Michigan State University Athletics
Spartans Host B1G-ACC Volleyball Challenge
9/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
| No. 14 Michigan State vs. No. 20 North Carolina / No. 19 Duke | |
| Dates | Friday/Saturday, Sept. 5/6 East Lansing, Mich. Jenison Field House |
| Tickets & Packages | (F) Family Four Pack | (S) Four Seats, Four Treats Order Tickets |
| Video Stream | UNC match only (Fri., 7 p.m.) |
| Television | Big Ten Network (Friday Only) |
| Radio | none |
| Live Statistics | |
| Download Game Notes | Michigan State | North Carolina | Duke |
| Social Media | @MichStVB  | Facebook  |
| Promotions |
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SERIES NOTES
• Michigan State welcomes No. 20 North Carolina and No. 19 Duke to Jenison Field House for a pair of Big Ten-ACC Challenge games. The ACC foes posted identical 27-4 records a season ago, and were both in the NCAA Tournament.
• North Carolina played last weekend at the Illinois Invitational, defeating Southern Illinois and Long Beach State by 3-0 margins before being swept by the 11th-ranked Illini. The Tar Heels hit .223 as a team and averaged 2.61 blocks per set. MSU is 2-1 all-time vs. UNC, winning in 2003 and 2009 matchups after a loss to the Tar Heels (3-1) in 1988. Friday's game will air live on the Big Ten Network starting at 7 p.m.
• The Blue Devils went 2-0 on the opening weekend, and defeated Campbell 3-1 on Tuesday evening. The Blue Devils downed North Florida (3-0) and High Point (3-1) last weekend at home, hitting .271 and averaging 1.57 blocks per set. MSU took a 3-2 decision from the Blue Devils in 1997, the only previous meetings between the teams. Saturday's match vs. Duke begins at 5 p.m.
• On Saturday, Lauren Wicinski's name will be raised to the Jenison Field House rafters in recognition of her two All-America honors earned while at MSU (she earned a total of four All-America distinctions in her career.) Players are honored with their jersey in the rafters only after completing their MSU playing career.
• On Saturday, the volleyball program will also hold its annual "P'Jammin with the Spartans" event to show support for the fight against children's cancer. September is Children's Cancer Awareness Month - and children with cancer can spend months to years dressed in their PJ's at home or in the hospital as they undergo treatments including chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. On Saturday, all fans are asked to wear their favorite PJ's to help show support for this important cause. In addition, a collection will be taken at the door for fans who wish to donate art supplies to the MSU Children's Cancer Center.
• Live stats for both matches will be available at www.livestats.ath.msu.edu.
TEAM NOTES
• MSU's next three games in the pre-Conference season will come against ranked teams. The Spartans host North Carolina and Duke this weekend, then will head to No. 22 Oregon and Oregon State next weekend.
• Michigan State captured the UAB/Samford Invitational last weekend, going 4-0 vs. Southeastern Louisiana, Jacksonville State, and the two host teams. It is the third consecutive in-season tournament title for the Spartans, dating back to last season. MSU has one more tournament on the docket prior to the conference season, the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational Sept. 19-20.
• The Spartans hit .346 as a team in four matches last weekend, good for third in the Big Ten. MSU held its opponents to an .079 hitting percentage, second behind Penn State (.009). The Spartans led the Big Ten last week in kills (14.85 per set) and ranked second in service aces, 2.0 per set.
• Two of MSU's matches last weekend ranked among the top five in MSU history in fewest points allowed in the 25-point set era. Holding Jacksonville State to 39 total points, it tied for third all-time in a three-set match in the MSU record book. The Spartans allowed 40 points to Southeastern Louisiana in Friday's first game, which is now fifth-best all time. The school record of 35 was set against Dartmouth on Sept. 1, 2012.
• MSU's nine service aces against Jacksonville State was the most of any Big Ten team in the opening weekend in a single match.
• MSU improved to 29-13 all-time in season-opening games, which includes a 8-2 record under current head coach Cathy George. The Spartans have started off the season with a win in each of the last six seasons, and have won the last five openers by 3-0 margins.
