MSU Hosts Oakland, UNC in Split Week

**2019 Volleyball Week Three: MSU vs. Oakland, North Carolina**
Dates	Thursday, Sept. 12 vs. Oakland, 7 pm
	Sunday, Sept. 15 vs. North Carolina, 1 pm
Facility	Jenison Field House \| MSU Athletics No-Bag Policy
Tickets	Spartan Ticket Office Thursday: Family Four Pack Sunday: Four Seats, Four Treats
Webstreams	vs. Oakland \| vs. North Carolina
Live Statistics	Follow along here
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Oakland \| North Carolina
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Parking	Fans are reminded that the Jenison Field House lot fills quickly. Consider using Kellogg Center, IM West, or Breslin Center.
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print

• MSU hosts a pair of non-conference matches this week, rekindling an in-state rivalry with Oakland on Thursday and then a matinee match on Sunday vs. North Carolina.

• 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.

• Oakland is 4-3 on the year, and coming off a five-set loss in a Tuesday night matchup with Bowling Green. Jamie Walling leads the Golden Grizzlies with a .377 hitting percentage and a 4.07 kills per set average, and also averages 1.36 digs and 0.71 blocks. Western Kentucky transfer Taylor Dellinger is averaging 3.65 kills per frame, and libero Lindsay Wightman is contributing 3.96 digs per set.

• Rob Beam is in his 13th season at the helm of the Oakland Volleyball program.

• North Carolina head coach Joe Sagula recently earned his 600th career victory as the head coach of the Tar Heels, a 3-1 win at UC-Irvine. He owns more than 800 victories in 39 seasons as a head coach overall.

• UNC will play Miami (a guest at last weekend's Spartan Invitational) on Thursday at Oakland before coming to East Lansing for a Sunday matinee.

• The Tar Heels come into the weekend with a 1-4 overall record, opening with a pair of losses to Big Ten foes Minnesota and Wisconsin, then dropping two matches last weekend at UC-Irvine: to Cal and a five-set heartbreaker to UNLV.

• Skylar Wine and Destiny Cox lead the Tar Heel attack with 3.00 and 2.47 kills per set, respectively. UNC is hitting just .189 as a team through the first five matches of the season, compared to .323 for their opponents; UNC is, however, outblocking its opponents 2.08-1.53.

Team Notes
• The Spartans are 4-1 after the Spartan Invitational last weekend. MSU downed both Indiana State and (RV) Cincinnati before falling in a five-set heartbreaker to No. 21 Tennessee.

• The Saturday loss to Tennessee was MSU's first loss to a non-conference opponent at home since December of 2016 in the NCAA Tournament (Arizona). Tennessee was also the team that dealt MSU its last non-conference loss, a 3-1 decision in Knoxville in the 2018 season opener for both teams.

• MSU has gone 136-27 (.835) 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.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.95 blocks per set - good for second in the Big Ten and 12th nationally.

• The Spartans have limited opponents to a .149 hitting percentage, which is third in the Conference. Offensively, MSU ranks sixth in hitting percentage (.276).

• MSU has delivered four double-digit blocking performances in the first five matches. MSU established its season best of 16 in the opener vs. Duke, and four solo blocks in each of the last two matches vs. Cincinnati and Tennessee.

• The Spartans had nine service aces in the 3-0 sweep of Indiana State. MSU had 10 service errors, however, in each of its last two matches.

• The first set against Indiana State (a 25-9 MSU victory) was the largest margin of victory in a set this season.

• In its four set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has scored 25, 20, 22, and 23 points. The fifth-set loss to Tennessee was by an 11-15 score.

• The Spartans return 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.

• The Spartans were selected ninth in the pre-season Big Ten coaches poll, which was announced on Aug. 19. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Penn State, and Illinois are the top five. Purdue (6), Michigan (7), and Ohio State (8) are also in front of the Spartans, while Maryland, Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa, and Rutgers are in spots 10-14.

• MSU is not currently in the AVCA National Poll. Seven teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 25, with four appearing in the top nine. Among non-conference opponents, both Tennessee and Cincinnati are now receiving votes.

