MSU Off to Illinois For Pair of B1G Battles

2019 Volleyball Week Ten/ Big Ten Week Six:
MSU at Northwestern, at No. 19 Illinois
at Northwestern	Friday, Nov. 1, 8 pm ET \| Welsh-Ryan Arena \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+, $) \| Live Stats
at Illinois	Saturday, Nov. 2, 8 pm ET \| Huff Hall \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+, $) \| Live Stats
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| N orthwestern \| Illinois
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print:

• MSU starts a three-match road swing on Friday when it heads to Evanston, IL to take on Northwestern, then finishes the weekend at No. 19 Illinois on Saturday .

• Both matches 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 Northwestern stage the first of two meetings this season on Friday, with the return date in East Lansing scheduled for next Saturday, Nov. 9.

• The Wildcats are under the direction of Shane Davis, who is now in his fourth season as head coach in Evanston. Davis' assistant, Kristen Kelsay, was a four-year letterwinner for MSU and also served as an assistant coach for four seasons for the Spartans.

• Northwestern is 9-13 overall and struggled in the first half of the Big Ten season with an 0-10 mark in Conference play.

• MSU and Northwestern's only meeting in 2018 came in Evanston, with the Wildcats taking a 3-0 victory (21-25, 19-25, 20-25). Maddie Haggerty led the Spartans with eight kills, while Alyssa Chronowski had six kills and six blocks, including a career-best four solo stuffs. Rebecka Poljan had five kills and three blocks on the night. Nia Robinson led her squad with 12 kills and hit .333, while freshman Ella Grbac had nine kills and five blocks.

• Illinois is 10-9 on the season and 5-5 in Big Ten play. Like MSU, the Illini recently played the No. 8 Penn State, No. 7 Minnesota, and No. 6 Wisconsin in three straight matches, and has also played Nebraska and its second match against Minnesota.

• Chris Tamas is in his third season at Illinois, and guided his team to the Final Four in 2018. In his first season in 2017, MSU and Illinois met in the Sweet 16 in College Park, Pa, with MSU advancing into the Elite Eight.

• Illinois took both meetings of the teams in 2018 - a 3-0 sweep in Champaign and a 3-1 decision at Jenison Field House.

• Saturday will be the only meeting of the season between MSU and Illinois.

Team Notes:
• MSU split its matches in each of the first four weeks of Conference play before falling to both No. 6 Wisconsin (3-0) and No. 7 Minnesota (3-1) last weekend.

• The Spartans have now completed their season series with both Maryland (1-1) and Penn State (0-2), and completed its one-plays with Minnesota, Ohio State, and Iowa.

• At the midpoint of the Big Ten season, MSU sits in a tie for seventh place in the standings with a 4-6 record. MSU has two games this season three of the top four teams in the conference standings (Wisconsin, Penn State, Minnesota, and Nebraska), which are a combined 36-4 in Conference play.

• With a 13-7 record, six of the seven losses have come to teams in the AVCA top-25 at the time of the match: No. 5 and No. 8 Penn State, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Minnesota, and No. 21 Tennessee.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.78 blocks per set which ranks third the Big Ten 15th nationally. MSU has limited opponents to a .156 hitting percentage, which is second in the Conference and also ranks 21st nationally.

Wisconsin, which leads the Big Ten in hitting percentage, hit .303 in last Friday's match - the only time an opponent has hit .300 or better. Only four times has an opponent hit .better than .210 against MSU - Penn State (twice), Wisconsin, and Tennessee (.276).

• MSU has been out-blocked in just seven matches this season and only once has it been a margin of more than two blocks (at Nebraska, 14-9, Oct. 11).

• In its 25 set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has been held under 20 points just nine times. The Spartans are averaging 20.25 points in their set losses, which includes four 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 among teams receiving votes.

• In the most recent RPI calculations, 13 of the 14 Big Ten teams appear in the top 94, which includes five squads in the top 25 and eight in the top 50. MSU comes in this week at No. 53, just missing that cut.
   Among MSU's non-conference opponents, two are in the top 50 -Cincinnati (33) and Tennessee (55).

• In the NCAA's ranking of toughest schedules remaining, the Spartans' final five weeks ranks in a tie for eighth place. MSU's remaining opponents boast a .648 winning percentage.

• 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 eighth in total attendance among Division I institutions, (30,399), The Spartans are seventh in average attendance in 2019, (3,040). The Spartans have five of their remaining 10 regular-season matches at home. MSU has been in the national top 10 for average attendance four straight years and 11 consecutive in the top 20, while MSU has ranked 16th or better in total attendance for 11 straight season as well.
    MSU averaged 3,727 fans over its most recent homestand vs. Rutgers, Penn State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

• 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.

• Last Friday, MSU hosted its Dig Pink Breast Cancer Awareness game vs. Wisconsin. The program, in coordination with MSU's Sideout Club, held a silent auction over the previous three weeks for the pink jerseys that were be worn against the Badgers. The winning bidder was able to put a person's name on their jersey that has been affected by cancer, and received the jersey after the match. More than $3,000 was raised for the Dig Pink foundation.

