Spartans head to Rutgers, Host Michigan In Split Week

Wednesday, November 14

Piscataway, NJ

7 pm

Michigan State University

Rutgers

Photo by: Rey Del Rio/MSU Athletic Communications

11/13/2018 10:27:00 AM | Volleyball

Annual Jam Jenison takes place Saturday vs. the Wolverines

**Big Ten Week Nine: Spartans at Rutgers, vs. No. 19 Michigan**
at Rutgers	Wednesday, Nov. 14, 7 pm College Ave. Gym
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go
vs. Michigan	Saturday, Nov. 17, 6:30 pm; Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Four Seats, Four Treats \| Jam Jenison: Free T-shirt for first 500 patrons
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| R utgers \| Michigan
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
• Michigan State has a split week of action, playing at Rutgers on Wednesday before returning home for the annual "Jam Jenison" event on Saturday when the Spartans host No. 19 Michigan.

• Both matches will have a live video webstream 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 split last weekend's action, defeating Ohio State on Wednesday (3-1) before falling to Iowa on Saturday (3-1).

• The Big Ten season has been a grind for the young Spartans, who have shown significant growth over the course of a gauntlet of top-25 opponents. MSU's starting lineup features one senior, two sophomores (one libero) and four freshmen.

• Rutgers and MSU will meet for the 10th time in program history on Wednesday evening in Piscataway. The Spartans are a dominating 9-0 in the all-time series, with eight 3-0 victories. CJ Wernecke is in his 11th season as the head coach at Rutgers.

• In the first meeting with the Scarlet Knights, Alyssa Chronowski posted 20 kills while freshman setter Elena Shklyar had 48 assists in a 3-1 victory. Middle blockers Rebecka Poljan had 10 kills and hit .444, and delivered seven blocks, two of them solo stuffs. Both Tali Marmen and Nastya Kudryashova had 10 kills for the visiting Scarlet Knights.
    The teams split the first two sets – Rutgers got hot late to run away with a 25-18 win in the opening frame, and the Spartans had to hold off a late charge from the Scarlet Knights to hold on for a 25-23 second-set victory. The Spartans held control for most of the third set to come away with a seven-point decision where they hit a match-best .571, and hit .360 in the final frame as they closed it out with another 25-18 set victory. The Spartans recorded 15 blocks in the contest.

• MSU is 54-41-1 all-time against Michigan, and the teams have split their regular-season meetings in each of the last eight seasons. Each team has won in its home facility in each of the last four years. Mark Rosen is in his 20th season at the helm of the Wolverines, and earlier this season picked up his 600th collegiate victory.

• Carly Skjodt leads the Wolverines and ranks third in the Big Ten with 4.22 kills per set and averages 2.57 digs per frame, followed by Paige Lambert (3.36 K/s, 2.0 D/s) . Sophomore MacKenzi Welsh is averaging 10.84 assists and 2.65 digs per match, while Cori Crocker is averaging 0.97 blocks per set.
• In 1990, Michigan State and Michigan began a "State Pride" season series to celebrate the in-state rivalry. A State of Michigan flag, bearing the state motto "Tuebor" (`I Will Defend') serves as the trophy for winner of the head-to-head meetings of the two teams.
   The two teams shared the Flag in 2014 as both tiebreakers (set wins, and then total points) were even. MSU had won or shared the Flag in six straight seasons (2010-15) before Michigan claimed the Flag in each of the last two years with more set victories (4-3).

• The Spartans finished the first half of the Big Ten schedule with a 3-7 record, and currently sit at 4-12 and in 12th place. The Spartans have two of their final four Big Ten Conference games at Jenison Field House, including Saturday's match with Michigan and next Wednesday's against No. 4 Illinois.

• 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 (16-13) is no longer receiving votes in the most recent AVCA National Poll. Seven teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 15, with five appearing in the top seven.

• MSU ranks ninth nationally in average attendance, welcoming an average of 2,899 patrons to Jenison Field House per game. MSU is in search of its fourth straight season in the national top 10. Meanwhile, the Spartans rank 13th in overall attendance (31, 892).

• The Spartans are averaging 2.68 blocks per set, which is good for third in the Big Ten and 21st nationally. MSU's total blocks (278.5) ranks 17th nationally, and ranks first among Big Ten programs.

• MSU has double-digit blocking totals 13 of 29 matches overall. The Spartans put up a season-high 18 blocks last Wednesday vs. Ohio State.

• The Spartans put down a 68 kills in Saturday's meeting with Iowa, tied for its second-most in a match this season. MSU had 24 kills in the second set alone, (24-7-49, .347), a set it lost 30-28.

• MSU ranks third in the Big Ten and ranks 44th nationally in service aces per set (1.51), with 157 aces over 104 frames. The Green & White boast six 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 in a tie for 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 (1,266), Nebraska's John Cook (713), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (615). 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
• Senior Maddie Haggerty delivered a pair of double-doubles last week, extending her personal streak to four straight and six overall on the season. She had a career-best 18 kills and also established a new career best in hitting percentage (18-1-30, .567) while adding 11 digs and four blocks (one solo) in the win over Ohio State. She averaged 4.25 kills per set, hit .391, and added 2.88 digs per frame.

• On the year, Haggerty is averaging 2.79 kills and 2.08 digs per set, which is good for second on the team in both categories. She also has added 16 service aces.

• Alyssa Chronowski has produced 21 double-digit kill performances this season, and ranks 12th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.19). She is also averaging 0.66 blocks and 0.93 digs per set. Just once in 29 games has she has been held below seven kills.

• Chronowski leads MSU with 25 solo blocks this season, 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.

• Rebecka Poljan posted eight kills in each match last week, putting down seven blocks against the Buckeyes and four against Iowa.

• Poljan ranks second on the team with 1.05 blocks per set, just outside the top 15 in the Big Ten. She is averaging 1.80 kills per set and hitting .231 on the year. Among first-years in the Big Ten, she ranks sixth in blocks, ninth in hitting percentage, and 15th in kills.

• The rapidly-improving Molly Johnson is averaging 1.82 kills per set to go with her 0.86 blocks per set. She has appeared in just 91 of 104 sets due to injury.

• Johnson hit .472 last week, and posted a career- best 14 kills on Saturday against Iowa, hitting .522 (14-2-23). She also averaged 0.88 blocks per set on the week.

• Naya Gros ranks 11th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.311). In addition, she ranks 41st nationally in total blocks (123) and is fifth in the Big Ten with 1.19 blocks per frame. Among league freshmen, Gros is second in hitting percentage, 11th in kills (1.96/s) and fourth in blocks.

• 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 123 blocks this season ranks fourth all-time on the all-time freshman list at MSU, with the record being held by Angela Morley (181 in 1999). Poljan ranks ninth on that list with 91, and Molly Johnson is just outside the top 10 with 78. Gros needs 15 blocks to tie Jenilee Rathje with 138 for second place on the all-time freshman list at MSU.

• Gros has 18 solo blocks on the season, it good for sixth in a season for an MSU freshman. She ranks sixth on the freshman block assists list, with 105. Poljan's 79 block assists ranks 10th.

• Gros's hitting percentage (.311) would be third on MSU's all-time freshman list, which is headed by Morley, who hit .321 in 1999.

• Elena Shklyar is averaging 8.20 assists per set in a 6-2 offense, which is good for 12th in the Big Ten and fourth among B1G freshmen. She owns the team lead in service aces (30), and is also averaging 1.17 digs, 0.39 blocks, and 0.33 aces - which is fourth in the Big Ten.

• Shklyar has 738 assists on the year, which is good for seventh all-time on the MSU record book for a freshman. Shklyar's assists per set (8.20) also ranks seventh for a first-year setter in Green and White.

• Shklyar tied her career best with five aces last Wednesday against Ohio State. She has 10 aces over her last three matches.

• Maggie Midgette is the other half of MSU's 6-2, and is averaging 6.02 assists per set with 0.29 aces and 0.85 digs per frame. She has also chipped in 16 service aces on the year.

• 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) and Ohio State (Nov. 7).

• Redshirt sophomore Lauren Swartz has been dealing with a nagging injury this season, and didn't make her season debut until the Big Ten opener at Iowa. She has averaged 1.52 kills and a .223 hitting percentage on the year.

• Last week was a bit of a coming out party for Swartz . She started the week with seven kills, five digs, and five blocks against Ohio State, and finished with 12 kills, a .400 hitting percentage, three blocks and five digs against Iowa. She established new career bests last week in kills, hitting percentage, blocks, and digs.

• Jamye Cox has appeared in 25 of 29 matches this season. She is averaging 3.92 digs (11th, B1G), 0.49 assists, and 0.24 aces per set.

• Cox had 20 digs last Saturday vs. Iowa, the third time in the last four matches she has recorded 20+. She has double-digit digs in 14 of 16 Big Ten contests.

• Junior Samantha McLean is third on the team with 1.98 digs per set, and she also has 24 service aces on the year.

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 1.75 kills and 1.67 digs per set. She is one of seven athletes with double-digit service aces (14).

• Lauryn 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.

• Talia 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, and also saw time at Ohio State.

• 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.