Spartans Battle, But Fall to No 7 Badgers

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State suffered a 3-0 loss at No. 7 Wisconsin on Saturday evening, but had many positives to take from the match as it fought through 17 tie scores and eight lead changes with set scores of 23-25, 19-25, 22-25. The Spartans fall to 14-12 (5-11 B1G).

The crowd at the UW Field House was treated to an entertaining match, even if the score was a little too close at most points for the home crowd's liking. The Spartans held Wisconsin to a .213 hitting percentage in the match (far below its B1G-best .294 entering the night), and the home team got five of its 10 blocks in the final frame to edge out MSU 10-9 in that category.

The Spartans looked like a far different team than the previous few weeks – they were composed out-of-system, scrappy defensively, and taking hard and confident swings. MSU spread its offense as it does when its at its most successful, led by eight kills from both Molly Johnson and Emma Monks; Monks had six of her eight terminations in the third set and added a block, while Johnson had three stuffs. Naya Gros led all players with seven blocks, and Jamye Cox had 11 digs and three assists.

For the Badgers, Molly Haggerty had 14 kills, two aces, and four digs, while Dana Rettke had 10 kills but was held to a .136 hitting percentage. Danielle Hart ld the Badgers with five blocks and added four kills, and Grace Loberg had seven kills and four blocks for Wisconsin (19-5, 15-1 B1G).

Michigan State has a big midweek match on tap, hosting in-state rival Michigan in the annual Jam Jenison match on Wednesday at 7 pm.

PLAYER HIGHS

Molly Johnson had eight kills, three blocks, and hit .438.
Emma Monks hit a match-best .727, recording six of her eight kills in the third set (8-0-11) and adding a dig and a block.
Naya Gros had a match-best seven blocks and added three kills.

STATS & STORYLINES

Jamye Cox had xx digs, her 14^th straight match with 10+ and the 25^th time in 27 matches this season she recorded 10 or more. She added three assists.
Elena Shklyar had 13 assists and six digs, while counterpart Audrey Alford had 12 assists and seven digs.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Wisconsin put down six kills in its first seven swings to jump out to a 6-0 lead, triggering an early time out from the Spartan bench. MSU scored its first two points out of the time out and then went on a 6-2 run that brought the Spartans within a pair at 10-8 after a service ace by Samantha McLean. A quick set to Gros in the middle followed by a solo stuff by the sophomore tied things up at 13-13, forcing the home team to call a time out. The Badgers got the first two points out of their time out, but a line shot by Kabengele stopped any potential big run and kept MSU within a point, and she put the next rally down followed by a shot long to give MSU its first lead, 16-15. Neither team could pull away as big swings were coming from both sides of the net and the teams stayed within a point. The two teams stayed in contact, trading points as the score climbed into the 20s, and with the score tied at 22-22, a pair of Spartan miscues put the Badgers at set point. Johnson put own her third kill of the set to fend off set point, but Rettke countered with a kill from the right side to give the home team the 25-23 victory. Norris led MSU with four kills and a pair of digs, while Johnson contributed three kills and two blocks. Gros had a kill and three of four MSU blocks. Both Rettke and Molly Haggerty had six kills for the Badgers,

SET TWO: Michigan State was far more composed in the start of the second, taking 4-2 and 6-4 leads despite a pair of service errors. The Spartans were composed when out of system and scrappy defensively, The teams were close throughout the match, with the largest MSU lead three (9-6) and the Badgers using aa 3-0 run to take their first lead of the set at 12-11. The Badgers went up 14-12 on a kill by Haggerty and a block - Wisconsin's third – but MSU stayed composed and refused to yield to the home team, getting a kill by Kabengele to trim it back to a one-point game. A kill and block by Danielle Hart gave the Badgers their largest lead at 18-15, and MSU called time out. Emma Monks ended a rally with a big kill out of the time out, but the Badgers got some help from MSU in building its lead to six (24-18) with three straight Spartan errors. Gros fended it off with a kill, but the home team took the set 25-19 after a Rettke kill, her only one of the frame. Molly Haggerty had five kills and a pair of dig to pace the Badgers, while Hart had two kills and two blocks. For the Spartans, Johnson had three more kills and a block, Gros had four blocks, and Kabengele had two kills and two stuffs. Jamye Cox pushed her match total to 10 digs, her 14^th straight with double-digit digs.

SET THREE: The home team rolled out to a big lead again in the third set, taking a 7-1 lead on a 5-0 run and forcing Michigan State to take its first time out. A crafty tip by Monks stopped the run, and the Spartans used a 4-0 stretch to come within a pair at 8-6. The teams went through a stretch of trading big kills (and trading service errors) that brought the score to 13-12 in favor of the home team, The Spartans put together back to back points – both kills from Monks – to take a 15-14 lead, but the home team came back to take the lead with two straight blocks from Loberg and Hart after an MSU service error to force the Spartans into their second time out, trailing 17-15. A service ace for Sidney Hilley out of the break pushed the Wisconsin lead out to three, but MSU got aggressive at the net to stop the home team from extending the lead out much further. Wisconsin pushed the lead out to four (22-18) after an MSU service error, and a Rettke cross-court dagger followed by a block gave the home team match point at 24-19. Johnson got MSU back within four, and consecutive errors by Hart and Loberg made it 24-22, - forcing the home team to call time out to try to regroup. Loberg redeemed herself with a dagger to close out the match with a 25-22 set victory.

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Team Stats

Emma Monks

Molly Johnson

Meredith Norris

Biamba Kabengele

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Samantha McLean

Emma Monks

Elena Shklyar

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Samantha McLean

Emma Monks

Elena Shklyar

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Emma Monks

Molly Johnson

Meredith Norris

Biamba Kabengele

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Samantha McLean

Emma Monks

Elena Shklyar