MSU Closes Out Road Trip with Sweep of Iowa

Saturday, October 10

Iowa City, Iowa

8:00 PM

Michigan State University

11-6, 3-3

Iowa

10-9, 0-6

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Michigan State	25	25	25	3
Iowa	22	18	19	0

10/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

Oct. 10, 2015

Final Stats

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State snapped a two-match losing streak with a straight-set victory over homestanding Iowa on Saturday night (25-22, 25-18 25-19). MSU is now 11-6, 3-3 in Big Ten play, while Iowa is 10-9, 0-6 in Conference action. The Spartans emerged victorious over the Hawkeyes for the 11th straight meeting.

SET ONE: With the opening set tied 9-9, a 5-1 run for MSU opened up a four point lead (14-10), as MSU was hitting 6-0-15 (.400). Iowa called its second and final timeout at 18-12, after the Spartans had gotten back-to-back kills from Chloe Reinig and Brooke Kranda. With a 19-13 Spartan lead, Iowa ripped off four straight points to pull within two, on three kills and a block, to force MSU into its first timeout. The Spartans were able to close it out 25-22, and Holly Toliver and Kranda led the way as each compiled five kills. MSU hit .351 with 16 kills against three errors, and Iowa hit .282 in the frame.

SET TWO: The second set was similar to the first, as MSU had no larger than a two-point lead and held a 12-10 advantage. The Spartans went up 16-12 on a Kranda termination and a Garvlink block, but a pair of errors by MSU got the Hawkeyes back within two points. A 7-0 Spartan run blew the set open, and gave the visitors a 23-14 edge, and despite Iowa scoring four of the next five points, the Spartans closed it out on a kill by Holly Toliver, her 10th of the night. MSU had four blocks in the frame and hit just .205, but Iowa hit .064 with seven errors.

SET THREE: MSU got out to a 10-8 lead, but neither team was hitting over .100 to that point in the frame. Iowa knotted it up at 10-10 as a Kranda shot sailed long, but she got right back into it with a kill off the block to regain the lead for MSU. Iowa took its first lead of the match briefly at 12-11, but MSU regained the lead and the teams engaged in a point-for-point battle. After a 14-14 tie, MSU got consecutive kills by Reinig and Fitterer to pull back ahead by a pair, and a big block by Fitterer and Minarick put MSU up three, 18-15. and the Spartans continued to build on the lead, putting Washegesic on the service line for match point. Garvelink got her eighth kill of the night to sew up

QUOTABLE:
"Winning on the road in the Big Ten is never easy, and it was important for us to get one here tonight after a couple of tough losses at Michigan and Nebraska. With four home games ahead of us, I think our team is looking forward to sleeping in our own beds and getting some quality rest. We'll be really happy to play in front of our fans at Jenision this week."

- Head Coach Cathy George

TOP PERFORMERS

Holly Toliver had 13 kills , her second-highest total this season. She also added six digs and a block.
Rachel Minarick had 32 assists, and added eight digs and three kills, and two blocks, running the 5-1 in the absence of senior captain Halle Peterson for the second straight game.
Alyssa Garvelink had four blocks to lead the Spartan effort at the net, and contributed eight kills and hit .300 as well. Allyssah Fitterer had four kills , four digs, two aces, and three blocks.
Brooke Kranda finished with 10 kills and hit a team-best .320. It was the first time in 11 matches that she had not owned or shared the team kill lead.
Abby Monson had double-digit digs for the 12th straight match, posting 18, tying her high in a Big Ten match.

STATS AND STORYLINES

The Spartans snapped a two-game skid with the win over the Hawkeyes. MSU had dropped back-to-back games to Michigan and Nebraska, the second time this season that MSU had lost consecutive games.
MSU's winning streak over Iowa reached 11 matches, including 10 straight in straight sets.
Toliver had back-to-back double-digit kill games for the first time in her career, and had double-digit terminations for the fourth time this season. She was just shy of her season high of 16, set vs. Purdue on Sept. 26.
MSU out-blocked Iowa 7-3.
MSU is now 11-3 when taking a first-set victory this season. All three losses are in Big Ten matches to No. 20 Purdue, No. 23 Michigan, and No. 4 Nebraska.
The Spartans begin a four-game homestand on Wednesday, when Maryland comes to Jenison Field House.