•Last Saturday, Cathy George was inducted into the athletics Hall of Fame at her alma mater, Illinois State. The former Cathy Olson was a three-time All-Gateway/Missouri Valley Conference selection, helping her team to three straight NCAA Tournament bids and a 122-68 record in her career. She is still ranked fifth in the MVC record books in both aces in a season (95) and career (566). She has previously coached at North Dakota State, Texas-Arlington (where she was the first female head coach to bring a team to the Final Four, in 1989), Western Michigan before her current tenure with the Spartans, now in her 15th season.

Player Notes:

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday, her second such honor of the season. Against Minnesota and Wisconsin, she averaged 2.57 kills and 0.86 digs and added a .263 hitting percentage and three blocks (one solo). Her eight kills in the match against Wisconsin was a high for her in a B1G match, and she bettered that with 10 kills against the Gophers.

• Kabengele is just the fourth player in MSU history to earn Freshman of the Week honors multiple times in a season. The last was Alyssa Garvelink in 2014, where she earned the distinction twice. Alexis Mathews was a two-time recipient in 2010, and Kori Moster was a three-time winner in 2011.

• The first-year player is hitting .244 on the season, averaging 2.38 kills and 0.50 digs per frame. She's also contributing 0.32 blocks per set.

• Freshman middle Emma Monks also earned a pair of starts last weekend, averaging a team-best 1.14 blocks and 1.14 kjills, hitting .250. Her five kills and four blocks against Minnesota was her season best in both categories. She is averaging 1.23 kills, 0.92 blocks, 0.54 digs, and a .382 hitting percentage on the season.

• Meredith Norris averaged 2.86 kills and 1.71 digs per frame in last week's Big Ten matches.

• Norris has missed a double-double with on five occasions this season where she had double-digit kills and nine digs. She has two of MSU's five double-doubles this season.

• Norris ranks 12th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.25), and 12th in aces per set (0.33). She's also contributing 2.12 digs per set as a six-rotation player, and is second on the team in that category.

• Alyssa Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.56 kills per set, and adds 0.63 blocks and 0.49 digs per frame. She had 12 kills, five digs, and four blocks (two solo) against the Gophers, posting four of her kills in the fourth set.

• The Spartans have averaged a half a block better than their opponents through 20 matches (2.77-2.15). MSU has six players who average between 0.63 and 1.26 blocks per set, led Naya Gros (1.26) and Becka Poljan (1.14); Lauren Swartz is third with 0.86, Molly Johnson is at 0.78, and Chronowski is at 0.63. Freshman Emma Monks is averaging 0.92 in her limited action as well.

• Gros averaged 1.71 kills and 0.71 blocks per set in the Wisconsin/Minnesota weekend, but was playing on the outside instead of her natural position (middle blocker). She had eight kills and four blocks against the Gophers.

• Gros owns a .296 hitting percentage and ranks sixth in the Big Ten in blocks (1.26), which is 43rd among Division I players. She's also contributing 1.79 kills per set, good for fourth on the team.

• Poljan boasts a .314 hitting percentage (13th, B1G,) and averages 1.80 kills per set, while ranking 10th in the Big Ten with 1.14 blocks per frame. She is third on the team with 12 aces (0.18 per set) and is adding 0.42 digs per set.

• Poljan had 11 kills, hit .381 and added a block in Sunday's match vs. Minnesota.

• Molly Johnson is contributing 1.55 kills, 0.78 blocks, and 0.54 digs, hitting .224.

• Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.24 kills per frame to go with her 0.86 blocks, 0.75 digs, and .165 hitting percentage. She shared the team lead with six blocks against Rutgers, which tied her career best for the second time in three weeks.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 3.94 digs per frame, good for sixth in the Big Ten. Cox has posted double-digit dig efforts in 18 of the 20 matches this season. She had 11 and 19 against Wisconsin and Minnesota, respectively.

• Cox with 17 digs in MSU's match at Maryland (Oct. 5), she achieved 1,000 in her career. Now with 1,091 over three seasons, she is just outside MSU's all-time career top 10 in that category. Judy Doles holds down the No. 10 spot with 1121 career digs. Cox ranks fourth all-time in MSU's career digs per set rankings (3.72).

• 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, 4.92, and 4.93 assists per set, respectively.

• Alford and Shklyar each had 15 assists and two digs against the Badgers. Shklyar had 28 assists and four digs, two shy of her season best in assists, against Minnesota, while Alford had 20 assists and seven digs.

• Alford has 2,899 career assists over her three years at Oklahoma and this year at MSU.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.89 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS. She had nine digs against Wisconsin and added three vs. Minnesota.

• MSU's depth at DS isn't always apparent because the squad runs a 6-2, but sophomore Lauryn Gibbs is averaging 1.04 digs with a pair of aces in 26 sets.

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Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Alyssa Garvelink

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Emma Monks

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz