Split Week Has MSU at Michigan, Hosting Northwestern

2019 Volleyball Week 11 / Big Ten Week Seven:
MSU at [RV] Michigan | Northwestern at MSU
at Michigan	Wednesday, Nov. 6, 7 pm \| Crisler Center \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
vs. Northwestern	Saturday, Nov. 9, 8 pm \| Jenison Field House \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
Facility	MSU Athletics No-Bag Policy
Ticket Promotions (Saturday)	Spartan Football: Show your MSU/Illinois football ticket stub for FREE Admission Four Seats, Four Treats
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Michigan \| N orthwestern
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print
• MSU has a split road/home week of action, starting out in a Wednesday match at Michigan before hosting Northwestern 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.

• The Wolverines enter Wednesday's match at Crisler Center with a 15-7 overall record and sit at 8-4 in Big Ten play after earning wins over Northwestern and Illinois last weekend.

• MSU is 54-43-1 all-time against Michigan, and the Wolverines have won three straight after eight seasons of splitting the annual two meetings of the teams. Mark Rosen is in his 20th season at the helm of the Wolverines, and earlier this season picked up his 600th collegiate victory.

• In 1990, Michigan State and Michigan began a "State Pride" season series to celebrate the in-state rivalry. A State of Michigan flag, bearing the state motto "Tuebor" (`I Will Defend') serves as the trophy for winner of the head-to-head meetings of the two teams.
The two teams shared the Flag in 2014 as both tiebreakers (set wins, and then total points) were even. MSU had won or shared the Flag in six straight seasons (2010-15) before Michigan claimed the Flag in each of the last three years.

• MSU and Northwestern met last Friday in Evanston, with the Wildcats taking a 3-0 victory, their second straight sweep in the all-time series between the teams, which MSU leads 40-35.

• 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 10-14 overall and struggled in the first half of the Big Ten season with an 0-10 mark in Conference play, but opened the second half of the B1G slate with a sweep of the Spartans and a five-set loss to the Wolverines.

• MSU and Northwestern's Friday meeting went to the Wildcats, 3-0 (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 squad. The home team put together sizable runs at the end of each set, 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).

Team Notes
• MSU split its matches in each of the first four weeks of Conference play before dropping all four matches over the last two weekends, extending their losing streak to five games. Four of those opponents were ranked teams - No. 8 Penn State, No. 6 Wisconsin, No. 7 Minnesota, and No. 19 Illinois.

• 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, Illinois, and Iowa.

• MSU sits in a tie for ninth place in the B1G standings with a 4-8 record. MSU has two games this season four of the top five teams in the conference standings (Wisconsin, Penn State, Nebraska, and Michigan), which are a combined 46-8 in Conference play.

• With a 13-9 record, seven of the nine 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, No. 19 Illinois, and No. 21 Tennessee.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.67 blocks per set which ranks third the Big Ten. MSU has limited opponents to a .168 hitting percentage, which is second in the Conference.

• Illinois hit a scorching-hot .394 in last Saturday's match - the second time an opponent has hit .300 or better (Wisconsin hit .303). Only six times has an opponent hit .better than .210 against MSU - Illinois Penn State (twice), Wisconsin, Northwestern (.265), Tennessee (.276).

• MSU has been out-blocked in just nine matches this season, but it has happened in each of the last three matches.

• 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, 12 of the 14 Big Ten teams appear in the top 91, which includes five squads in the top 25 and eight in the top 50. MSU comes in this week at No. 76. Among MSU's non-conference opponents, two are in the top 60 -Cincinnati (31) and Tennessee (57).

• 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 ninth 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 eight 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.

• On Oct. 26, 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
• Molly Johnson was MSU's top offensive producer for the Spartans last weekend, averaging 2.4 kills and hitting .417.

• Johnson is contributing 1.61 kills, 0.72 blocks, and 0.49 digs, hitting.240 on the season.

• Meredith Norris is averaging 3.13 kills per set and ranks 12th in the B1G in aces per set (0.30). She's also contributing 2.07 digs per set as a six-rotation player, and is second on the team in that category.

• 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.

• Alyssa Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.42 kills per set, and adds 0.61 blocks and 0.45 digs per frame.

• 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.

• The Spartans have averaged a half a block better than their opponents through 22 matches (2.67-2.21). MSU has six players who average between 0.61 and 1.23 blocks per set, led Naya Gros (1.23) and Becka Poljan (1.07); Lauren Swartz is third with 0.85, Molly Johnson is at 0.72, and Chronowski is at 0.63. Freshman Emma Monks is averaging 0.82 in her limited action as well.

• Gros averaged 1.83 kills and 0.83 blocks per set last weekend, but has been playing on the outside instead of her natural position (middle blocker).

• Gros owns a .288 hitting percentage and ranks sixth in the Big Ten in blocks (1.23), which is 52nd among Division I players. She's also contributing 1.79 kills per set, good for fourth on the team.

• Poljan boasts a team-best .301 hitting percentage (15th, B1G,) and averages 1.81 kills per set, while ranking 14th in the Big Ten with 1.07 blocks per frame. She is fourth on the team with 12 aces (0.18 /s) and is adding 0.42 digs per set.

• Poljan had eight kills, hit .316 and added a block in Friday's match vs. Northwestern.

• Biamba Kabengele has twice been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week this season, (Sept. 26 and Oct. 23). The first-year player is averaging 2.23 and 0.54 digs kills per frame. She's also contributing 0.33 blocks per set. She led MSU with three blocks vs. Illinois.

• Freshman middle Emma Monks has played limited minutes, but has made the most of what time she has had in the rotation. She is averaging 1.18 kills, 0.82 blocks, 0.51 digs, and a .356 hitting percentage on the season.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 3.97 digs per frame, good for fifth in the Big Ten. Cox has posted double-digit dig efforts in 20 of the 22 matches this season. She had 10 and 16 at Northwestern and Illinois, respectively.

• Cox with 17 digs in MSU's match at Maryland (Oct. 5), she achieved 1,000 in her career. Now with 1,117 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 (3.74).

• 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, 4.91 and 4.82 assists per set, respectively.

• Shklyar ranks 15th in the Big Ten in assists per set (4.91), and is adding 1.25 digs and has also contributed 11 aces.

• Alford has 2,919 career assists over her three years at Oklahoma and this year at MSU. She is averaging 4.81 assists and 1.56 digs per frame.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.89 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS.

• 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.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Emma Monks

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz