MSU Sweeps Indiana On Senior Night

Saturday, November 18

Jenison Field House

8:00 PM

Michigan State University

20-7, 13-5B1G

Indiana

12-18, 1-17B1G

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Indiana	15	12	18	0
Michigan State	25	25	25	3

11/19/2017 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball

Box Score

Nov. 18, 2017

Box Score | PDF Box Score: MSU 3, Indiana 0

WATCH: Senior Night Highlights vs. Indiana

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS

No. 8 Michigan State closed out the home portion of its schedule with a commanding 3-0 victory over visiting Indiana (25-15, 25-12, 25-18). Following the match, the Spartans honored their seven seniors (Holly Toliver, Alyssa Garvelink, Megan Tompkins, Abby Monson, Rachel Minarick, Brooke Kranda, and Autumn Bailey) who played the final regular-season home game of their careers.

The Hoosiers (12-17, 1-16 B1G) were limited to a .048 hitting percentage on the night, while the Spartans were extremely efficient - MSU hit .393 in the match, including .560 in the second set with 15 kills and just one hitting error, a Hoosier block. In all, MSU had just nine hitting errors on the night, five attributable to Hoosier blocks.

The Spartans improve to 20-7 overall on the season and 13-5 in Big Ten play. MSU has matched its Big Ten win total from 2016.

MSU out-blocked their guests by an 8-5 margin, and had three solo blocks. Three players hit .400 or better in the match - Autumn Bailey led the Spartans with 11 kills and added eight digs, hitting .409, while Megan Tompkins hit a team-best .462 with seven kills and a team-best four blocks (one solo). Brooke Kranda had 10 kills and hit .400, adding a service ace.

Alyssa Garvelink had six kills and three blocks on the night, her first termination the 1,000th career kill for the middle blocker. Setter Rachel Minarick had 33 assists, three blocks, and a pair of service aces.

For Indiana, Kendall Beerman led her team with six kills, while Ally Badowski hit a team-best .267 with five kills and a team-best three blocks.

The Spartans play their final two games of the regular season on the road next week. MSU heads to Purdue for a Friday night match, and then concludes the Big Ten regular season schedule at Indiana next Saturday.

QUOTABLE
"We put a large focus on getting back to the basics in practice since Wednesday's match, and I thought we were very efficient and poised. It was an emotional night for sure - the seniors had large groups of family here, and they really wanted to take care of business and end their final regular-season home game the right way. Our seniors mean the world to our program and the energy tonight was a great way to wrap up our regular season at home."
- Head Coach Cathy George

TOP PERFORMERS

Autumn Bailey had 11 kills, hit .409, and added eight digs
Brooke Kranda hit .400, recording 10 kills on 20 swings. She added a service ace.
Megan Tompkins had a match-best four blocks and hit .462, with seven kills.
Rachel Minarick had 33 assists, two service aces, and three blocks (one solo).

STATS AND STORYLINES

Alyssa Garvelink recorded her 1,000th career kill early in the first set. She is the 23rd Spartan to record 1,000 career kills, and she is one of just three active players in the Big Ten to have 1,000 career kills and 500 career blocks (Haleigh Washington of Penn State and Brianna Holman of Nebraska are the other two).
Jamye Cox had nine digs to lead the Spartans, adding two assists.
MSU had eight blocks, tying their most in a Big Ten game this season. The Spartans also had eight blocks vs. Michigan earlier this week.
GAME REPLAY

SET ONE: The Spartans had an early five-point edge at 8-3, and maintained a lead between five and seven points for the remainder of the frame. MSU's largest lead was eight at 22-14, as the Spartans methodically kept pressure on their visitors. MSU hit .407 in the set (14-3-27), as Kranda had four kills on five swings to lead the charge along with a service ace. Garvelink recorded her 1,000th career kill early in the frame, and had two kills and two blocks - a solo effort on set point to seal the set win.

SET TWO: MSU and Indiana were engaged in a tighter battle early in the second set, tied at 3-3. MSU opened up a 7-3 run that gave the home team a 10-5 edge, and hit even more efficiently than in the opening frame - with a 19-9 lead, MSU was hitting .600 in the set (12-0-20) and .489 in the set. With a 20-10 lead for the home team, IU got back to back points on a kill and a block, but the Spartans countered with a 3-0 run to push it out to an 11-point edge, 23-12. MSU got to set point after a shot long by the Hoosiers, and set point once again came on a block as Minarick rejected a Kendall Beerman attempt at the right pin to close it out, 25-12. The Spartans finished with a .560 hitting percentage in the frame (15-1-25), getting three blocks which included two for Megan Tompkins to go with two kills. Autumn Bailey had five kills on six swings to lead the MSU attack, while both Kranda and Toliver had three. The Hoosiers hit -.036 with just seven kills.

SET THREE: The visitors hung tight with MSU in the third set, refocused after the set break. Tied at 10-10, MSU went on a 3-0 run capped by a Minarick ace that forced a time out from the IU bench. IU scored back to back points out of their break to trim it down to one, but Garvelink put down a thundering kill to keep the visitors from tying the score. Indiana stayed within striking distance, as MSU's largest lead was at 20-15 - but that was also short-lived as IU came back with consecutive points. to make it 20-17. MSU was hitting just .233 to that part of the third , while IU countered with a match-best .130. The Spartans closed out the frame on a 5-1 run, which included kills by Autumn Bailey and Megan Tompkins.