Four-Game Road Swing Begins Friday for Volleyball

Friday, October 12

College Park, MD

7 pm

Michigan State University

Maryland

Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography

10/10/2018 9:41:00 AM | Volleyball

MSU Notes Week 8 Maryland Ohio State

Spartans ready to take on Maryland, Ohio State

**Big Ten Week Four: Spartans at Maryland, at Ohio State**
at Maryland	Friday Oct. 12, 7 pm XFinity Center Pavilion
	Live Stats \| TV: BTN \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
at Ohio State	Sunday, Oct 14, 1 pm; St. John Arena
	Live Stats \| TV: ESPNU \| Watch: WatchESPN \| Tickets
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| M aryland \| Ohio State
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

Team Notes:
• Michigan State heads out on the road for the first two of four straight matches away from Jenison Field House. The Spartans play Friday night at Maryland, and then Sunday afternoon at Ohio State. .

• Friday's game at Maryland will be carried live on Big Ten Network (Jason Knapp (pxp), Audrey Flaugh (analysis), and then Sunday's action at Ohio State appears on ESPNU with Holly McPeak (pxp) and Paul Sunderland (analysis) on the call.

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Sports Network. All games - home and away - will be carried live.

• The Spartans split last weekend's Big Ten action, winning a five-set battle with Indiana on Friday before falling to No. 14 Purdue on Saturday (3-1).

• In MSU's first five-set match of the season, the Spartans set or tied a total of 16 individual career highs vs. the Hoosiers in a 3-2 win (25-20, 23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-13). MSU's last five set match was at Wisconsin on Sept. 22, 2017, a 3-2 victory.

• Michigan State dropped a tough four-set loss to No. 14 Purdue (25-15, 12-25, 19-25, 17-25) on Saturday at Jenison Field House. MSU out-blocked their visitors by an 11-9 margin, but had 39 kills to 49 for the Boilermakers, who hit .199 on the night. MSU was hindered by 26 hitting errors and eight more from the service line.

• Saturday's loss was the first time this season that MSU had taken a 1-0 match lead and lost. MSU is now 11-1 when winning the first set.

• The Spartans won three straight non-conference tournament titles in the pre-conference portion of the schedule. MSU swept through the competition at the Carolina Classic, Fairfield Invitational, and Auto Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational, and finished second in the opening weekend at the Tennessee Classic.

• MSU (14-5) is no longer receiving votes in the most recent AVCA National Poll. Seven teams from the Big Ten appeared in the national top 17, with four appearing in the top 10 and one team (Iowa) among the teams receiving votes.

• MSU takes on Maryland and first-year coach Adam Hughes on Friday. The Spartans own a perfect 9-0 record all-time against the Terrapins, including a perfect 5-0 mark since Maryland joined the Big Ten. The Terps are off to a 12-6 mark, with a 3-3 record in Conference play.
• MSU and Maryland will meet for the first time at the Terps XFINITY Center Pavilion. The last two meetings of the teams came on the main floor of the XFINITY Center, as a warmup for Maryland's Midnight Madness events in 2014 and 2017.

• MSU and Maryland have met twice in a season just once since the Terps joined the Big Ten (2017). The only meeting of the two teams in 2018 will be on Friday.

• MSU and Ohio State will battle on Sunday afternoon on ESPNU. This will be the only time the teams meet in 2018, and will be the first game in Columbus since 2016, which was a 3-0 Buckeye victory. With a new arena coming next season for OSU, this will be the last-ever meeting between the teams at St. John's Arena.

• Geoff Carlston is in his 11th season as the head coach at Ohio State. OSU owns a 46-32 record in the all-time series, but MSU has taken a win in three of the last four matchups.

• The Spartans have earned eight 3-0 sweeps and played eight four-set matches in 2018. MSU is a perfect 7-0 in neutral-site matches, 2-3 in true road games, and 5-2 at home.

• MSU owns the second-most victories (14) overall among Big Ten teams, behind Illinois and Michigan (15).

• MSU ranks third in the Big Ten and ranks 18th nationally in service aces per set (1.72), with 115 aces over 67 frames. The Green & White boast five matches with double-digit aces, the most of any team in the Big Ten. The single-match high of 14 is held by both Maryland (vs. Ohio State) and Rutgers (vs. Coppin State), with MSU's single-match best of 13 aces vs. Chattanooga ranking third.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.85 blocks per set, which is good for third in the Big Ten and ninth nationally. MSU's total blocks (191) also ranks seventh nationally, and is second in the Big Ten.

• MSU has double-digit blocking totals in each of the last four matches and 10 of 19 matches overall. The Spartans have had eight or more blocks in all but two matchups this season.

• MSU has out-blocked its opponent 13 times, but has had fewer blocks in four of its six Big Ten contests.

• The Spartans had a season-best 82 digs in the win over Indiana, with four double-digit individual performances.

• MSU has gone 132-26 (.835) in non-conference action in Cathy George's 14 years at the helm, and has never lost more than four games prior to the beginning of the Big Ten season.

• MSU's 2018 roster features one senior (captain Maddie Haggerty), two juniors (setter Maggie Midgette and DS Samantha McLean), and two large classes of sophomores and freshmen. The 2017 recruiting class was ranked No. 9 by PrepVolleyball, while the current freshmen came in ranked at No. 15.

• MSU's streak of seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances is the third-longest in the Big Ten, behind Penn State and Nebraska. In addition, MSU, Nebraska, and Penn State are the only teams to finish .500 or better in Big Ten play in each of the last seven seasons (2011-17).

• The Big Ten coaches selected defending National Champion Nebraska as the 2018 pre-season conference favorite, followed by Wisconsin and Minnesota in second and third, respectively. The Spartans appeared at No. 9 in the Big Ten preseason survey.

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to amass 600 wins (634), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,259), Wisconsin's John Cook (706), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (608). She entered the 2018 season 19th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 621-398 overall record, 50th all-time in Division I history.

Player Notes:
• Sophomore OH Alyssa Chronowski was MSU's top offensive producer last weekend, and had a career best in both ends of MSU's weekend series. She led the Spartans with a career-best 25 kills in a five-set thriller against Indiana, with career bests in attempts (51) and digs (8). On Saturday against Purdue, she put up her first career double-double, with a second straight night with a career high in digs (10) and posting 12 kills as well, along with four blocks (one solo) and an ace. Chronowski averaged 4.11 kills and 2.0 digs per set on the weekend.

• Chronowski is 12th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.36), and ranks ninth in service aces (0.34/s). She is also averaging 0.58 blocks per set and 1.04 digs over the first 19 matches of the season.

• Naya Gros ranks third in the Big Ten and ranks 15th nationally in hitting percentage (.403). In addition, she ranks 17th nationally in total blocks (90) and 26th in blocks per set (1.36), which is fifth in the Big Ten rankings.

• Among league freshmen, Gros leads the pack in hitting percentage (.403), is 11th in kills (2.23/s) and third in blocks (1.36/s).

• Gros' 10 blocks against Chattanooga on Aug. 25 is her career best in that category, and ranks second among single-game match highs for any player in the Big Ten this season.

• Elena Shklyar established a new career best with 63 assists in the win over Indiana, which is the single-match high in assists among Big Ten setters this season.

• Shklyar had 48 assists in the win over Rutgers (Sept. 29), and also had two 40-assist nights in the non-conference portion of the schedule, at Tennessee (43) and North Carolina (44).

• Shklyar is averaging 8.70 assists per set, which is good for 11th in the Big Ten. She is also averaging 1.26 digs, 0.53 blocks, and 0.25 aces per set.

• Senior Maddie Haggerty averaged 2.67 kills and 2.44 digs per set per set last weekend, including her first MSU double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs against Indiana, her Spartan career bests in both categories. She added 10 kills and eight digs on Saturday in the Purdue match, just missing a second double-double.

• On the year, Haggerty is averaging 2.59 kills per frame, which is good for second on the team. She also adds 1.71 digs per set.

• Molly Johnson (1.03) and Rebecka Poljan (1.18) are both averaging better than 1.0 blocks per set this season, giving MSU a three-headed monster at the net that includes Gros (1.46).

• Poljan posted five kills in each match last weekend, with eight kills in the win over Indiana and five in the loss to Purdue. She ranks ninth in the Big Ten in blocks per set (1.18), and is hitting .218 with 1.58 kills per frame. She ranks fifth among Conference freshmen in blocks and ninth in hitting percentage.

• Johnson averaged 1.43 kills per set last weekend, and is averaging 1.83 on the year with a .190 hitting percentage and 1.03 blocks per set. She had five kills in each match last weekend, with four blocks against Indiana and two vs. Purdue.

• Redshirt sophomore Lauren Swartz has been hampered with a nagging injury this season, but made her season debut at Iowa. She led the Spartans against Indiana with a .429 hitting percentage (9-3-14), and ended the weekend with 2.0 kills per set and 0.60 blocks.

• Maggie Midgette is averaging 7.54 assists per set with 0.54 aces and 1.14 digs per frame. She ranks in a tie for second on the team with 15 service aces, behind Chronowski's 23. Jamye Cox also has 15.

• Midgette recorded five aces in the MSU win over Chattanooga (Aug. 25), which is tied for the single-match high among Spartan players this season. Elena Shklyar had five against Northeastern (Sept. 8).

• Julia Hatcher started all four matches in the Fairfield Invite, but has missed the last eight matches and will miss the remainder of the season with an injury. She averaged better than a block per set (1.10) for MSU before her season came to a halt after appearing in just 20 sets this season.

• Jamye Cox missed four matches at the Fairfield Invitational, appearing in 15 of 19 matches this season. She is averaging 3.93 digs (ninth, B1G) and 0.56 assists per frame. Cox compiled 28 digs in the match vs. Indiana last Friday.

• Cox established a new career best with seven assists in the match vs. Western Michigan (Sept. 15). Her 29 digs vs. Belmont is the third-highest total for a Big Ten player this season, and also her career best.

• Junior Samantha McLean has appeared in all 67 sets, one of just two athletes to do so (Chronowski is the other). She is third on the team with 2.15 digs per set, and she also has 13 service aces on the year.

• McLean tied her career high with 13 digs against Indiana, and has three straight matches with double-digit digs. She had four straight matches earlier in the season.

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 1.98 kills and 1.84 digs per set. She is fourth on the team with 14 service aces (0.31 per set), which ranks 12th in the Big Ten.

• Freshmen back-row specialists Lauryn Gibbs and Talia Edmonds are bolstering MSU's passing game.

• Gibbs established a new career best with 12 digs in the win over Indiana, a match where she also established a career high with three assists and added a service ace. She is averaging 1.14 digs per set.

• Edmonds has stood out at the service line with seven aces on the season, and also posted a career-best five digs against Alabama-Birmingham (Sept. 15).

• Redshirt freshman Bella Legarza made her MSU debut vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore, recording a kill.