Late Rallies Help NU to Win Over Spartans

Evanston, Ill. -- Michigan State fell at Northwestern on Friday evening, dropping a 3-0 decision to the host Wildcats (20-25, 17-25, 16-25). The Spartans hit just .115 in the match and suffered just their second loss of the season to an unranked team, and fall to 13-8 (4-7 Big Ten). Northwestern improves to 10-13, 1-10 Big Ten

MSU dropped its fourth straight match, and its first to an unranked team in less than five sets The home team put together sizable runs at the end of each set to pick up their first Big Ten win of the season, hitting .265 and out-blocking the Spartans 9-5. The Wildcats also had five aces and limited MSU to just 37 points in the match, a season low.

Nia Robinson and Ella Grbac led the Wildcats – Robinson had 13 kills and hit .290, while Grbac had 12 kill, three digs, and three blocks.

The Spartans got eight kills from sophomore Rebecka Poljan, who hit .316 to lead the Spartans. Both Meredith Norris and Naya Gros had six kills, with Gros adding a pair of blocks. Biamba Kabengele led MSU with a career-best three blocks and also added three kills, and Emma Monks put down four kills and added to stuffs (one solo).

The Spartans head to Champaign on Saturday to take on No. 19 Illinois to wrap up the weekend.

PLAYER HIGHS

Rebecka Poljan had eight blocks and hit .316
Meredith Norris and Naya Gros each had six kills.
Emma Monks had four kills and hit .444 with two blocks.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Five early MSU errors allowed the home team to build a 7-2 lead out of the gate, and MSU called time out to regroup. Kabengele and Chronowski recorded kills from opposite pins out of the break to trim the deficit to three, but NU countered and went up again by five at 11-6. MSU was hitting .125 to that point of the match and the Wildcats .267, but the Wildcats let MSU back in at 13-10 with a pair of errors followed by a Norris kill, and then pulled within a point with a pair of kills by Norris followed by a big swing by Chronowski, and the Wildcats called their second time out. MSU tied things up at 17's before committing a pair of errors, but Emma Monks stopped the bleeding with a thundering kill from the middle that got the Spartans the sideout. Naya Gros gave MSU its first lead at 20-19 with back-to-back kills, but the Wildcats countered with a 3-0 run to go up 22-20 and force the Spartans to call their second time out. A shot long for MSU down the line followed by a let-serve ace got the Wildcats to set point, and a block by Alana Walker gave the home team the 25-20 win in set one. The Wildcats out-hit MSU by a .171-.119 margin and had 19 digs to MSU's 13; Gros and Norris each had three kills to lead the Spartans. Three players for NU had three kills.

SET TWO: Michigan State raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second, determined to change their fate from the first set. Poljan put down two quick kills in that early flurry, and Northwestern called a time out after a hitting error put it in a 5-0 hole. Northwestern got the first point out of the break on an overturned call on a challenge, which seemed to give the Wildcats life as they cut the MSU lead down to two, 6-4. MSU answered with a Poljan kill and a block by Kabengele and Gros , but Northwestern used a 3-0 run on a block, kill, and MSU error to make it 8-7, and MSU called its first time out of the set. Michelle Lee scored NU's fifth ace of the match to tie things up at 8-8, and then extended its run out to 8-1 to go up 12-9. Molly Johnson's kill got the sideout for MSU, MSU tied things up at 13-all thanks to a pair of NU errors, but then served up an error of its own. The teams started trading points - Poljan tied things up again at 15-15 for MSU, then Kabengele at 16's. Northwestern used a 6-0 run to turn that 16-all tie into a 22-16 lead, and then got to set point at 24-17 after an MSU error. A tip by Desiree Becker closed it out for Northwestern, which held a .229-.049 edge in hitting percentage, 5-1 edge in blocks, and 13-10 advantage in digs. Poljan led MSU with four of its nine kills in the frame, while Ella Grbac had five (and three blocks).

SET THREE: MSU took a 7-5 lead on a block and a kill by Monks, and then called time out when Northwestern took an 11-10. The hiatus did not quell the momentum from Northwestern, which took a 14-11 edge on a pair of kills sandwiched around an MSU error. MSU called time out trailing 17-12 – the Spartans were hitting .350 with nine kills, but the home team was hitting .421 to take the lead. Gros came up with a block to stop the run out of the break, but the Wildcats were on a mission to record their first conference win of the season and closed out the set on another late run, outscoring MSU 25-16 to secure the 3-0 sweep. NU hit a match-best .429 in the third, rolling up 15 kills against just three errors. Robinson led her team with six terminations (6-0-8), and Grbac had four. Monks led MSU with three of her four kills coming in the final set.

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Team Stats

Rebecka Poljan

Meredith Norris

Naya Gros

Emma Monks

Players Mentioned

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Emma Monks

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan