MSU Battles for Three-Set Sweep of Southern Illinois

Saturday, September 10

Bowling Green, Ky.

12:00 PM

Michigan State University

7-1

Southern Illinois

6-3

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Michigan State	25	25	25	3
Southern Illinois	21	22	21	0

9/10/2016 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

Sept. 10, 2016

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State downed Southern Illinois, 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21) on Saturday morning to improve to 7-1 on the season. MSU had to rally from deficits of at least four points in each set, but closed out each frame strong to secure the sweep.

Chloe Reinig had seven of her match-high nine kills in the third set, adding six digs and a pair of blocks, and Autumn Bailey had eight kills and 13 digs.

MSU hit just .113 in the match, committing 11 errors in the first set.

The Spartans wrap tournament action late Saturday afternoon, taking on host No. 23 Western Kentucky at 5 pm CT.

SET ONE: Looking a bit out of sorts, the Spartans trailed SIU by four (10-6) in the early part of the match, but got the side out and rallied for five straight points to pull ahead 11-10 on Autumn Bailey's service run. The teams were trading big swings (and both hitting negative) when the Salukis called timeout to try to halt a 6-1 Spartan run at 14-11. MSU held its largest lead at 18-12 after a fortuitous bounce off the top tape gave Minarick an ace. SIU used a 7-2 run to trim the Spartan advantage to two (21-19), and the teams traded points until MSU got to set point at 24-21. Bailey stepped in to serve, and an attempt from the Saluki side sailed long, giving the Spartans the first-set victory. MSU had 11 attack errors in the frame, two more than it had in Friday's victory over Cincinnati.

SET TWO: With the Salukis jumping out to a 7- 2 advantage in the second set (and pushing their match total to 5.5 team blocks), the Spartans called a time out. MSU battled back to pull within two (12-10) on the serve of Autumn Bailey, but after the Salukis got the sideout, they ripped off three straight points to push the lead back to six (16-10). Kristen Brashear entered to serve and brought MSU back within two, and Tompkins was disruptive at the net to help MSU continue an 11-3 run, giving the Spartans their first lead of the set at 20-19 and going ahead by two. With MSU leading 22-20, SIU used a soft tip shot to pull back within one, but MSU got a lift from winning an extended rally to move to set point, 24-21. A long shot into the right corner cut MSU's lead down to 24-22, but a slick swipe by Minarick caught the defenders napping and MSU secured the second set, 25-22. MSU hit .237 in the frame (recovering nicely from early hitting woes), led by Bailey's five kills and three digs. Toliver contributed four kills, a dig, and a block.

SET THREE: A series of miscues by the Spartans allowed the Salukis to use a 5-0 run to pull ahead in the early part of the third frame, but MSU righted the ship and pulled within two, 10-8 on a Toliver serve that landed squarely in the back left corner. After an SIU time out, the teams traded mini-runs, as the Spartans tied the match at 14-14, 16-16, and 18-18 before starting to pull away. MSU used a 9-3 run to end the game, securing the match with a 25-21 score in the final frame. Reinig accounted for seven of her nine kills in the final set, while Tompkins, Toliver, and Garvelink each had two blocks.

TOP PERFORMERS

Chloe Reinig led MSU with nine kills, adding six digs and two blocks, one solo.
Holly Toliver and Autumn Bailey each contributed eight kills. Bailey added a match-best 13 digs, while Toliver had five digs and three blocks.
Megan Tompkins had three kills and added a match-best four blocks.

STATS AND STORYLINES

Chloe Reinig had seven kills on 11 swings (one error) in the final set to finish with her nine kills. She also had three digs in that final set, matching her total from the first two frames.
Autumn Bailey tied for the match lead with 13 digs.
Rachel Minarick had 25 assists, adding two aces and three kills, her season best.
MSU had two solo blocks in the match, pushing its weekend total to five - nearly tying the six MSU had posted in the first six matches of the season.
MSU had five service aces and connected on 92% of it's serves, the most in any match this season - bettering the 90%