Friday, September 28
East Lansing, MI
7 pm
Michigan State University
12-4, 0-3B1G
0
vs
3
Penn State
10-3, 2-1B1G
1
2
3
F
Penn State
25
25
26
3
Michigan State
11
16
24
0
Team Stats
PSU
MSU
Kills
38
28
Errors
14
21
Attempts
81
85
Hitting %
.296
.082
Points
55.0
39.0
Assists
35
28
Aces
7
1
Blocks
10.0
10.0
Game Leaders
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballPhoto by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
MSU Falls to No. 9 Penn State in B1G Home Opener
9/28/2018 10:06:00 PM | Volleyball
Gros Posts Eight Blocks
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State suffered its third straight setback, a 3-0 decision at the hands of visiting No. 9 Penn State, 3-0. The Spartans fall to 12-4 overall and 0-3 in Conference play, while Penn State is now 10-4 and 2-1 in B1G action.
MSU fell behind 2-0 and fought a valiant battle in the third set, as it had in each of its first two matches at Iowa and Nebraska. The teams were tied at 24-24 in the third set, a frame that was closed out by the Nittany Lions with the final two points to secure the 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 26-24).
Alyssa Chronowski led all scorers with 10 kills, hitting a team-best .222; Maddie Haggerty had nine kills, four digs, and two blocks. Freshman Naya Gros led all players with eight blocks (one solo), and Elena Shklyar posted 26 assists.
For the Nittany Lions, both Taylor Leath and Kaitlyn Hord had nine kills, with Hord posting an eye-popping .818 hitting percentage (9-0-11). Penn State hit .296 (38-14-81) in the match, compared to .082 for the Spartans (28-21-85), and each team had 10 blocks.
MSU wraps up its weekend when it plays Rutgers at home on Saturday evening at Jenison Field House.
QUOTABLE
"There's no doubt that there is a lot of talent and a lot of fight in our team. However, we dug ourselves a pretty big hole with going down 2-0, and we did the same last weekend. We need to tighten things up earlier – to take our game to another level before the third set. We need to see these things earlier in the match. We're fighting, but the battle is tougher when you get yourself into a hole that early."
- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
• Alyssa Chronowski had 10 kills to lead all scorers, and hit an MSU-best .222 while adding five digs and a block.
• Naya Gros had eight blocks (one solo), with six coming in the third set.
• Maddie Haggerty posted nine kills, four digs, and a pair of blocks.
STATS AND STORYLINES
• For the third straight match, MSU's best set was the third – MSU hit .156 and had seven team blocks in the frame they lost by a 26-24 score.
• MSU's skid reached three matches since starting the season 12-1. MSU falls to 12-4, 0-3 Big Ten.
• Penn State had seven aces to just one for the Spartans.
GAME REPLAY
• SET ONE: The set was out of hand for the Spartans early, as the early PSU lead of 5-1 grew to 12-3 and then 22-8. The visitors had four aces and hit .391 in the opening frame, (12-3-23), while MSU struggled to get much going, posting just six kills against five errors. Haggerty had a pair of kills and an assist in the frame, while Jonni Parker led the Nittany Lions with four kills.
• SET TWO: MSU trailed by as many as nine points, but fought back within 19-15 with a 5-0 run fueled by a pair of kills from Haggerty and a big block by Shklyar and Gros. The Nittany Lions called time out, and came back with five consecutive points out of the break to push their lead back to nine (24-15). MSU called a time out and got a kill from Chronowski to fend off a 2-0 deficit, but Penn State closed it out with a tool off the block to seal the second-set win, 25-16. Chronowski had four kills and a pair of digs, while Haggerty added three terminations and a block. Nia Reed posted four kills for Penn State, while Serena Gray had three of the Nittany Lions' four blocks.
• SET THREE: With a 5-1 lead early in the third set, it looked like the visitors wanted to run away with the third set – but MSU remained steadfast and came back to tie the set at 10-10 on a run by Chronowski that featured three kills and a block. Naya Gros became a menace for the Spartans at the net, putting up three of her eight blocks to help MSU build a 12-10 lead. From there, the point-for-point battle ensued. MSU held the edge at 15-14 to get to the media time out, but Penn State scored two quick ones out of the hiatus on a block and a kill. Haggerty stopped the run with a back-row attack, and the teams battled to the finish line – MSU trying to push it to a fourth set, the visitors trying to wrap it up in three. Tied at 16, PSU went on a 4-1 run to go up 20-17, but MSU countered with a 4-0 run that included a pair of Gros blocks that made it 21-20. Three straight points for PSU seemingly put them in control with a 23-21 lead, but the Spartans tied things up again at 23 with a kill from Haggerty and a block by Gros and Shklyar. The teams traded service errors to tie the game at 24-all, but the Nittany Lions closed it out with a kill by Parker and a block by Taylor Leath that finished off the match. Gros had six of her eight blocks on the night in the third set, with Haggerty and Chronowski each contributing four kills, three digs, and a block.
