Spartans Open Four-Match Homestand Friday

2019 Volleyball Week Eight / Big Ten Week Four
MSU vs. Rutgers, No. 8 Penn State
Dates	Friday, Oct. 18 vs. Rutgers, 7 pm Webstream: BTN+ \| Live Statistics
	Sunday, Oct. 20 vs. No. 8 Penn State, 2 pm TV: ESPN \| Webstream: ESPN App \| Live Statistics
Facility	Jenison Field House \| MSU Athletics No-Bag Policy
Tickets	Spartan Ticket Office Friday: Four Seats, Four Treats BOGO: Buy one ticket for Rutgers, get one for PSU for free Sunday: Family Four Pack MSUFCU Day at MSU Volleyball (Two free tickets for members - use code MSUFCU_MSU)
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| R utgers \| Penn State
Parking	Fans are reminded that the Jenison Field House lot fills quickly. Consider using Kellogg Center, IM West, or Breslin Center.
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print
• MSU gets its first home weekend in Big Ten play when it hosts Rutgers (Friday) and No. 8 Penn State (Sunday) this week. MSU has had just one home match since the third week of the pre-Conference season, but will play its next four on its home court.

• Sunday's match will air live on ESPN. Paul Sunderland and Holly McPeak are on the call from Jenison Field House. The match is also available online via the ESPN App.

• Friday's match will have a live video webstream via BTN+.

• 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 for the remainder of the season.

• MSU and Rutgers stage their only meeting of the season on Friday. MSU is a perfect 10-0 against the Scarlet Knights all-time, including a pair of victories in 2018.

• Rutgers enters the weekend with a 6-11 overall record and 0-6 in conference action. The Scarlet Knights season has been a story of winning and losing streaks - after dropping their first three matches of the season, RU's six victories came all in a row before its most recent eight-game skid, which includes each of its first six B1G contests.

• The Scarlet Knights have played a tough schedule thus far, with matches against Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, and Minnesota - teams which are a combined 20-4 in Big Ten play.

• MSU swept the 2018 meeting of the teams in East Lansing, and then Rutgers nearly pulled off its first win over MSU in five sets in Piscataway. Naya Gros averaged 2.33 kills, hit .581, and averaged 1.22 blocks per set over the two matches a year ago, Alyssa Chronowski averaged 3.44 kills per set, and Becka Poljan averaged 2.00 kills, 1.00 blocks, and hit .400 in the series.

• CJ Werneke is in his 12th season as the head coach at Rutgers.

• MSU and Penn State's Sunday meeting will be the second of the season between the two teams. The Nittany Lions have won 10 straight in the series and own a 47-7 mark in matches between the teams. Head coach Russ Rose is celebrating his 41st season on the Penn State sideline.

• Penn State enters the weekend with a 12-3 overall record and 5-1 mark in Big Ten play. The Nittany Lions will play at Michigan on Friday before traveling to East Lansing for Sunday's match.

• Michigan State suffered a 3-0 loss at then-No. 5 Penn State on Sept. 25 (24-26, 21-25, 18-25) in the Big Ten opener for both teams. MSU suffered through a .126 hitting percentage, and Penn State out-blocked MSU by a 9-6 margin. The Green and White was led by 10 kills and six digs from Meredith Norris, and seven kills, four blocks, and an ace from Rebecka Poljan, who hit .417.
    Jonni Parker finished with 16 kills, two aces, and three blocks while setter Gabby Blossom had 28 assists and eight digs for Penn State.

Team Notes
• MSU recorded a third straight split in Big Ten play last week, falling 3-1 in Lincoln to No. 5 Nebraska but rebounding to down Iowa, 3-2.

• MSU took the first set on Friday vs. the Cornhuskers, but Nebraska earned commanding victories in the second and third and then earned a 25-22 win in the fourth and deciding set.

• The Spartans suffered from their roughest hitting night of the season in Lincoln, hitting .038. MSU hit .200 in the opening set but couldn't get over .100 in any of the next three sets.

• Nebraska tallied 14 blocks, the most for an MSU opponent this season. Maryland had 13.5 the previous Saturday.

• MSU earned its first five-set win in three tries this season with a 3-2 victory at Iowa last Sunday afternoon (25-15, 24-26, 23-25, 25-20, 15-3).

• Iowa recorded 19 kills in the second set, tying the most for an opponent in a set this season.

• MSU snapped a two-match winning streak for the Hawkeyes in the series, who won both matchups of the teams in 2018.

• MSU tied its season best with 16 blocks at Iowa, which it also accomplished in the season opener vs. Duke. The Spartans have had eight or more blocks in 13 of 15 matches this season and recorded it ninth double-digit blocking effort in 2019.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.81 blocks per set to lead the Big Ten, and rank 12th nationally. MSU has limited opponents to a .145 hitting percentage, which is second in the Conference and ranks 10th nationally. Offensively, MSU ranks seventh in the league (49th nationally) in hitting percentage (.247).

• MSU has been out-blocked in just five matches this season, and three of those were one-block deficits: vs. Oakland (7-6) vs. Tennessee (11-10), and the second match against Maryland (13.5-12.5). The 14-9 margin between Nebraska and MSU was its largest differential with an opponent this season.

• In its 17 set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has been held under 20 points just four times (but two of those sets were at Nebraska). The Spartans are averaging 21.0 points in their set losses, which includes three sets that went to extra points.

• The Spartans returned 14 letterwinners from the 2018 squad, and all but one starter - 2018 Team MVP Maddie Haggerty is now serving the team as a fifth-year student coach as she finishes her final semester of work toward her degree. MSU's 2019 squad features 18 players, as head coach Cathy George enters the season with three seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores, and three freshmen.

