Volleyball Opens 2019 With 3-1 Win Over Duke

Friday, August 30

Charleston, S.C.

4:30 PM ET

Michigan State University

1-0

Duke

0-1

Michigan State

Duke

Michigan State Athletics Announces Kristen Kelsay Contract Extension

Monday, December 29

Kulig Named CSC Academic All-District

Tuesday, December 16

Staniszewska Earns AVCA All-North Region Honors

Tuesday, December 09

Karolina Staniszewska Named Second Team All-Big Ten

Tuesday, December 02

Next Event

College of Charleston

W, 3-0

Aug 31 (Sat)

7 PM ET

Box Score Recap PDF Box Watch Preview Live Stats History

Full Schedule

Team Stats

MSU

Kills

Errors

Attempts

152

170

Hitting %

.204

.147

Points

71.0

Assists

Aces

Blocks

16.0

12.0

8/30/2019 7:10:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Norris Paces MSU With Career-Best Effort

GAME CAPSULE
Michigan State opened the 2019 season with a 3-1 victory over Duke at the College of Charleston Classic on Friday. Meredith Norris went off for a career-best 23 kills and added nine digs and three blocks.

The Spartans took a 2-0 lead after a scrappy first set and relatively easier second frame, but squandered match point in the third to send it to a fourth set against the Blue Devils. MSU hit .204 on the night with 16 team blocks, including a match-best nine from sophomore Naya Gros.

MSU had a pair of double-digit kill compilers with Alyssa Chronowski posting 11. Duke also had two – Ade Owokoniran had 20 terminations and eight digs, while Payton Schwantz had 13. Lily Cooper led the Blue Devils with seven blocks.

MSU hit .204 on the night, limiting Duke to .147 (including a match-low .087 in the fourth set). Duke had 55 kills to MSU's 51, and took 170 swings to 152 for the Spartans. Duke also had more digs (73-71), but the Spartans out-blocked their opponent 16-12.

MSU will take on host College of Charleston on Saturday (7 pm) to conclude the opening weekend.

PLAYER HIGHS

Meredith Norris compiled a career-best 23 kills against just two errors (.429) and just missed a double-double with nine digs and added three blocks.
Alyssa Chronowski posted 11 kills and added six blocks.
Naya Gros had nine of MSU's 16 blocks (two solo).

STATS & STORYLINES

Jamye Cox just missed her career best with 28 digs. Her career high of 29 was set last year in the opening weekend vs. Belmont.
Samantha McLean had a career-best 14 digs.
Audrey Alford made her Spartan debut to the tune of 19 assists and six digs as the Spartans ran a 6-2 with Elena Shklyar (27 assists, six digs).
Three players were one shy of tying their career bests in blocks: Alyssa Chronowski had six, Gros nine, and Rebecka Poljan seven.
MSU's 16 blocks was two shy of its 2018 season-best of 18 in a match (at home vs. Ohio State), but a higher total than the rest of the games last season.

SET RECAPS

SET ONE: The teams traded points to get to 6-6 with a couple of lengthy rallies, but then Duke used a 5-1 run to pull ahead 11-7, forcing the Spartans into a time out. Meredith Norris posted her fourth kill of the day on a cross-court shot out of the time out, and Naya Gros followed with a solo block to cut it down to two points. Gros capped a 6-1 MSU rally with her third block of the set to pull the Spartans ahead 13-12, forcing the Blue Devil into a time out to regroup. Tied t 18-all, a tip by Molly Johnson, an ace by Becka Poljan, and a Blue Devil miscue put the Spartans up three, and Duke called its second time out facing a 21-18 deficit. MSU closed out the set on a 5-2 run, capped with back-to-back blocks by Gros to push her match total to five. Meredith Norris led all scorers with six kills.

SET TWO: MSU continued its run into the second set, pulling ahead 7-3 and keeping its foot on the gas to use a 5-0 run to make it 17-7, as Norris became the go-to weapon and knocked down three straight kills and forced the Blue Devils into a time out. Duke charged back into it with a 6-2 run, and pulled within five at 20-15, but the rest of the set belonged to MSU, as the Spartans closed out the set with a 5-1 run, capped with a Poljan kill to win the set 25-16.

SET THREE: The Spartans fell behind 6-1 early in the third set, but the Spartans weathered the storm. Norris picked up consecutive kills to bring MSU within two (and establishing a new career best in kills) at 8-6, but a pair of miscues allowed the Blue Devils to pull back ahead by four, 11-7. MSU trimmed it to three, 15-12, but then got another termination from Norris and a Duke error to climb within a point at 15-14, and Duke called a time out to try to stem the momentum building on the other side of the court. The Spartans took their first lead and went up two at 19-17, but Duke countered with a 3-0 run to retake the lead. MSU countered the counter, and used a kill and a block by Alyssa Chronowski to pull ahead 23-22, and Duke called its second time out. A big swing by Ade Owokoniran and a bock by Camille Nazor and Lily Cooper got Duke to set point at 24-23, but Chronowski answered the bell with back-to-back kills to give the Spartans match point, 25-24. Duke fended it off and took the set by scoring the next three to cut the lead to 2-1 for MSU. Norris had seven kills in the frame.

SET FOUR: Set four fluctuated between one and two point leads for the Blue Devils, and with the Spartans down 15-14, they went on a 3-0 run to take a 16-15 lead on a block by Poljan and Chronowski. MSU pulled ahead by three (20-17) which forced Duke to call its second time out of the set, and the teams traded errors out of the hiatus. With the Spartans leading 23-19, the Blue Devils got a kill from Owokoniran and a block by Cooper and Lauren Cline to pull within a pair, and the Spartans took their time out to regroup. A hitting error by Owokoniran got the Spartans to match point, but the Blue Devils fended it off once before Molly Johnson ended it with a big swing from the right side.

Michigan State Athletics Announces Kristen Kelsay Contract Extension

Monday, December 29

Kulig Named CSC Academic All-District

Tuesday, December 16

Staniszewska Earns AVCA All-North Region Honors

Tuesday, December 09

Karolina Staniszewska Named Second Team All-Big Ten

Tuesday, December 02

Next Event

Team Stats

Meredith Norris

Alyssa Chronowski

Lauren Swartz

Molly Johnson

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Samantha McLean

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar