18, but allowe the Wolverines to fight off set point four times, cutting the MSU lead to just two, before an Abby Cole error gave the set to MSU, 25-22. Reinig (six kills) and Garvelink (five) paced the Spartan attack as the visitors knotted the match at one set each.
MSU jumped out to a quick 10-5 lead in the third, forcing the Wolverines into a time out. Michigan cut back into it, using a 10-1 run to pull ahead at 15-14. The teams traded points, with UM able to take a two-point lead at 22-20 and push it to set point, 24-20, but MSU got back into it with a big block by Garvelink and White, a Cole error, and a kill by Garvelink to tie it at 24. However, the home team got a big kill from Cole and then a Spartan error to seal a 26-24 edge in the third set.
The fourth set stayed a tight battle until UM pulled ahead 18-15, the largest lead for either team in the set. Back-to-back errors for MSU allowed the home team to push it to four points (20-16), and with the home team leading by five on a block on Fitterer, the Spartans pushed back into it on a Michigan error and three straight Reinig kills pulled MSU within a point, 23-22. Caroline Kieffer-Wright had two of the final three kills to close out the set, and give Michigan a win at home in this series for the first time since November 2011.
