MSU Wraps Four-Match Homestand This Weekend

**Big Ten Week Three: Spartans vs. Indiana, No. 14 Purdue**
vs. Indiana	Friday Oct. 5, 7 pm Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Family Four Pack \| Free admission with women's soccer ticket stub
vs. Purdue	Saturday, Oct. 6, 7 pm; Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Four Seats, Four Treats \| Free admission with MSU-NU football ticket stub
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Indiana \| Purdue
Special Events	Friday: Breast Cancer Awareness Night; EVE night (donations of women's or children's outerwear accepted)
	Saturday: Alumni Night; Holly Toliver & Autumn Bailey All-America Banner Raising; Junior Spartan night; post-game autographs with sophomore class
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram
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

• MSU wraps up a four-game homestand with matches against Indiana and No. 14 Purdue. MSU welcomes back all of its alumni on Saturday to be celebrated at the game vs. the Boilermakers.

• All-America honorees Holly Toliver and Autumn Bailey will be honored with their jerseys being unveiled in the rafters at Jenison Field House.

• Bailey is a four-time AVCA All-America selection, earning Second Team honors in 2017 after three straight seasons as an Honorable Mention pick (2013, 2014, and 2016). In two seasons at MSU, she compiled 771 kills (3.37 per set) , 670 digs (2.93/s) and 60 service aces. She ranks eighth all-time at MSU in digs per set, while she finished her four-year collegiate career with 1,830 kills, (3.94 per set), and 1,436 digs in 133 career matches. She is a member of the Canadian National Team (Indoor) and earlier this summer won a bronze medal at the Pan Am Cup.

• Over 348 career matches, Toliver compiled 777 kills (2.23 per set), hit .205, and contributed 603 digs (1.73/s) and 125 service aces (0.36/s). Her professional career has brought her to Peru, Vietnam, and Germany over the last 12 months.

• 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, falling 3-0 to No. 9 Penn State and downing Rutgers, 3-1.

• The win over Rutgers snapped a three-game losing streak and moved MSU's record to 13-4 overall and 1-3 in Big Ten play. The Spartans will not play Penn State or Nebraska again, but will have second meetings with both Iowa and Rutgers later in the schedule.

• 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 (13-4) is no longer receiving votes in the most recent AVCA National Poll (Oct. 1). Seven teams from the Big Ten appeared in the national top 16, with five appearing in the top 10.

• MSU and Indiana play on Friday evening. The Hoosiers are under the tutelage of first-year head coach Steve Aird, who guided Maryland the last three seasons. IU brings a 11-4 overall mark into the match, and has gone 2-2 in Conference games with wins over Northwestern and Ohio State.
• MSU leads the all-time series with Indiana by a 51-30 margin, and has won three straight in the series - with two of those matches played in Bloomington. This will be the only meeting between the teams in 2018.

• Saturday's opponent Purdue is ranked 16th in this week's AVCA poll, with a 13-2 overall record. Purdue's two Big Ten wins have come over Northwestern and Maryland.

• Dave Shondell is in his 16th season as the head coach at Purdue. The all-time series between the teams is tilted in favor of the Boilermakers (52-32), which includes a 3-1 victory in 2017 in West Lafayette. The teams will meet again on Halloween night in West Lafayette.

• The Spartans have earned eight 3-0 sweeps and played seven four-set matches in 2018. MSU is a perfect 7-0 in neutral-site matches, 2-3 in true road games, and 4-1 at home.

• MSU suffered three straight losses before the win over Rutgers, its first multiple-match losing streak since November 2016. The Spartans still own the second-most victories (13) overall among Big Ten teams, behind Illinois (14).

• MSU continues to lead the Big Ten and ranks seventh nationally in service aces per set (1.86), with 108 aces over 58 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 13 aces vs. Chattanooga ranking third.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.93 blocks per set, which is good for third in the Big Ten and seventh nationally. Penn State leads the B1G with 3.18 blocks per set.

• MSU had a season-best 15 blocks in Saturday's victory over Rutgers, and had 10 in the match vs. Penn State. MSU has had eight blocks or more in 15 of 17 matches, and posted double-digit blocking totals in eight.

• Saturday's 15 blocks was the most for the Spartans in a match since posting 15.5 at Iowa on Nov. 26, 2016. MSU's six solo blocks was also a season high, and had not been done since an Oct. 17, 2015 match, also against the Scarlet Knights.

• 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.
• The 2017 Spartans finished the season with a 24-9 overall record, and were 14-6 for a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten Conference. MSU graduated seven athletes from the 2017 team, including its entire starting rotation. The only returning starter from last year's NCAA team is sophomore libero Jamye Cox.

• 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 (1,257), Wisconsin's John Cook (705), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (606). 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, averaging 4.29 kills and hitting .232, adding 0.57 blocks and 0.71 digs per set in the matches vs. Penn State and Rutgers. She set a new career high with 20 kills against Rutgers; her previous career high of 19 came in the season opener at Tennessee.

• Chronowski is 13th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.24), and ranks eighth in service aces (0.38/s), which is good for 55th nationally. She is also averaging 0.60 blocks per set and 0.90 digs over the first 17 matches of the season.

• Naya Gros leads the Big Ten and ranks sixth nationally in hitting percentage (.422). In addition, she ranks 14th nationally in total blocks (70) and 18th in blocks per set (1.46), which is sixth in the Big Ten rankings.

• Among league freshmen, Gros leads the pack in hitting percentage (.422), is 10th in kills (2.26/s) and third in blocks (1.46/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.

• Senior Maddie Haggerty missed last Saturday's match vs. Rutgers, but had nine kills, four digs, and two blocks in Friday's match vs. Penn State. On the year, she is averaging 2.56 kills per set (second to Chronowski) and adding 1.44 digs per frame.

• Molly Johnson (1.03) and Rebecka Poljan (1.20) are both averaging better than 1.0 blocks per set this season, giving MSU a four-headed monster at the net that includes Gros (1.46) and sophomore Julia Hatcher (1.10)

• Poljan had career highs in kills (10), hitting percentage (.444) and was one shy of her career best with seven blocks, (two of them solo stuffs) against Rutgers. On the weekend, she averaged 2.0 kills and 1.29 blocks per frame.

Poljan is 11th in the Big Ten in blocks per set (1.20), and is hitting .231 with 1.61 kills per frame. She ranks fifth among Conference freshmen in blocks, ninth in hitting percentage, and 15th in kills.

• Johnson posted 1.43 kills per set last weekend, and is averaging 1.84 on the year with a 2.08 hitting percentage. She had four kills and three blocks against Penn State, and then had six kills, hit .313, and added five blocks in the Rutgers match.

• Elena Shklyar is averaging 8.50 assists per set, which is good for 11th in the Big Ten. She is also averaging 1.30 digs, 0.55 blocks, and 0.30 aces per set.

• Shklyar established a new career best with 48 assists in the win over Rutgers. Shklyar had two 40-assist nights in the non-conference portion of the schedule, at Tennessee (43) and North Carolina (44). She had 26 assists against Penn State.

• Maggie Midgette is averaging 8.0 assists per set with 0.60 aces and 1.28 digs per frame. She ranks second on the team with 15 service aces, behind Chronowski's 22.

• 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).

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 2..12 kills and 1.98 digs per set. She is fourth on the team with 14 service aces (0.33 per set), which ranks 11th in the Big Ten.

• Norris had eight kills, two aces, six digs and a career-best three solo blocks and four overall vs. Rutgers last Saturday.

• Julia Hatcher started all four matches in the Fairfield Invite, but has missed the last six matches with injury. She's averaging better than a block per set (1.10).

• Jamye Cox missed four matches at the Fairfield Invitational, appearing in 13 of 17 matches this season. She is averaging 3.87 digs (ninth, B1G) and 0.61 assists per frame. Her 0.33 aces per set is 14th in the Big Ten, and her 15 aces ranks second on the team.

• 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.

• Junior Samantha McLean has appeared in all 58 sets, one of just three athletes to do so (Alyssa Chronowski and Molly Johnson are the other two). She is third on the team with 2.05 digs per set, and she also has 11 service aces on the year.

• McLean tied her career high with 13 digs and established a new career best with three aces in Saturday's match vs. Rutgers.

• Freshmen back-row specialists Lauryn Gibbs and Talia Edmonds are bolstering MSU's passing game. 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). Gibbs' career-best six digs came at Fairfield (Sept. 8), and she also established a career high with three service aces in the same match.

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

• Redshirt sophomore Lauren Swartz has been hampered with a nagging injury, but made her season debut at Iowa and appeared in three of four Big Ten matches.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Autumn Bailey

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

Holly Toliver