• MSU is not currently in the AVCA National Poll. Six teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 20, with four appearing in the top eight. Michigan is now receiving votes.

• In the most recent RPI calculations, 11 of the 14 Big Ten teams appear in the top 54, (and all rank 109 or better), which includes six squads in the top 25. MSU comes in this week at No. 47.
   Among MSU's non-conference opponents, six of the 10 are in the top 105.

• MSU has gone 141-27 (.844) in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-19), and has never lost more than four games prior to the beginning of the Big Ten season.

• MSU currently ranks 15th in total attendance among Division I institutions, (15,498), and is tied with both Minnesota and Stanford for the fewest number of home matches among teams in the top 15. The Spartans are 11th in average attendance in 2019, (2,583). The Spartans have nine of their remaining 14 regular-season matches at home.

   The Spartans ranked eighth nationally in 2018 in average attendance, (3,069), MSU's fourth straight season in the national top 10 for average attendance and 11th consecutive in the top 20. Meanwhile, the Spartans finished 12th in overall attendance (39.901), the 11th season that MSU has finished 16th in that category or higher.

• MSU welcomed a new associate head coach in the off-season, bringing Kimi Olson to East Lansing after four seasons as the head coach at Eastern Michigan. Jesse Ortiz is in his third season on the Spartan sideline, and Vlad Frenc joins the staff in 2019 as the volunteer assistant.

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the season with 600+ career wins (638), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,271), Nebraska's John Cook (721), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (617). She ranks 15th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 638-414 overall record. She also ranks in the top 80 all-time in head coaching victories.

Player Notes

• Naya Gros and Becka Poljan have continued to be big standouts for the Spartans in the first weeks of Big Ten play.

• Gros averaged 1.89 kills, 1.56 blocks, and 0.44 digs per set in the Nebraska/Iowa road weekend, which included eight blocks and eight kills at Iowa. Poljan hit .240, and averaged 1.12 kills, 0.62 digs, and 1.12 blocks per frame.

• Gros ranks 11th in the Big Ten with a .332 hitting percentage and is third in blocks (1.29), which is 34th among Division I players. She's also contributing 1.86 kills per set.

• Poljan boasts a .338 hitting percentage (11th, B1G,) and averages 1.85 kills per set, while ranking fifth in the Big Ten and 36th nationally with 1.28 blocks per frame. She is third on the team with 11 aces (0.20 per set) and is adding 0.44 digs per set.

• At Iowa, Poljan had two solo blocks – her first two solo stuffs of the season. She finished the day with seven kills, hit .429, and added six blocks.

• The Spartans have averaged nearly a block better than their opponents through 12 matches (2.81-2.06). MSU has five players who average between 0.56 and 1.29 blocks per set, led by Poljan and Gros; Lauren Swartz is third with 0.81, Molly Johnson is at 0.78, and Alyssa Chronowski is at 0.56. Gros leads the way with 11 solo blocks, Chronowski five, and Swartz four.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 3.85 digs per frame, good for seventh in the Big Ten. Cox had double-digit dig efforts in 14 of the 16 matches this season, including 28 vs. Duke in the season opener - one shy of her career best.

• Cox had 21 digs in her most recent outing vs. Iowa, her best in a Big Ten match this season. Her eight assists against the Hawkeyes established a new career best in that category, and her three service aces also tied her career record.

• Cox with 17 digs in the match at Maryland, she has reached 1,000 in her career. She will be recognized for that milestone prior to the match vs. Rutgers.
   Cox needs 87 digs to climb into MSU's all-time career top 10 in that category. Judy Doles holds down the No. 10 spot with 1121 career digs.

• Alyssa Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.56 kills per set, and adds 0.56 blocks and 0.48 digs per frame, hitting .273.

• Against Iowa, Chronowski went off for 24 kills and hit a career-high .465. It was one kill one shy of her career best, which she set in 2018 vs. Indiana.

• Meredith Norris averaged 2.89 kills and 1.89 digs per frame in last week's Big Ten matches, including 15 kills at Iowa to go with eight digs and an 11-kill, nine-dig performance at Nebraska.

• Norris just missed a double-double with 11 kills and nine digs at Nebraska. It was the sixth time this season that she recorded nine digs, and she had double-digit kills on four of those occasions. She has two of MSU's double-doubles this season.

• Norris ranks 13th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.29), and 11th in aces per set (0.3538). She's also contributing 2.18 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Molly Johnson's seven blocks at Iowa tied her career best, (set as a freshman vs. Michigan), and she added five kills and a pair of digs.. On the season, she's contributing 1.54 kills, 0.78 blocks, and 0.58 digs.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.23 kills per frame to go with her 0.81 blocks, 0.83 digs, and .176 hitting percentage. She posted season bests of nine kills and six blocks in the match at Maryland on Oct. 6, which is also her career best in stuffs.

• The Spartans run a 6-2 offense, with senior Maggie Midgette, sophomore Elena Shklyar and graduate transfer Audrey Alford all seeing action. They average 4.53, 4.81, and 4.83 assists per set, respectively.

• At Iowa, both setters had a double-double: Shklyar delivered 22 assists and 13 digs, while Alford had 28 and 15 for her second double-double of the season. At Nebraska, the pair each had 15 assists.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.96 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS. She had 11 digs at and a pair of service aces at Nebraska last Friday.

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele is averaging 2.44 kills per set and hitting .248 overall on the season.

• Freshman Emma Monks saw her first Big Ten action in the match at Nebraska, and had a kill and a pair of digs.

• MSU's depth at DS isn't always apparent because the squad runs a 6-2, but sophomore Lauryn Gibbs is averaging 1.13 digs with a pair of aces in 23 sets. She drew her first start of the Big Ten season last Saturday at Iowa.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Emma Monks

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz