Spartans Return Home to Battle No. 3 Minnesota, No. 7 Wisconsin

**Big Ten Week Six: Spartans vs. No. 3 Minnesota, No. 7 Wisconsin**
vs. No. 3 Minnesota	Friday Oct. 26, 6 pm Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| TV: BTN \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Family Four Pack \| Middle School Night / Club Sports Night
vs. Rutgers	Saturday, Oct. 27, 7 pm; Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2GO \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Four Seats, Four Treats \| Free Admission with MSU-PUR Football Ticket Stub Booster Club Night Post-game Meet & Greet: Junior Class
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| M innesota \| Wisconsin
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
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No-Bag Policy	Patrons are asked to review MSU's No-Bag Policy
Parking	Patrons are encouraged to utilize Kellogg Center, IM West, or Breslin Center as Jenison lot fills quickly.

Team Notes:

• Michigan State continues plays its final full-weekend series of the regular season when it welcomes No. 3 Minnesota and No. 7 Wisconsin to Jenison Field House this weekend.

• Friday's match airs live on the Big Ten Network with Mike Monaco and Kim Kuzma on the call. BTN will also air the MSU-Minnesota matchup in Minneapolis next weekend.

• Both matches will have a live video broadcast via BTN2Go. Visit MSUSpartans.com or BTN2Go.com for direct links.

• 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 had a rough road weekend, falling at Northwestern and No. 7 Illinois, both by 3-0 scores.

• MSU's match at Northwestern (21-25, 19-25, 20-25)featured 23 tie scores and 14 lead changes, but the Spartans could never quite gain control of the match and fell in straight sets. MSU hit a season-low .032, as the Wildcats piled up 13 blocks to account for more than half of MSU's 25 hitting errors. NU hit .204 for the match with four aces.

• On Saturday, No. 7 Illinois hit .327 - a season high for any MSU opponent - in a 3-0 win (17-25, 21-25, 21-25) in Champaign. MSU hit .198 and the teams each had six blocks on the night and 17 hitting errors - the difference came in 50 kills for the Illini vs. 34 for the visiting Spartans.

• MSU's losing skid is at three matches, tying its longest of the season. The road does not get easier for MSU, with three straight matches against ranked teams coming up (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Purdue).

• The Spartans finished the first half of the Big Ten schedule with a 3-7 record, and sit in a tie for 11th place with Ohio State. The Spartans do have six of their final 10 Big Ten Conference games at Jenison Field House after 16 of its first 23 matches on the road.

• 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 (15-8) is no longer receiving votes in the most recent AVCA National Poll. Seven teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 17, with four appearing in the top seven.

• The Spartans tangle with Minnesota (16-2, 10-0 B1G) on Friday in a 6 pm start. The Golden Gophers have dropped just two matches all season - to No. 18 Oregon and No. 4 Stanford back in September before its current 11-match winning streak, which included a win over No. 5 Nebraska (3-1) on Saturday. Minnesota is balanced and dangerous - it features five athletes that average between 2.49 and 3.65 kills per set, all hitting .254 or better. Stephanie Samedy leads the way with 3.65 kills per set and is second on her team with 0.93 blocks and 2.80 digs per frame. Setter Samantha Seleger-Swenson just passed the 5,000 career assist mark and ranks second in the Big Ten with 11.59 assists per frame.

• MSU trails the all-time series with No. 3 Minnesota by a 19-53 margin. The Spartans swept the Golden Gophers in the only meeting of the team last season in Minneapolis, but the teams will have a quick turnaround before a rematch next Saturday (Nov. 3) at Maturi Pavilion. Hugh McCutcheon is in his seventh season leading Minnesota.

• MSU and Wisconsin's lone meeting this season comes Saturday in Jenison Field House. The Spartans won both showdowns with the Badgers last season, 3-2 in Madison and 3-1 at home.

• Kelly Sheffield is in his sixth season guiding the Badgers, who are ranked No. 7 in this week's AVCA national poll. The Badgers got back on track last weekend with wins over Nebraska and Iowa after falling to Illinois on Oct. 13. Dana Rettke is averaging 1.57 blocks and 3.63 kills per set, hitting a conference-best .419 on the year.

• Saturday will be the first - and last - time that the Haggerty sisters will face off on a volleyball court in a collegiate competition. MSU's team captain, Maddie, is a senior for MSU who missed all of last year with an injury, as did her sister, the Badgers' redshirt sophomore Molly. During Molly's freshman season in Madison, Maddie was sitting out her year due to NCAA transfer rules.

• 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, 2-5 in true road games, and 5-2 at home.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.78 blocks per set, which is good for second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally. MSU's total blocks (225.5) also ranks 14th nationally, and leads the Big Ten.

