Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
18-6, 11-4B1G
Illinois
18-8, 9-6B1G
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Illinois | 18 | 24 | 19 | 0 |
| Michigan State | 25 | 26 | 25 | 3 |
Spartans Sweep Illini, 3-0
11/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Box Score | PDF Box: MSU 3, Illinois 0
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State senior Autumn Bailey had 17 kills and hit .433 to help lead the No. 8 Spartans over visiting Illinois (25-18, 26-24, 25-19) on Friday night at Jenison Field House.
MSU is now 18-6 on the year, and 11-4 in Conference action. Illinois falls to 18-8, and is 9-6 in B1G play.
The Spartans opened the game with a 25-18 win in the opening set, holding leads of as many as eight points in the set. The home team opened up an early six-point edge in the second set, but were pushed to the limit by the Illini, who battled back to tie the match at 20-20 and push the frame into extra points - a set the Spartans closed out 26-24 on an ace down the left line by Holly Toliver. The third set went to the Spartans by a 25-19 margin, as Illinois had trailed 13-12 before the Spartans closed out the match on a 12-7 run.
Alyssa Garvelink had eight kills, no errors and hit a match-best .533, and had three blocks (two solo) to lead the Spartans. Megan Tompkins, Brooke Kranda, and Holly Toliver all had seven kills to their credit on the night, with Tompkins leading the group by hitting .500.
Tyanna Omazic had a hand on seven of the nine Illini blocks on the night, but MSU held Ali Bastianelli - the top blocker in the league - to just one block assist on the night. Beth Prince led Illinois with 13 kills, while setter Jordyn Poulter had six kills, 29 assists, and two blocks.
The win was the 250th at Michigan State for head coach Cathy George. Annelies Knoppers won 250 games from 1974-84 as the Spartan mentor, and George has tied Knoppers for the most victories by an MSU head coach.
Michigan State hosts a rematch with Northwestern at Jenison Field House on Saturday. The two teams met a week ago in Evanston, where MSU took a 3-0 victory.
QUOTABLE
"I thought that Illinois was going to be a really formidable opponent for us, and that is exactly what we got. They kept pushing us and fought back every time we took a lead. I thought that when we slipped a bit, our team was able to regroup and stop Illinois from getting too much momentum or allowing the game to get away from us. We will want to get our team some rest because we'll play again tomorrow against Northwestern, a team we saw just a week ago and will come in here looking to get back at us for a win at their place. We will need to be rested and focused on the task at hand ."
- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
- Autumn Bailey just missed a double-double, hitting .433 with 16 kills and nine digs.
- Alyssa Garvelink posted eight kills and added three blocks (two solo), hitting .533 without a hitting error.
- Rachel Minarick posted 44 assists and seven digs.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- Both of MSU's middles - Garvelink and Megan Tompkins - hit .500 or better. Tompkins had seven kills, a block, an ace, and an assist, getting her seven kills on 12 swings (7-1-12).
- Samantha McLean's back-to-back aces in the third set were her career best. She had seven digs on the night as well.
- Holly Toliver had a pair of aces and seven digs, getting seven kills.
GAME REPLAY
- SET ONE: MSU got out to a quick start, taking a 5-1 lead and pushing it to 11-4, forcing the visitors to call a time out with the seven-point deficit. MSU opened up the set hitting .500 (7-1-12), as each starter had at least one kill and none with more than two. MSU's play remained consistent, hitting better than .400 and forcing a second time out from the Illini bench as the Spartans pulled ahead by eight, 17-9. Bailey was the go-to for the Spartans, who continued to swing efficiently, recording six kills on her first eight swings. The Spartans held an eight-point lead at 21-13, but a four-point run for the Illini on Jordan Poulter's serve trimmed it down to four (21-17) before a Kranda cross-court dagger stopped the visitor streak. MSU retaliated with a three-point run to pull to set point at 24-17, and after a hitting error, the Spartans closed it out on a Garvelink kill. Bailey led MSU with six kills on nine swings (.667), while both Megan Tompkins and Garvelink had three kills and no errors. Garvelink added a pair of solo blocks. The Illini hit .156 as a team with six errors, while MSU's side hit .406 (16-3-32).
- SET TWO: MSU got another fast start, and led 10-3 before Illinois countered with a 3-0 run to trim the home team's lead to three, 10-7. The Spartans got back on track as the teams engaged in a tighter battle, and pulled ahead by five, 14-9. A 5-2 Illini run trimmed the Spartan lead to just two, 16-14, despite the visitors hitting negative to that point of the set. MSU pushed it back to four (20-16) on a kill by Kranda, at which point Illinois called its second time out of the frame. The visitors had pulled their hitting percentage in the set back up above the mendoza line, (9-7-34, .057), and looked to continue the improvement. Kills by Beth Prince and Ali Bastianelli, followed by a dump from Poulter, brought the visiting team to within one, 20-19, and MSU called time out for the first time on the night. The Spartans committed a hitting error right out of the break to tie the game at 20-all, but a Kranda kill halted the Illini run. The teams traded points from there - MSU went back up 23-21, but the Illini battled back to tie it at 23's, at which point the Spartans called their second time out. The Illini corrected their hitting percentage up to .187, back from sub-zero at the midpoint of the frame. The teams traded big kills - Garvelink for MSU, Quade for the Illini - to make it 24-24, and Toliver stepped back to serve after Bailey's 13th kill gave MSU a 25-24 lead. Toliver delivered an ace down the left line, and sent MSU into the locker room with a 2-0 match lead. Bailey added seven kills and three digs in the frame - on just eight swings - while Garvelink had four kills and a block. Beth Prince had eight kills on 20 swings in the set to push her match total to 12.
- SET THREE: The Illini used a 4-1 run to turn an early deficit into their first lead of the night, a 6-5 edge that was fueled by four blocks for the visiting team in those first 11 points of the set. MSU called a time out, and Toliver went high off the block to stop the run and get the sideout. MSU took three of the next five points to retake the lead with kills from Toliver and Bailey. MSU took a brief three-point edge at 13-10, but each time the Spartans tried to pull away, the Illini countered to keep things tight. A pair of Sam McLean aces - a career best for the sophomore - pushed MSU;s lead out to a set-high five points (18-13), and the Illini called their second time out of the set. MSU got to match point at 24-17, but the Illini fought it off twice before Tompkins closed it out for the 3-0 sweep. The Spartans hit just .189 in the final set, but six of the seven hitting errors were Illini blocks. Illinois hit .276, their match high, and were led by three players with three blocks each - and Tyanna Omazic had five of the six stuffs for the visitors. MSU countered the six Illinois blocks with six service aces in the final set. Bailey had four kills, an ace and two digs.
