Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
18-5, 7-4Big Ten
Indiana
14-10, 3-8Big Ten
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan State | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Indiana | 23 | 16 | 22 | 0 |
Spartans Open Second Half With Sweep of Indiana
10/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
No. 15 Michigan State earned a victory over Indiana on the road on Friday night, earning it's 14th three-set sweep of the season (25-23, 25-16, 25-22). The Spartans improve to 18-5, 7-4 Big Ten with the win; IU falls to 14-10, 3-8 in B1G play.
The match featured 27 tie scores and 14 lead changes, and after a two-point victory in the first set, the Spartans looked for some separation in the second frame. An 11-2 run mid-second set helped MSU take a 25-16 victory in that set, but fought through another tight frame in the third, but outlasted their hosts in the third.
Alyssa Garvelink led MSU with nine kills and hit .562, while classmate Autumn Bailey also had nine kills along with six digs. Chloe Reinig hit .500 and had seven kills. Rachel Minarick celebrated her 21st birthday with 25 assists, six digs, and two kills.
MSU hit .272 for the match, but was hampered by 11 service errors, compared to seven by the Hoosiers. The two teams, who lead the Big Ten in service aces, combined for 14 - six for MSU, eight for IU.
MSU completes its three-match road swing on Saturday at Purdue. Match time is 7 pm.
- SET ONE: The teams stayed a point within each other until MSU opened up a 10-8 advantage, the first multiple-point lead for either. team. A Reinig kill gave the Spartans a 12-9 edge, and despite IU trimming the deficit down to one at 14-13, MSU scored the next two points to re-establish a three-point advantage - and IU called time out. The Hoosiers regrouped for four straight out of their hiatus, including back-to-back aces by Taylor Lebo, to take an 18-17 lead. MSU took its first time out, and Bailey knotted the score with a kill off the block. The teams took turns trading punches, and MSU tied the match at 23-23 on a kill by Alyssa Garvelink. A block by Alyssa Fitterer got the Spartans to match point, and IU called its second time out. A net violation by the Hoosiers gave the Spartans the opening-set victory. Fitterer and Reinig each had three kills in the frame, while three players had three kills each for the home team. The set featured 15 tie scores and eight lead changes.
- SET TWO: MSU found itself behind 8-6 in the second set, and called timeout. The Spartans responded with four straight points out of that break to pull ahead 10-8. The Hoosiers got the sideout on a kill by Kendall Beerman, but MSU immediately returned the favor with a kill by Garvelink. A Bailey termination, followed by a Hoosier error, allowed the Spartans to open up a four-point advantage, their largest of the night. MSU's rhythm was not interrupted by the break, as a block, an ace by Kranda, and a Reinig kill pushed the lead out to seven (17-10), an 11-2 run, and IU called its second time out. The Hoosiers scored four straight to trim it back down to three points, but MSU regrouped to score five of the next six points and take a 22-15 lead. Fitterer's kill, her fourth of the night, put Bailey on the service line with a 23-16 edge, and she immediately served up an ace to get to set point. A kill by Minarick on a dump over the net gave the Spartans the set victory. The Spartans hit .375 in the frame compared to .231 for the Hoosiers, and were led by Garvelink's six kills.
- SET THREE: MSU led 9-6 before an IU time out, after which the Boilers scored back-to-back points and trimmed it down to a one-point Spartan lead. MSU once again went up three (15-12), but after a time out, IU came back once again, scoring four of the next five to pull ahead 16-15, aided by a pair of Spartan miscues. Deyshia Lofton delivered three big blocks to help the Hoosiers build their largest lead of the night, (19-16), but MSU fought back with four straight points - including kills from Fitterer, Kranda, and Garvelink - to re-take the lead at 20-19. After the Hoosiers tied it up, they committed an error that gave the Spartans back the lead; Garvelink and Minarick came up with a big block at the right pin, and Fitterer followed with an ace to pull within two points of the sweep. With a 24-22 lead, a kill by Kranda closed out the 3-0 victory with a 25-22 win.
Quoteable:
"We're really in a critical period of our schedule, and with winning on the road in the Big Ten a difficult thing to do, we are happy with tonight's result. We obviously want to clean up some things, but I like how we handled ourselves when we were up against some IU runs. We know that we have our hands full again tomorrow night with a very good Purdue team, so it's going to be a very fast turnaround for us to get ourselves ready."
-- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
- Alyssa Garvelink had nine kills and zero errors, hitting .562 with a pair of blocks.
- Chloe Reinig had seven kills and hit .500
- Rachel Minarick recorded 25 assists, six digs, two aces, and three kills.
- Allyssah Fitterer tied her career best with three acces, and also compiled five kills, a dig, and shared the team lead of two blocks.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- The Spartans hit .272 in the match, but committed 11 service errors.
- MSU is now 14-4 in three-set matches, with 18 three-set affairs in 23 matches overall.
- The Spartans were out-blocked 6-3 in the match. That ties MSU's season low in team blocks for the second straight match, also set vs. Morgan State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. MSU's Big Ten low had been four team blocks, at Rutgers (Oct. 1).
- Abby Monson had a match-best eight digs and added six assists.
- Brooke Kranda hit .455 (6-1-11), and added a pair of aces and a dig.