Michigan State suffered its third straight setback, a 3-0 decision at the hands of visiting No. 9 Penn State, 3-0. The Spartans fall to 12-4 overall and 0-3 in Conference play, while Penn State is now 10-4 and 2-1 in B1G action.
MSU fell behind 2-0 and fought a valiant battle in the third set, as it had in each of its first two matches at Iowa and Nebraska. The teams were tied at 24-24 in the third set, a frame that was closed out by the Nittany Lions with the final two points to secure the 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 26-24).
Alyssa Chronowski led all scorers with 10 kills, hitting a team-best .222; Maddie Haggerty had nine kills, four digs, and two blocks. Freshman Naya Gros led all players with eight blocks (one solo), and Elena Shklyar posted 26 assists.
For the Nittany Lions, both Taylor Leath and Kaitlyn Hord had nine kills, with Hord posting an eye-popping .818 hitting percentage (9-0-11). Penn State hit .296 (38-14-81) in the match, compared to .082 for the Spartans (28-21-85), and each team had 10 blocks.
MSU wraps up its weekend when it plays Rutgers at home on Saturday evening at Jenison Field House.
QUOTABLE
"There's no doubt that there is a lot of talent and a lot of fight in our team. However, we dug ourselves a pretty big hole with going down 2-0, and we did the same last weekend. We need to tighten things up earlier – to take our game to another level before the third set. We need to see these things earlier in the match. We're fighting, but the battle is tougher when you get yourself into a hole that early."
- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
• Alyssa Chronowski had 10 kills to lead all scorers, and hit an MSU-best .222 while adding five digs and a block.
• Naya Gros had eight blocks (one solo), with six coming in the third set.
• Maddie Haggerty posted nine kills, four digs, and a pair of blocks.
STATS AND STORYLINES
• For the third straight match, MSU's best set was the third – MSU hit .156 and had seven team blocks in the frame they lost by a 26-24 score.
• MSU's skid reached three matches since starting the season 12-1. MSU falls to 12-4, 0-3 Big Ten.
• Penn State had seven aces to just one for the Spartans.
GAME REPLAY
• SET ONE: The set was out of hand for the Spartans early, as the early PSU lead of 5-1 grew to 12-3 and then 22-8. The visitors had four aces and hit .391 in the opening frame, (12-3-23), while MSU struggled to get much going, posting just six kills against five errors. Haggerty had a pair of kills and an assist in the frame, while Jonni Parker led the Nittany Lions with four kills.
• SET TWO: MSU trailed by as many as nine points, but fought back within 19-15 with a 5-0 run fueled by a pair of kills from Haggerty and a big block by Shklyar and Gros. The Nittany Lions called time out, and came back with five consecutive points out of the break to push their lead back to nine (24-15). MSU called a time out and got a kill from Chronowski to fend off a 2-0 deficit, but Penn State closed it out with a tool off the block to seal the second-set win, 25-16. Chronowski had four kills and a pair of digs, while Haggerty added three terminations and a block. Nia Reed posted four kills for Penn State, while Serena Gray had three of the Nittany Lions' four blocks.
• SET THREE: With a 5-1 lead early in the third set, it looked like the visitors wanted to run away with the third set – but MSU remained steadfast and came back to tie the set at 10-10 on a run by Chronowski that featured three kills and a block. Naya Gros became a menace for the Spartans at the net, putting up three of her eight blocks to help MSU build a 12-10 lead. From there, the point-for-point battle ensued. MSU held the edge at 15-14 to get to the media time out, but Penn State scored two quick ones out of the hiatus on a block and a kill. Haggerty stopped the run with a back-row attack, and the teams battled to the finish line – MSU trying to push it to a fourth set, the visitors trying to wrap it up in three. Tied at 16, PSU went on a 4-1 run to go up 20-17, but MSU countered with a 4-0 run that included a pair of Gros blocks that made it 21-20. Three straight points for PSU seemingly put them in control with a 23-21 lead, but the Spartans tied things up again at 23 with a kill from Haggerty and a block by Gros and Shklyar. The teams traded service errors to tie the game at 24-all, but the Nittany Lions closed it out with a kill by Parker and a block by Taylor Leath that finished off the match. Gros had six of her eight blocks on the night in the third set, with Haggerty and Chronowski each contributing four kills, three digs, and a block.
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