MSU Prepares For B1G Matches at No. 5 Nebraska, Iowa

2019 Volleyball Week Seven/ Big Ten Week Three:
MSU at No. 5 Nebraska, at Iowa
at Nebraska	Friday, Oct. 11, 9 pm ET \| Devaney Center \| Tickets
	TV: BTN \| Webstream (Fox Sports App) \| Live Stats
at Iowa	Sunday, Oct. 13, 2 pm ET \| C arver-Hawkeye Arena \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Nebraska \| I owa
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print:
• MSU continues its challenging start to the Big Ten season with matches at No. 5 Nebraska (Friday) and Iowa (Sunday). The Spartans are completing a stretch of five of six Big Ten matches on the road and eight of nine matches overall away from Jenison Field House. MSU has gone 5-2 through the first seven matches of the swing.

• Friday's match will air live on Big Ten Network. Larry Punteney and Kathi Wieskamp are on the call from Lincoln. The match is also available online via the Fox Sports App.

• Sunday'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 Nebraska will undertake their 25th all-time meeting on Friday, with the Huskers owning a 20-2-2 record in the previous meetings. Nebraska owns nine straight wins in the series.

• The Huskers own an 11-2 mark in 2019, and are 3-1 in Big Ten play after a 3-0 loss to Wisconsin at home last Sunday. Both of their losses have come at the Devaney Center - the first a 3-1 loss to then-No. 1 Stanford on Sept. 18.

• The teams met just once in 2018, in the opening weekend of the season. Michigan State fell at No. 3 Nebraska, 3-1 (18-25, 9-25, 25-21, 25-16). Maddie Haggerty and Molly Johnson tied for the team lead with nine kills each; Johnson also added three blocks. Naya Gros had a team-best six blocks and added four kills and a pair of aces.
    Lauren Stivrins posted the match lead with seven blocks for Nebraska, adding seven kills. Lexi Sun (15 kills) and Mikaela Foecke (12 kills, eight digs, two blocks, .417) were the offensive leaders.

• John Cook has been the head coach of the Cornhuskers since 2000, and owns more than 700 career victories overall as a head coach.

• Iowa is under the tutelage of Vicki Brown, who recently was elevated to head coach of the Hawkeye program. She has been on the Iowa sideline since 2017, previously serving as the Associate Head Coach. Along with MSU mentor Cathy George, they are the only two female head coaches in the Big Ten.

• MSU leads the all-time series with the Hawkeyes, 49-26, which includes a 21-12 record in Iowa City. The teams met twice last year, with the Hawkeyes taking both matches, which snapped a 16-match winning streak for MSU.


• The Hawkeyes are 1-3 in Big Ten play, opening the Conference season with a win over Northwestern before dropping their next three to Illinois, Minnesota, and Penn State.

• In last year's B1G opener in Iowa City, the Spartans dropped a 3-0 decision to the Hawkeyes. Iowa used sharp hitting (.290, 42-25-93) and compiled 11 blocks, five of which came in the opening frame. The Spartans struggled with both hitting errors (21) and eight service errors. Alyssa Chronowski led the Spartan offense with 12 kills, hitting .455. 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.
   In the rematch, MSU fell to the Hawkeyes 3-1, (25-20, 28-30, 19-25, 25-23). The Spartans dropped both games to Iowa on the year, the first time the Hawkeyes had come up with two wins over MSU in the same season since 1991.
The Spartans hit .244 on the night, as freshman Molly Johnson had career-bests in kills (14) and hitting percentage (.511). Lauren Swartz added 12 kills on a .400 hitting percentage, Chronowski posted 13 kills, and Jamye Cox had 20 digs. For Iowa, Louis had 16 kills and a pair of blocks while Meghan Buzzerio hit .300 with 12 kills and 10 digs. Orr also had a double-double with 44 assists and 10 digs.

Tean Notes:
• MSU recorded a second straight split in Big Ten play last week, earning a 3-0 sweep of Ohio State in Columbus before falling in a five-setter at Maryland.

• MSU committed a season-low six hitting errors in the match at Ohio State and had its seventh double-digit blocking match of the season and first in B1G play. It also had six service aces compared to just four service errors.

• MSU's 3-0 sweep of the Buckeyes on Friday night was its second straight in Big Ten play - the first back-to-back 3-0 sweeps for MSU in Conference play since Nov. 10-11, 2017 (Illinois and Northwestern.)

• The Spartans had 77 digs in the five-set loss to Maryland, a new season best. The previous season high of 71 digs came against Duke in the season opener. MSU's 24 digs in the third set was the most in a set for the Spartans this season. MSU had 23 vs. Charleston in the second match of the season.

• MSU and Nebraska are tied for second with 11 wins overall in the Big Ten, and Indiana owns 12.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.81 blocks per set and sit atop the Big Ten, and rank 13th nationally. MSU has limited opponents to a .144 hitting percentage, which also leads the Conference and ranks ninth nationally. Offensively, MSU ranks seventh in the league (34th nationally) in hitting percentage (.260).

• MSU has been out-blocked in just four 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 only multi-block deficit came at Penn State (9-6).

• MSU not only straightened out some service woes in the first match vs. Maryland (six service errors, compared to 12 at Penn State), but had a season-low four errors at Ohio State.

• In its 12 set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has been held under 20 points just twice, a 25-18 loss in the third set at Penn State and an identical score in the fourth set at Maryland. The Spartans are averaging 22.0 points in their set losses, which includes two 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 three appearing in the top seven. Michigan is now receiving votes.

• 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 ranked eighth nationally in 2018 in average attendance, welcoming an average of 3,069 patrons to Jenison Field House per match. It was 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:
• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 3.86 digs per frame, good for fifth in the Big Ten. Cox had double-digit dig efforts in 12 of the 14 matches this season, including 28 vs. Duke in the season opener - one shy of her career best.

• Cox with 17 digs in the match at Maryland, she has reached 1,000 in her career. She needs 121 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.

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

• Gros averaged 2.5 kills, 1.25 blocks, and 0.88 digs per set in the OSU/Maryland road weekend, which included season bests of 13 kills and six digs against the Terrapins. Poljan hit .286, and averaged 1.88 kills and a team-best 1.5 blocks per set.

• Gros ranks 10th in the Big Ten with her team-best .362 hitting percentage (70th nationally) and is sixth in blocks (1.24), which is 50th among Division I players.

• Poljan boasts a .352 hitting percentage (13th, B1G, 86th nationally) and averages 1.98 kills per set, while ranking third in the Big Ten and 33rd nationally with 1.30 blocks per frame.

• The Spartans have averaged nearly a block better than their opponents through 12 matches (2.81-1.99). MSU has five players who average between 0.66 and 1.30 blocks per set, led by Poljan and Gros; Lauren Swartz is third with 0.80, Molly Johnson is at 0.70, and Alyssa Chronowski is at 0.66. Gros leads the way with 11 solo blocks, Chronowski five, and Swartz four.

• Meredith Norris averaged 2.50 kills and 2.00 digs per frame in last week's Big Ten matches, including a double-double at Maryland (17 kills, 12 digs). The 12 digs were a season high, as were her 53 swings against the Terrapins

• Norris ranks 13th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.38), and seventh in aces per set (0.38). She's also contributing 2.24 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.32 kills per set, and adds 0.66 blocks and 0.46 digs per frame, hitting .242.

• Molly Johnson posted five kills and a career-best seven digs with three blocks (one solo) at Ohio State, and added five digs and three blocks in the match at Maryland. On the season, she's contributing 1.54 kills, 0.70 blocks, and 0.58 digs.

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele played an expanded role in the WMU tournament with the injuries altering the Spartan lineup. She earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Sept. 23.

• Kabengele is averaging 2.52 kills per set and hitting .278 overall on the season in 23 sets played (of 50 overall played by the team). She has contributed eight blocks (two solo) and averages 0.43 digs per set.

• Kabengele came off the bench late in the fourth set against Maryland, and had four kills (three in the fifth set) against the Terps.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.30 kills per frame to go with her 0.80 blocks, 0.91 digs, and .185 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 blocks.

• 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, 4.97, and 4.84 assists per set, respectively.

• Shklyar led the Spartans in the first match against Maryland with 20 assists, five digs, and a pair of aces, then improved that to a season-bests of 30 assists, nine digs and three aces in the rematch last week in College Park. She is averaging 0.26 aces and 1.03 digs per set as well.

• Alford posted 17 assists at Ohio State and then 23 with six digs at Maryland, and on the year averages 1.42 digs per frame on the season.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.85 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS. She had a 13 digs at Maryland last Saturday after posting eight the previous night at OSU.

• MSU's depth at DS isn't always apparent because the squad runs a 6-2, but sophomore Lauryn Gibbs is averaging 1.12 digs with a pair of aces in 17 sets.

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Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Meredith Norris

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz