Spartans Host Ohio State, Iowa This Week

**Big Ten Week Eight: Spartans vs. Ohio State, Iowa**
vs. Ohio State	Wednesday, Nov. 7, 7 pm Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Family Four Pack
	Professor Appreciation: Free w/ Faculty/Staff ID \| Pre-game student section tailgate by SkyVue
vs. Iowa	Saturday, Nov. 10, 7 pm; Jenison Field House
	Live Stats \| Watch: BTN2Go \| Tickets
	Ticket Promotions: Four Seats, Four Treats \| Free Admission with MSU-OSU Football Ticket Stub
	Military Appreciation Night \| Rachel Minarick All-America Banner Raising
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app); John Kreger, pxp
Game Notes	Michigan State \| O hio State \| Iowa
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
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.

• Michigan State gets a pair of home games this week, hosting Ohio State on Wednesday and Iowa on Saturday.

• 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.

• On Saturday, the Spartans will raise the All-America banner for Rachel Minarick (2014-17). She earned Honorable Mention All-America Honors in both 2014 and 2017.

• The Spartans are coming off five straight games against teams that appear in the top 13 of the AVCA poll, with three of those matches on the road. MSU fell at No. 13 Purdue 3-1 last Wednesday and 3-2 to No. 3 Minnesota last Saturday in Minneapolis.

• Last season, MSU snapped a 40-match home winning streak for Minnesota with a 3-0 sweep of the then-No. 1 Gophers. This year, the Spartans were the first team in 2018 to bring Minnesota to five sets, and the Gophers had dropped just three sets overall in Big Ten play before Saturday's five-set affair.

• Despite a seven-match skid for MSU, the Spartans 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.

• In the first meeting, with Ohio State, the Spartans dropped a tough 3-0 decision (23-25, 19-25, 28-26) on the Buckeyes' home floor. MSU hit .287 in the match but struggled to terminate, as the Buckeyes had 53 digs on the day and hit .282, compiling 52 kills to MSU's 41 and served up six aces. MSU was hindered by seven service errors on the day compared to just three aces. MSU did out-block their hosts 9.5-3.0.
   Alyssa Chronowski had eight third-set kills to compile a team-best 12 in the match, adding four digs and two blocks. Naya Gros had nine kills and four blocks, while setter Elena Shklyar led the team with five blocks and 29 assists, adding four digs.
    Bia Franklin led three double-digit kill efforts for the Buckeyes with a double-double (14 kills, 12 digs) while Madison Smeathers (13) and Vanja Bukilic (10) rounded out the trio.

• Geoff Carlston is in his 11th season as the head coach at Ohio State. OSU owns a 47-32 record in the all-time series, but MSU has taken a win in three of the last five matchups. Like MSU, the Buckeyes have struggled in recent matches, dropping their last six. Bukilic leads the Buckeyes with 3.04 kills per set, hitting .233 and ranks third on her team with 0.51 blocks per set. That category is led by Jordan Fry (0.82 Blk/s), while Mia Grunze averages 2.7 kills per frame for the Buckeyes.

• MSU and Iowa meet for the 75th time on Friday night, with the Spartans looking for their 50th victory in the all-time series. The Hawkeyes are coached by Bond Shymansky, who is in his fifth season as the Iowa bench boss, and has guided his charges to an 13-12 mark in (5-9 B1G) in 2018. Iowa has lost six of the last seven.

• Cali Hoye averages 3.82 kills per set for her team, which is seventh in the Big Ten; Taylor Lewis is right behind with 3.73 per frame (eighth). Libero Molly Kelly leads the Big Ten with 5.10 digs per frame.

• MSU and Iowa met back on Sept. 21, with the Hawkeyes taking a 3-0 decision to snap a 15-match winning streak for the Spartans in the series.

   Iowa had the upper hand from the beginning of the match, with sharp hitting (.290, 42-25-93) and compiling a match total of 11 blocks, five of which came in the opening frame. The Spartans struggled with both hitting errors (21 on the night, a second-straight match with 20+) and eight service errors.

    Alyssa Chronowski led the Spartan offense with 12 kills, hitting .455 (12-2-22). Naya Gros had four kills and four blocks. Taylor Lewis and Cali Hoye led the Hawkeyes with 10 kills each, while setter Brie Orr had 31 assists.

• The Spartans finished the first half of the Big Ten schedule with a 3-7 record, and currently sit at 3-11, tied for 12th with Ohio State. The Spartans do have four of their final six Big Ten Conference games at Jenison Field House, including matches against the Buckeyes, Iowa, and Rutgers; MSU also has two matches with Michigan and one 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 (15-12) 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 eight.

• MSU ranks ninth nationally in average attendance, welcoming an average of 2,765 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 16th in overall attendance (24,884).

