Spartans Back on the Road, Battle Purdue Wednesday

**Big Ten Week Seven: Spartans at Purdue**
at No. 13 Purdue	Wednesday, Oct. 31; 7 pm Holloway Gymnasium
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Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Purdue
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• Michigan State heads back out on the road, starting with a Wednesday match at No. 13 Purdue. MSU heads to No. 3 Minnesota on Saturday to complete the week of action.

• Both matches will air live on the Big Ten Network this week. Mike Monaco and Kim Kuzma will call Wednesday's game in West Lafayette.

• 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 continued its stretch of the season against top-10 teams, falling to both No. 3 Minnesota and No. 7 Wisconsin (14-25, 20-25, 23-25) last weekend at Jenison Field House. MSU is in the process of playing five straight top-13 teams.

• Wednesday will be the second meeting this season with Purdue, which used a five-set upset of No. 4 Penn State in State College on Saturday to vault to No. 13 in this week's AVCA poll. 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 (53-32), which includes a 3-1 victory in earlier this season at Jenison Field House.

• In the first meeting, Michigan State dropped a tough four-setter at home on Oct. 6 (25-15, 12-25, 19-25, 17-25) 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.  Grace Cleveland had 15 kills and six blocks, hitting .367 for the visiting Boilermakers. Caitlyn Newton finished with 12 terminations, while Sheridan Atkinson added nine. Alyssa Chronowski led the Spartans with her first career double-double (12 kills, 10 digs) and added four blocks. Maddie Haggerty had 10 kills and eight digs, and Becka Poljan led the Spartans with five blocks.

• The Boilermakers are led by reigning Big Ten Player of the Week Sherridan Atkinson, who is averaging 4.00 kills per set, good for fourth in the Big Ten. She had 32 kills in the Friday upset of the Nittany Lions, and on the year is hitting .291 and adds 1.29 digs per frame. Libero Brooke Peters averages 4.62 digs per set to rank fourth in the Big Ten, and freshman Hayley Bush is fifth among B1G setters with 10.96 per frame.

• 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 and Northwestern. The Spartans do have four of their final eight Big Ten Conference games at Jenison Field House, including matches against the Buckeyes and Rutgers.

• 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 (15-10) is no longer receiving votes in the most recent AVCA National Poll. Seven teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 14, with five appearing in the top eight.

• MSU ranks 10th nationally in average attendance, welcoming an average of 2,633 patrons to Jenison Field House per game. MSU is in search of its fourth straight season in the national top 10.

• While MSU has dropped five straight matches, the Spartans have been in all five. Over this stretch of 15 dropped sets, MSU was within five points in 10 sets, and within three points in five, and two points in four.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.69 blocks per set, which is good for fifth in the Big Ten and 21st nationally. MSU's total blocks (233.5) also ranks 24th nationally, and ranks third the Big Ten.

• MSU has double-digit blocking totals 11 of 25 matches overall. The Spartans were held to just two blocks vs. Minnesota (the Gophers had six), the season low for MSU. Overall, the squad has 21 matches this season with eight or more blocks, but has been held to six or less in each of the last three.

• MSU ranks fourth in the Big Ten and ranks 59th nationally in service aces per set (1.49), with 130 aces over 87 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 seven players with double-digit aces on the year.

• 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 (1,264), Nebraska's John Cook (709), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (613). 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.
• Alyssa Chronowski has produced 18 double-digit kill performances this season

• Chronowski is 12th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.31), and ranks just outside the top 15 in service aces (0.26). She is also averaging 0.67 blocks and 0.93 digs per set over the first 25 matches of the season.

• In the Northwestern-Illinois weekend (10/19-20), 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.

• Senior Maddie Haggerty averaged 2.67 kills and 2.5 digs per set per set last weekend against Minnesota and Wisconsin. Her kills per set was first and digs second among Spartan players.

• On the year, Haggerty is averaging 2.59 kills per frame, which is good for second on the team. She also adds 1.87 digs per set as a six-rotation player, and has added 10 aces.

• The match against Wisconsin last Saturday was the lone time in their careers that Haggerty and her younger sister, Molly, would face each other in a collegiate match.  Maddie had seven kills and seven digs, while Molly had five kills and eight digs.

• Naya Gros ranks eighth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.357). In addition, she ranks 45th nationally in total blocks (106) and 52nd in blocks per set (1.23), which is sixth in the Big Ten rankings. Among league freshmen, Gros is second in hitting percentage (.357), is 12th in kills (2.15) and third in blocks (1.23).

• 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 106 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 25 matches so far, and with 17 total on the season, which is tied for seventh in a season for an MSU freshman. She ranks sixth on the freshman block assists list, with 89.

• Gros's hitting percentage (.357) would be first on MSU's all-time freshman list, which is headed by Morley, who hit .321 in 1999.

• Elena Shklyar is averaging 8.55 assists per set, which is good for 12th in the Big Ten (fourth among B1G freshmen). She is also averaging 1.23 digs, 0.48 blocks, and 0.26 aces.

• Shklyar has 624 assists on the year, which is good for seventh all-time on the MSU record book for a freshman. Shklyar's assists per set (8.55) ranks seventh for a first-year setter in Green and White.

• Rebecka Poljan ranks just outside the top 10 in the Big Ten in blocks per set (1.01), and is hitting .228 with 1.73 kills per frame. She ranks fifth among Conference freshmen in blocks and ninth in hitting percentage.

• Poljan led MSU with three blocks vs. Wisconsin, and shared the team lead with nine kills vs. Minnesota last weekend.

• Molly Johnson is averaging 1.84 kills per set to go with her 0.93 blocks per set. She has appeared in just 74 of 87 sets due to injury, most recently missing the Maryland-Ohio State matches.

• Johnson was MSU's co-leader in kills on Saturday vs. Wisconsin (8), and hit .267 with a block. She had five kills and a block the night prior vs. the Gophers.

• 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 has averaged 1.33 kills and a .184 hitting percentage in the first half of the Big Ten schedule as she works herself back into the lineup.

• Swartz had a career-best three blocks in the match vs. Wisconsin, sharing the team lead with Poljan.

• Maggie Midgette is averaging 6.71 assists per set with 0.39 aces and 1.00 digs per frame. She ranks fourth 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 21 of 25 matches this season. She is averaging 3.81 digs (11th, B1G), 0.53 assists, and 0.23 aces per set.

• 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 13 and 12, respectively, in matches vs. Minnesota and Wisconsin.

• Junior Samantha McLean has appeared in all 87 sets, one of just two athletes to do so (Chronowski is the other). She is second on the team with 2.08 digs per set, and she also has 14 service aces on the year.

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 1.86 kills and 1.76 digs per set. She is one of seven athletes with double-digit service aces (14)

• 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 1.27 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.

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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