Friday, October 26
East Lansing, MI
6 pm
Michigan State University
15-9, 3-8B1G
0
vs
3
Minnesota
17-2, 11-0B1G
1
2
3
F
Minnesota
25
25
25
3
Michigan State
22
23
15
0
Team Stats
MINN
MSU
Kills
45
39
Errors
13
18
Attempts
103
107
Hitting %
.311
.196
Points
58.0
44.0
Assists
42
35
Aces
7
3
Blocks
6.0
2.0
Game Leaders
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMSU Falls In Hard-Fought Match vs. No. 3 Minnesota
10/26/2018 9:02:00 PM | Volleyball
Spartans led by Haggerty, Poljan in loss
SPARTAN SYNOPSISÂ Â Â
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Michigan State dropped a hard-fought decision to No. 3 Minnesota on Friday at Jenison Field House, but fell by a 3-0 score (22-25, 23-25,15-25).  The Gophers improve to 17-2, 11-0 Big Ten, while the Spartans fall to 15-9. 3-8 in Conference play.
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The Spartans, playing just their eighth home match of the season, had opportunities to take either of the first two sets, but saw the seasoned Gophers pull out three- and two-point victories. The Gophers found their game in the third, hitting .480 (13-1-25) while the Spartans fought through seven hitting errors, three coming on Minnesota blocks. The Spartans had a season-low two blocks in the contest.
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Maddie Haggerty had nine kills, a solo block, two aces, and eight digs; freshman Rebecka Poljan matched Haggerty's nine kills and hit .300. Naya Gros had eight terminations and led the Spartans with a .357 hitting percentage on the night,
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For the Gophers, middle Regan Pittman hit .667 while posting 11 kills against just one error and adding a block; Alexis Hart led all players with 12 kills, six of which came in the final set. Stephanie Samedy had 10 kills and six digs to round out the trio of double-digit kill performers. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 39 assists for the visitors.
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Michigan State wraps up its two-match weekend against Wisconsin on Saturday at 7 pm at Jenison Field House. A reminder that all MSU-Purdue football ticket holders can gain free admission to the match by showing their football ticket stub.Â
 QUOTABLEÂ
"I thought we really needed to be more aggressive. Part of our learning curve is not only learning to deal with adversity, but also dealing with prosperity. We were right in it in the first set, and lost it late. We had a five- or six-point lead in the second, and had a hard time holding that lead. We need to be assertive in that situation and not let our foot off the gas. We're doing lots of good things, but those are the little things that make a big difference. We are going to continue to play difficult opponents every night, and these are the lessons that once we learn them, will turn losses into wins." Â
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 TOP PERFORMERSÂ
•  Maddie Haggerty had nine kills and eight digs, adding a pair of service aces.  Â
•  Rebecka Poljan produced nine kills, hitting .300.
•  Naya Gros delivered eight kills, posting a team-best .357 hitting percentage.  Â
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   STATS AND STORYLINESÂ
•  MSU was held to a season-low two blocks . Â
•  The Spartans once again used two setters; the freshman Elena Shklyar had 19 assists, an ace, and three digs; Maggie Midgette had 13 assists and two digs.  Â
•  MSU has now dropped four straight matches, its longest streak of the season.Â
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 GAME REPLAYÂ
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•   SET ONE: Michigan State was assertive from the opening serve, with the teams tied 8-8 in the early going. MSU went up 10-8, but the Gophers countered with a 4-0 stretch that turned their two-point deficit into a two-point advantage. Minnesota won the race to 15 to trigger the TV time out with a four-point advantage (15-11), but MSU came out of the break with two kills from Johnson and one from Chronowski that tied things up at 15-15. The Spartans kept coming, and pulled ahead 19-18 on a great shot down the line by Maddie Haggerty. The Gophers called time out, and tied it up out of the break. The teams were tied at 19-20, and 21, but the Gophers went up 23-21 on a kill by Alexis Hart and an ace by Seliger-Swenson. MSU committed a pair of errors to give the first set to the visitors, 25-22. Naya Gros had five kills on six swings and a block, while Regan Pittman was a perfect 6-0-6 for the Gophers. Minnesota hit .243 (13-4-37) compared to .200 for MSU (16-8-40).Â
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•   SET TWO:  The Spartans raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second set which led to a very early time out called on the Gopher bench. With the Spartans leading 7-4, kills by Samedy and Adanna Rollins brought the visitors within one, but MSU got a kill from Gros and a solo stuff from Haggerty to pull back ahead by three. Haggerty became a lot to handle for the Gophers, as she put down two kills and a block as MSU built its lead to six, 14-8. Minnesota roarded back with three straight points to make it 14-11, but MSU wouldn't back down. The visitors kept chipping away, using a 4-0 run to pull within one point at 17-16. Chronowski countered with a line shot to stop the run, MSU fell behind 22-20, but fought back to tie it at 22 and 23, but Samedy delivered back-to-back kills to close it out and take a 2-0 match lead for Minnesota. The Spartans hit an impressive .294 (13-3-34), but Minnesota generated six more kills (19-8-41) to overcome eight hitting errors. MSU got four kills, three digs and a block from Haggerty.Â
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•   SET THREE:    The teams battled to an early 8-8 deadlock, but  a 5-1 Gopher run forced the Spartans into a time out trailing 13-9. The lead grew to 18-10 for the visitors, and MSU called its second time out. In Minnesota's 8-1 run (primarily on a Lauren Barnes service run), the Gophers got two aces from Barnes and three miscues from the Spartans. Out of the break, Chronowski put an end to the run for the Gophers, but a joust at the net went to Minnesota to give the Gophers a 20-12 edge. The visitors had found their groove, and hitting .500 (11-1-20) with a 22-14 lead, as the Spartans stayed on task but had troubles with Minnesota's nearly-perfect efforts in the third frame. With Seliger-Swenson on the service line, the Gophers were able to close it out with pair of kills from Hart to seal the 3-0 sweep. Hart had six of the Gophers' 13 kills in the final set where they hit a match-high .480 (13-1-25). MSU was led by Chronowski with three, while Haggerty, Gros, and Poljan all had two.Â
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Michigan State dropped a hard-fought decision to No. 3 Minnesota on Friday at Jenison Field House, but fell by a 3-0 score (22-25, 23-25,15-25).  The Gophers improve to 17-2, 11-0 Big Ten, while the Spartans fall to 15-9. 3-8 in Conference play.
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The Spartans, playing just their eighth home match of the season, had opportunities to take either of the first two sets, but saw the seasoned Gophers pull out three- and two-point victories. The Gophers found their game in the third, hitting .480 (13-1-25) while the Spartans fought through seven hitting errors, three coming on Minnesota blocks. The Spartans had a season-low two blocks in the contest.
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Maddie Haggerty had nine kills, a solo block, two aces, and eight digs; freshman Rebecka Poljan matched Haggerty's nine kills and hit .300. Naya Gros had eight terminations and led the Spartans with a .357 hitting percentage on the night,
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For the Gophers, middle Regan Pittman hit .667 while posting 11 kills against just one error and adding a block; Alexis Hart led all players with 12 kills, six of which came in the final set. Stephanie Samedy had 10 kills and six digs to round out the trio of double-digit kill performers. Samantha Seliger-Swenson had 39 assists for the visitors.
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Michigan State wraps up its two-match weekend against Wisconsin on Saturday at 7 pm at Jenison Field House. A reminder that all MSU-Purdue football ticket holders can gain free admission to the match by showing their football ticket stub.Â
 QUOTABLEÂ
"I thought we really needed to be more aggressive. Part of our learning curve is not only learning to deal with adversity, but also dealing with prosperity. We were right in it in the first set, and lost it late. We had a five- or six-point lead in the second, and had a hard time holding that lead. We need to be assertive in that situation and not let our foot off the gas. We're doing lots of good things, but those are the little things that make a big difference. We are going to continue to play difficult opponents every night, and these are the lessons that once we learn them, will turn losses into wins." Â
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- Head Coach Cathy George
 TOP PERFORMERSÂ
•  Maddie Haggerty had nine kills and eight digs, adding a pair of service aces.  Â
•  Rebecka Poljan produced nine kills, hitting .300.
•  Naya Gros delivered eight kills, posting a team-best .357 hitting percentage.  Â
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   STATS AND STORYLINESÂ
•  MSU was held to a season-low two blocks . Â
•  The Spartans once again used two setters; the freshman Elena Shklyar had 19 assists, an ace, and three digs; Maggie Midgette had 13 assists and two digs.  Â
•  MSU has now dropped four straight matches, its longest streak of the season.Â
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 GAME REPLAYÂ
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•   SET ONE: Michigan State was assertive from the opening serve, with the teams tied 8-8 in the early going. MSU went up 10-8, but the Gophers countered with a 4-0 stretch that turned their two-point deficit into a two-point advantage. Minnesota won the race to 15 to trigger the TV time out with a four-point advantage (15-11), but MSU came out of the break with two kills from Johnson and one from Chronowski that tied things up at 15-15. The Spartans kept coming, and pulled ahead 19-18 on a great shot down the line by Maddie Haggerty. The Gophers called time out, and tied it up out of the break. The teams were tied at 19-20, and 21, but the Gophers went up 23-21 on a kill by Alexis Hart and an ace by Seliger-Swenson. MSU committed a pair of errors to give the first set to the visitors, 25-22. Naya Gros had five kills on six swings and a block, while Regan Pittman was a perfect 6-0-6 for the Gophers. Minnesota hit .243 (13-4-37) compared to .200 for MSU (16-8-40).Â
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•   SET TWO:  The Spartans raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second set which led to a very early time out called on the Gopher bench. With the Spartans leading 7-4, kills by Samedy and Adanna Rollins brought the visitors within one, but MSU got a kill from Gros and a solo stuff from Haggerty to pull back ahead by three. Haggerty became a lot to handle for the Gophers, as she put down two kills and a block as MSU built its lead to six, 14-8. Minnesota roarded back with three straight points to make it 14-11, but MSU wouldn't back down. The visitors kept chipping away, using a 4-0 run to pull within one point at 17-16. Chronowski countered with a line shot to stop the run, MSU fell behind 22-20, but fought back to tie it at 22 and 23, but Samedy delivered back-to-back kills to close it out and take a 2-0 match lead for Minnesota. The Spartans hit an impressive .294 (13-3-34), but Minnesota generated six more kills (19-8-41) to overcome eight hitting errors. MSU got four kills, three digs and a block from Haggerty.Â
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•   SET THREE:    The teams battled to an early 8-8 deadlock, but  a 5-1 Gopher run forced the Spartans into a time out trailing 13-9. The lead grew to 18-10 for the visitors, and MSU called its second time out. In Minnesota's 8-1 run (primarily on a Lauren Barnes service run), the Gophers got two aces from Barnes and three miscues from the Spartans. Out of the break, Chronowski put an end to the run for the Gophers, but a joust at the net went to Minnesota to give the Gophers a 20-12 edge. The visitors had found their groove, and hitting .500 (11-1-20) with a 22-14 lead, as the Spartans stayed on task but had troubles with Minnesota's nearly-perfect efforts in the third frame. With Seliger-Swenson on the service line, the Gophers were able to close it out with pair of kills from Hart to seal the 3-0 sweep. Hart had six of the Gophers' 13 kills in the final set where they hit a match-high .480 (13-1-25). MSU was led by Chronowski with three, while Haggerty, Gros, and Poljan all had two.Â
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