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

• The Spartans are averaging 2.65 blocks per set, which is good for sixth in the Big Ten and 24th nationally. MSU's total blocks (253.5) also ranks 24th nationally, and ranks third the Big Ten.

• MSU has double-digit blocking totals 12 of 27 matches overall. The Spartans were held to a season-low two blocks vs. Minnesota in the match at Jenison Field House, but MSU had 14 in the match in Minneapolis, tied for the second-most for the Spartans in a match this season.

• MSU ranks fourth in the Big Ten and ranks 59th nationally in service aces per set (1.48), with 142 aces over 96 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 (1,265), Nebraska's John Cook (711), 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.
• Alyssa Chronowski has produced 20 double-digit kill performances this season, and ranks 12th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.24). She is also averaging 0.68 blocks and 0.92 digs per set over the first 27 matches of the season.

• Chronowski leads MSU with 23 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.

• Senior Maddie Haggerty delivered a pair of double-doubles last week, giving her a team-best four on the season. She had 11 kills and 11 digs at No. 13 Purdue, and added 13 kills and 13 digs along with a season-best four blocks and two aces at No. 3 Minnesota.

• Haggerty was the recipent of 59 of 99 service attempts against the Gophers, committing just three reception errors in five sets. She ranks third on the team in reception percentage (.943), behind DS Samantha McLean (.955) and libero Jamye Cox (.943)

• On the year, Haggerty is averaging 2.60 kills per frame, which is good for second on the team. She also adds 1.98 digs per set as a six-rotation player, and has added 14 aces.

• Rebecka Poljan posted 10 kills and shared the team lead with three blocks at No. 13 Purdue in a four-setter, then had 10 kills and a team-best six blocks on Saturday as MSU pushed Minnesota to a fifth set for the first time this season. She also owned or shared the team lead in blocks in both contests, (which included six at Minnesota), and hit a team-best .280 on the week.

• Poljan ranks second on the team with 1.04 blocks per set, just outside the top 15. She is averaging 1.78 kills per set and hitting .235 on the year. Among first-years in the Big Ten, she ranks fifth in blocks, seventh in hitting percentage, and 13th in kills.

• Over MSU's last five matches against top-13 teams, MSU has gotten 2.06 kills and 0.72 blocks, and a .280 hitting percentage out of Poljan. She leads the Spartans in both blocks and hitting percentage in that stretch, and ranks third in kills per set.

• Naya Gros ranks 10th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.320). In addition, she ranks 54th nationally in total blocks (112) and is seventh in the Big Ten with 1.18 blocks per frame. Among league freshmen, Gros is second in hitting percentage (.320), is 11th in kills (2.03) and fourth in blocks (1.18).

• 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 112 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 27 matches so far, and with 17 total on the season, it 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 (.320) would be second on MSU's all-time freshman list, which is headed by Morley, who hit .321 in 1999.

• Elena Shklyar is averaging 8.29 assists per set, which is good for 12th in the Big Ten and fourth among B1G freshmen. She overtook the team lead in service aces (24) with her four at Minnesota on Saturday, and is also averaging 1.18 digs, 0.43 blocks, and 0.29 aces.

• Shklyar has 680 assists on the year, which is good for seventh all-time on the MSU record book for a freshman. Shklyar's assists per set (8.29) also ranks seventh for a first-year setter in Green and White.

• Molly Johnson is averaging 1.75 kills per set to go with her 0.86 blocks per set. She has appeared in just 83 of 96 sets due to injury, and missed the first meeting with the Buckeyes.

• Johnson posted five kills in each match last week, adding two blocks against Purdue.

• 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 .195 hitting percentage as she works herself back into a regular spot in the lineup.

• Swartz had career-best blocking numbers at Minnesota, posting four stuffs (one solo). She also added seven kills after a five kill, two-block performance earlier in the week at Purdue.

• Maggie Midgette is averaging 6.06 assists per set with 0.34 aces and 0.94 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).

• Jamye Cox has appeared in 23 of 27 matches this season. She is averaging 3.92 digs (11th, B1G), 0.50 assists, and 0.21 aces per set.

• Cox had 22 digs vs. Minnesota on Saturday, her second-highest total in a Big Ten match this season. Her 29 digs vs. Belmont is the third-highest total for a Big Ten player this season, and also her career best. She has had double-digit dig totals in all but three matches in 2018.

• Junior Samantha McLean is second on the team with 2.05 digs per set, and she also has 15 service aces on the year.

• Sophomore OH Meredith Norris is averaging 1.78 kills and 1.69 digs per set. She is one of seven athletes with double-digit service aces (13).

• 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.

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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

Rachel Minarick

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz