Five-Set Heartbreaker Goes to Visiting Wolverines

Wednesday, November 20

East Lansing, Mich.

7 pm

Michigan State University

14-13, 5-12

Michigan

19-8, 12-5

Michigan

Michigan State

11/20/2019 10:45:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

East Lansing, Mich. -- In the annual Jam Jenison match against No. 23 Michigan at Jenison Field House, the Spartans battled through five tight sets with the Wolverines, but fell 3-2 to their in-state rival (19-25, 26-24, 25-23, 15-25, 15-17).

The capacity crowd of 4,900 were treated to a back-and forth battle that featured an astounding 43 tie scores and 20 lead changes over the five sets, with two sets that went to extra points. MSU (14-13, 5-12 B1G) went to a fifth set for the fifth time this season and for the first time against Michigan since the 2015 season.

The Wolverines (19-8, 12-5 Big Ten) became just the third team this season to hit .300 or better against MSU, (.301), and hit a match-best .391 in the fifth and final set, where the Wolverines needed every point as MSU battle back from a three-point deficit at 13-10 to tie things up at 14-14 and push the set into extra points; freshman May Pertofsky put down her match-best 18^th kill of the night to seal the victory for the visitors. She hit .400 and added four blocks and four digs, while Paige Jones had 16 kills and five digs. Cori Crocker had 10 kills and a match-best seven blocks.

The Wolverines held the lead in hitting percentage, kills (64-56) and digs (52-47), but the Spartans had the edge in service aces (10-8) and the teams tied in blocks (eight for each squad). Molly Johnson, the Ann Arbor native celebrating her birthday, tied her season best with 10 kills, had the first four service aces of her career, and added four blocks for a team-best 16.5 points. Freshman Biamba Kabengele had 12 kills, three digs, and three blocks, while Lauren Swartz had nine kills on a team-best .562 hitting percentage.

Michigan State heads to Indiana on Sunday for a 1 pm matinee that wraps up the week of action.

PLAYER HIGHS

Molly Johnson had 10 kills, four blocks, and four service aces.
Biamba Kabengele had 12 kills, three digs, and three blocks.
Lauren Swartz hit a match-best .562 with nine kills on 16 swings.

STATS & STORYLINES

The teams went to five sets for the first time since 2015.
Michigan won its fifth straight against the Spartans, their longest winning streak in the history of the rivalry.
Molly Johnson tied her season best with 10 kills and had the first four service aces of her career.
Naya Gros shared the team lead with four blocks, adding eight kills and hit .312.
Emma Monks made her third straight start with eight kills, hitting .462 and adding a block.
Jamye Cox had 17 digs, her 15^th straight match with 10+ and the 25^th time in 27 matches this season she recorded 10 or more. She added four assists. It also moved her past Kelly Collister (1985-88) into eighth place on MSU's career dig list with 1,202. Jenna Wrobel (1995-98) is in seventh place with 1,223.
Maggie Midgette had 19 assists in her final game in her career against the Wolverines, her most in a Big Ten match this season and two shy of her season best. She added three service aces and five digs.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: The teams traded points out of the gate, with the Spartans holding an early edge of two (8-6) before the Wolverines tied things up at 10-10. With the teams tied at 15's, the two teams boasted identical .353 hitting percentages, and the fans were locked in on a highly entertaining frame. MSU went back up two on a kill by Gros and a solo stuff by Molly Johnson, and the Wolverines called a time out trailing 18-16. UM came out of the break with a 5-0 run, on kills from Pertofsky, Crocker, a Sydney Wetterstrom service ace, and an MSU error that allowed Michigan its largest lead of the night, 21-18. The Spartans would be outscored 4-1 the rest of the way as part of the 9-1 Wolverine run to close out the set. The Wolverines hit .346 (13-3-29), with four kills from both May Petofsky and Paige Jones; Biamba Kabengele also had four kills for MSU, which hit .207 (11-5-29).

SET TWO: Michigan State started strong with a 5-1 lead, but the Wolverines put together a 8-0 run with a pair of aces, two blocks, and some help from MSU errors. A kill by Kabengele stopped the run, the Spartans put three straight points on the board after back-to-back aces from Molly Johnson to tie it up at 9-9. UM took a brief 14-12 lead, but the Spartans battled back with a 3-0 run on kills by Gros, Kabengele, and Pertofsky to take their first lead since 5-1 at 15-14. With the teams tied at 17's, the Spartan freshmen – Kabengele and Monks – put down consecutive kills for a 19-17 lead, and Michigan called time out. The Wolverines scored three straight out of the break to go up 20-19, but Kabengele went off the block and down the line to tie things up at 20. Another Wolverine kill and a Spartan error gave the visitors a 23-21 lead, and MSU called time out. A quick set to Gros in the middle brought MSU within a point, and an ace by Maggie Midgette tied things up at 23-all. An error by the Wolverine setter got the Spartans to set point, and the Wolverines called time out to regroup. Wetterstom put down a line shot to tie the set, but Norris countered with a kill to get the Spartans to set point yet again. The final rally ended with a huge block on Pertofsky by Gros and Johnson to give MSU the 26-24 set victory. Both Monks and Kabengele had four kills in the second stanza, while both Gros and Johnson had two kills and a block.

SET THREE: The teams continued to trade runs into the third set, as a 10-10 tie turned into a 13-10 lead for the Wolverines thanks to a pair of Spartan errors. Trailing 15-11, MSU went on a 4-0 run with two kills from Lauren Swartz, a kill by Norris, and an ace by Lauryn Gibbs to tie things up at 15-all. A kill and an ace by Paige Jones give the visitors back a two-point edge at 17-15, but the Spartans pulled ahead 20-18 with a 5-1 run capped by a solo stuff by Norris and a Midgette service ace. The run triggered a Michigan time out, but the Spartans scored three of the first four points out of the break, and then got to set point at 24-21. Jones went down the line to fend off set point and then off the block to make it a one-point deficit, and MSU called time out for some final instructions to close out the set. Trying for a third straight kill and a tie ballgame, Jones' offering went off the pin and the Spartans took a 2-1 match lead with a 25-23 set win. The teams both had 12 kills, led by five from Jones (along with two aces) for the Wolverines and five for Johnson. Norris and Kabengele each added a pair of kills as six different players had at least one.

SET FOUR: The Wolverines used an early 5-0 run to help build the largest lead for either team in the match at 10-5, but the Spartans kept fighting. With an 18-10 lead, the Wolverines had 11 kills (.364) in the set, and MSU just 6-3-18 (.167). The Spartans called their second time out in an effort to regroup, and Swartz put down a pair of kills around a service error. MSU came within five at 19-14 on a block by Gros and Johnson, and it was UM's turn to call a time out. The Spartan deficit shrunk to four (19-15) before the Wolverines countered with a kill by Petrofsky and a block, and they closed out the set on a 6-0 run to take the set 25-15 and tie the match at 2-2. Swartz had four kills for the home team in the frame, while Pertofsky had the same for the Wolverines.

SET FIVE: Midgette started off the fifth set with a service ace, but the Wolverines took the next three points on a kill and two Spartan miscues. Norris stopped the run with a laser, and the teams traded the next five kills (Jones x2 and Pertofsky for the Wolverines, Gros and Johnson for MSU) that made it 6-4 in favor of the visitors. Michigan held on to that two-point edge to lead 8-6 at the crossover, and extended it out to 10-7 with a kill by Pertofsky. MSU came within a point at 10-9 with blocks by Gros and Johnson and then Kabengle, but Michigan got two straight points on an other Pertofsky termination and a block by Robinson and Crocker to go back up three (12-9) and triggering another Spartan time out. Johnson picked dup her 10^th kill Paige Jones went line to get UM to match point at 14-12, but Swartz put down two straight kills to tie things up at 14's, and UM called time out. Jones came out of the back row to give the Wolverines a 15-14 lead, but the teams then traded service errors to keep the visitors within a point of taking the match. That point came from Pertofsky – her 18^th of the match – to seal the win for Michigan. MSU hit .240 with nine kills in the fifth, but the Wolverines put down 12 kills on a .391 hitting percentage, led by Jones (five kills) and Pertofsky (four) to account for nine of UM's 12 terminations. The Spartans had two kills each from Norris, Gros, and Swartz and got a pair of blocks – a solo effort from Kabengele, and another from Gros and Johnson.