• MSU has double-digit blocking totals 11 of 23 matches overall. The Spartans had six blocks at Illinois, tied for its second lowest total of the season (MSU had five blocks vs. Belmont). It is one of just three occasions this season where MSU has accumulated fewer than eight blocks in the match.

• MSU ranks fourth in the Big Ten and ranks 48th nationally in service aces per set (1.52), with 123 aces over 81 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.

• 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 (636), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,263), Wisconsin's John Cook (708), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (612). 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

• Alyssa Chronowski has produced 18 double-digit kill performances this season, including 11 in her most recent match vs. Illinois.

• In the Northwestern-Illinois weekend, Chronowski produced seven solo blocks, including a career-best four vs. Northwestern. Four block solos is the second-most in a three-set match in program history, last accomplished by Kim Schram in 2001 vs. Penn State.

• Chronowski is 11th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.37), and ranks just outside the top 15 in service aces (0.28). She is also averaging 0.70 blocks and 0.94 digs per set over the first 23 matches of the season.

• Chronowski has been the team's top block producer in three of the last four matches.

• Naya Gros ranks third in the Big Ten and ranks 24th nationally in hitting percentage (.381). In addition, she ranks 24th nationally in total blocks (103) and 36th in blocks per set (1.29), which is fifth in the Big Ten rankings. Among league freshmen, Gros leads the pack in hitting percentage (.396), is 11th in kills (2.20) and third in blocks (1.29).

• 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.

• Gros is establishing herself as one of MSU's top first-year blockers in program history. Her 103 blocks this season ranks sixth all-time on the all-time freshman list at MSU, with the record being held by Angela Morley (181 in 1999).

• Gros has a solo block in 15 of 23 matches so far, and with 17 total on the season, which is tied for seventh in a season for an MSU freshman. She also ranks seventh on the block assists list, with 86.

• Gros's hitting percentage (.381) would be first on MSU's all-time freshman list, which is headed by Morley, who hit .321 in 1999.

• Elena Shklyar is averaging 8.82 assists per set, which is good for 10th in the Big Ten. She is also averaging 1.24 digs, 0.52 blocks, and 0.223 aces.

• Shklyar has 591 assists on the year, which is good for eighth all-time on the MSU record book for a freshman. Last weekend, she passed current assistant coach Kristen Kelsay, who had 574 in 2010. Shklyar's assists per set (8.98) ranks sixth for a first-year setter in Green and White.

• Senior Maddie Haggerty averaged 2.33 kills and 1.33 digs per set per set last weekend against Illinois and Northwestern.

• On the year, Haggerty is averaging 2.58 kills per frame, which is good for second on the team. She also adds 1.79 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Rebecka Poljan (1.06) and Molly Johnson (0.99) are both averaging approx. 1.0 blocks per set this season, giving MSU a three-headed monster at the net that includes Gros (1.29).

• Poljan ranks 10th in the Big Ten in blocks per set (1.03), and is hitting .220 with 1.67 kills per frame. She ranks fifth among Conference freshmen in blocks and ninth in hitting percentage.

• Johnson is averaging 1.81 kills per set to go with her 0.99 blocks per set. She has appeared in just 68 of 81 sets due to injury, the most recent the Maryland-Ohio State matches.

• Redshirt sophomore Lauren Swartz has been hampered with a nagging injury this season, making her season debut in the Big Ten opener at Iowa. She averaged 1.45 kills and a .195 hitting percentage in the first half of the Big Ten schedule as she works herself back into the lineup.

• Maggie Midgette is averaging 7.19 assists per set with 0.47 aces and 1.12 digs per frame. She ranks third on the team with 15 service aces, behind Chronowski's 23.

• 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).

• Jamye Cox has appeared in 19 of 23 matches this season. She is averaging 3.78 digs (11th, B1G) and 0.27 assists per frame.

• 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.

• Cox has had double-digit dig totals in all but three matches in 2018, and had 11 in both matches last weekend at Northwestern and No. 7 Illinois.

• Junior Samantha McLean has appeared in all 81 sets, one of just two athletes to do so (Chronowski is the other). She is third on the team with 2.14 digs per set, and she also has 14 service aces on the year.

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 1.90 kills and 1.79 digs per set. She is fourth on the team with 14 service aces (0.29 per set), which ranks just outside the top 15 in the Big Ten.

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

• Gibbs established her career best with 12 digs in the wins over Indiana (Oct.5) and at Maryland (Oct. 12). She averages 1.23 digs per set as a regular in the Spartan back row.

• 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).

• Julia Hatcher 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.

• Redshirt freshman Bella Legarza made her MSU debut vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore, and also saw time at Ohio State.

Michigan State University Athletics

Spartans Return Home to Battle No. 3 Minnesota, No. 7 Wisconsin

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Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Talia Edmonds

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Julia Hatcher

Molly Johnson

Bella Legarza

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz

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