• Michigan State moved up two spots after debuting at No. 16 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national pre-season poll. The Spartans are No. 14, one of seven Big Ten teams in the top 25.
• Penn State (No. 1), Wisconsin (No. 4), Purdue (No. 7), and Illinois (No 9) are the B1G teams which appear in this week's top 10. Penn State held on to the top spot, while the other three all moved up. MSU also moved up to No 14, while both Nebraska (No. 12), and Minnesota (No. 18) fell to round out the teams in the poll. Northwestern and Michigan are among the teams which received votes.
• Michigan State was selected sixth in the Big Ten preseason volleyball poll. Defending NCAA and Big Ten Champion Penn State was chosen as the conference favorite after claiming its sixth national title last season. The poll is formulated by a vote of the conference's 14 head coaches.
• For the 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.
• MSU will play 11 non-conference games, and starts its home slate this weekend when it hosts No. 20 North Carolina and No. 19 Duke in Big Ten-ACC Challenge games. The Spartans then travel to the west coast to play Big Ten-Pac-12 Challenge games at No. 22 Oregon and Oregon State. The Spartans will close the pre-Big Ten portion of the schedule with the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational, which will bring 2014 NCAA qualifiers LIU-Brooklyn and UW-Milwaukee to Jenison Field House, along with Western Kentucky, which went 27-6 in 2013 but was upset in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. In all, eight of MSU's 11 non-conference opponents won 18 games or more in 2014, and combined for a 63.1% winning percentage.
• MSU made its 16th NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013, and earned its third consecutive at-large bid to the Championship. The 2003 team was the last one to make it to three consecutive tournaments; MSU made 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament fields from 1994-2003, and made its sixth appearance in the nine-year tenure of head coach Cathy George.
• The 2013 Spartans made the program's third consecutive NCAA appearance, and MSU's sixth trip to the Sweet 16 in program history (and third under Coach George.)
• Seven Big Ten Conference teams advanced to the Round of 16 in 2013, more than twice the number of any other conference (the Pac-12 had three) and the most of any conference in the history of the NCAA Volleyball tournament. The B1G was guaranteed a National Champion when Penn State and Wisconsin faced off in the final, with the Nittany Lions winning 3-1.
• The Spartans finished the 2013 season with a 23-12 overall record, and were 10-10 in the Big Ten Conference for a seventh-place finish.
• MSU lost four seniors to graduation - setter Kristen Kelsay, middle blockers Kelsey Kuipers and Alexis Mathews, and outside hitter Lauren Wicinski. The class compiled 85 victories over four seasons - matching the most wins for a senior class since 2000, and the most in the Cathy George regime.
• MSU went 6-9 against ranked teams in 2013, with four of the losses coming to NCAA finalists Penn State and Wisconsin.
• MSU went 11-1 in the pre-Big Ten portion of its schedule in 2013. MSU is 23-1 over the last two non-conference seasons, and owns 18 consecutive non-conference wins on its home floor.
• 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
• Allyssah Fitterer was named Tournament MVP last weekend at the UAB/Samford Invitational, hitting .417 and averaging 3.54 kills per set; she also had four service aces, 15 digs and nine blocks. She opened the season hitting a career-best .562 vs. Southeastern Louisiana with a career-high six digs, tied her career best with three aces vs. Jacksonville State, and also tied her career-high with two assists vs. Samford. She led or was tied for the team lead in kills in three of the four matches.
• Two other players were named to the All-Tournament team: Chloe Reinig (2.83 kps, .333 hitting percentage, nine blocks) and senior libero Kori Moster (51 digs, 3.91 per set). It is the fifth All-Tournament team selection for Moster in her career. Reinig missed most of the pre-Big Ten season last fall as a freshman, and this is her first All-Tournament team selection.
• Moster had double-digit digs in three of the four matches last weekend. In 108 career matches, Moster has been held below 10 digs only 16 times; six of those occasions were her first six collegiate matches.
• Reinig hit a career-best .545 vs. UAB (7-1-11) bettering the .417 she hit vs. Duquesne on Sept. 21, 2013 - which was her collegiate debut after missing all the previous games with illness.
• MSU's freshmen had impressive debuts. Rachel Minarick opened her collegiate career averaging 10.25 assists and 0.83 kills per set, hitting .500 while averaging 2.5 digs, and 0.5 blocks per set. The Spartans hit .346 on the weekend, good for third among Big Ten teams, while averaging a league-best 14.85 kills per set.
Holly Toliver came out hot with a team-best 14 kills in the opening match against Southeastern Louisiana, and averaged 3.0 kills and 0.92 digs per set while hitting .279 over four matches.
Middle blocker Alyssa Garvelink averaged 2.0 kills and 1.36 blocks per set on the weekend, hitting .556 in the match against Jacksonville State and .356 on the weekend on the whole.
• Two other players checked in with career-best performances last weekend. Redshirt sophomore Kristen Muir had eight digs against both UAB (Aug. 29) and Jacksonville State (Aug. 30), bettering the five she had against Duquesne last Sept. 21. She also had a career-best three aces against Samford (Aug. 30) and two assists vs. Jacksonville State, after a career-best one in each category last year. Autumn Christenson hit .600 (7-1-10) against Jacksonville State (Aug. 30), her best since hitting .227 (8-3-22) against Illinois State at the Butler Invitational on Sept. 14, 2013. She also had five blocks in the same match, which was better than the four she had in two matches as a freshman.
• The Big Ten coaches selected a pre-season all-conference team, and senior libero Kori Moster was one of six unanimous selections among the 15 players selected to the 2014 preseason squad. The two-time defending Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-American captains the Spartans this season for the third year in a row.
• 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).
• The Spartans will be led in 2014 by two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and All-America selection Moster, who toured China as part of the USA Volleyball US Collegiate Team back in June. The team features three other seniors: MB/OH White, OH Taylor Galloway, and DS Ryian Hubbard. In addition, sophomore Chloe Reinig was a Big Ten All-Freshman selection, and Allyssah Fitterer made the NCAA All-Regional Team.
• 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 became MSU's all-time digs leader on Nov. 8, 2013 vs. Northwestern. She surpassed Veronica Morales, who held the school record since 1997 (1,484). Moster currently boasts 1,719 career digs, which ranks 14th all-time in the Big Ten.
• Moster ranks among the top 10 active NCAA players in career digs (1,719). Moster recorded 602 digs in 2012, good for second in MSU's single-season record book, and her 2013 total of 592 ranks third. Moster's 474 digs as a freshman was sixth in a single season in school history.
• Sophomore Allyssah Fitterer was named to the All-Regional Team in Lexington last December, which capped an impressive freshman season where she averaged 1.88 kills, 0.74 blocks, and 0.47 digs per set. She played in all 35 matches for MSU, appearing in 120 of a possible 126 sets - the most of any non-senior, and the sixth-most for any freshman in program history.
• Fitterer hit .278 in 2013, good for third on the team, while ranking second in blocks, third in points, and fourth in kills. She recorded 82 blocks assists and 88 total blocks, good for sixth and ninth, respectively, in the MSU freshman record book
• Fitterer set an MSU record when she hit .786 (12-1-14) at Northwestern on Nov. 8, 2013. The previous four-set record in the MSU record book was .708 (17-0-24) by Cheryl Histed against Eastern Michigan in November 1983.
• Fitterer hit a team-best .387 in the NCAA Tournament, averaging 3.87 kills, 0.64 digs and 0.45 blocks per set in the post-season.
• Reinig was named to the 2013 Big Ten All-Freshman team, giving MSU an All-Freshman Team selection in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history - Halle Peterson was selected in 2012.
• Reinig finished her first collegiate season ranked second on the team with 2.60 kills per set and was tied for third in blocks with 0.69 per set. Her kills per set ranked eighth all-time in MSU's freshman record book, while her attempts per set (6.6) was tenth.
• 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.