• MSU will play 10 non-conference matches in 2019, the fewest non-league matches scheduled for the Spartans since 2005. In 2017, MSU only played nine matches before the start of the B1G schedule, but that was due to Hurricane Irma forcing the cancellation of a tournament at Florida, wiping out three matches.

• MSU ranked eighth nationally in 2018 in average attendance, welcoming an average of 3,069 patrons to Jenison Field House per match. It was MSU's fourth straight season in the national top 10 for average attendance, and 11th consecutive in the top 20. Meanwhile, the Spartans finished 12th in overall attendance (39.901), the 11th season that MSU has finished 16th in that category or higher.

• MSU welcomed a new associate head coach in the off-season, bringing Kimi Olson to East Lansing after four seasons as the head coach at Eastern Michigan. Jesse Ortiz is in his third season on the Spartan sideline, and Vlad Frenc joins the staff in 2019 as the volunteer assistant.

• 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.

• 2018 was a learning year for MSU, which fielded the youngest team in the Big Ten after graduating seven seniors (all starters) from its 2017 Elite Eight squad. The team was essentially all first-year Big Ten players a year ago, the staff was encouraged by the consistent improvement from game to game and knows that a more seasoned squad is starting the 2019 campaign.

• 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.

Player Notes

• Meredith Norris and Rebecka Poljan were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational.

• Norris earned All-Tournament Team honors for the second consecutive week, averaging 2.92 kills and 2.0 digs per set in the three home matches, including 17 in the finale against Tennessee. She delivered three aces against both Indiana State and Tennessee to tie her career high, and had a total of eight on the weekend.

• Norris posted a double-double of 13 kills and 10 digs in the win over Cincinnati. It was the team's second double-double of the season, after Audrey Alford's against College of Charleston.

• Norris ranks ninth in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.89), and fourth in aces per set (0.53). She's also contributing 2.21 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Poljan hit .486 on the weekend and averaged 2.00 kills and 1.0 blocks per frame and was second on the team with 31 points. She hit a career-best .600 with 10 kills in the match against Indiana State.

• Poljan boasts a team-best .322 hitting percentage and averages 1.63 kills per set, while ranking 12th in the Big Ten and second on the team with 1.21 blocks per frame.

• The Spartans have averaged a block better than their opponents through five matches (2.95-1.95). MSU has four players between 0.82 and 1.26 blocks per set, led by sophomore MB Naya Gros. She ranks seventh in the Big Ten with 1.26 blocks per frame. Poljan ranks second, Lauren Swartz third (0.94) ,and Alyssa Chronowski with a 1.83 blocks per set average. Gros leads the way with five solo blocks, Chronowkski three, and Swartz two.

• Gros led the Spartans with a .531 hitting percentage in the Spartan Invitational, led by a .615 (8-2-232) effort vs. Cincinnati. She's contributing 1.21 kills per set and is hitting .291 on the season.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.25 kills per frame to go with her 0.94 blocks.

• Alyssa Chronowski posted 2.36 kills and 0.64 blocks per set in the Spartan Invitational. She tied her season best with six blocks vs. Tennessee, which included three solo stuffs. She also established a season-best .545 hitting percentage against Indiana State, with six kills on 11 swings without an error.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averaged 3.5 digs per frame over three matches last weekend, and on the year averages 4.63 per set, good for third in the Big Ten. Cox has had double-digit dig efforts in each of the five matches this season, including 28 vs. Duke in the season opener - one shy of her career best.

• The Spartans run a 6-2 offense with setters Elena Shklyar and graduate transfer Audrey Alford. The duo averages 4.95 and 5.16 assists per set, respectively, and each has five service aces.

• Alford posted a double-double against College of Charleston with 15 assists and 10 digs. She had her season best of 26 assists vs. Tennessee, and added seven digs.

• Shklyar served up a pair of aces in the Cincinnati match, and had 15, 20, and 24 assists over the three contests in the Spartan Invitational.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean recorded 14 digs against Duke, establishing a new career best. She's averaging 1.94 digs/s on the season.

• Molly Johnson posted 1.67 kills and 0.57 blocks per frame last weekend in MSU's home tournament, and is averaging 1.57 kills, hitting .271, and contributing 0.63 blocks per set.

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele played in two of three matches last weekend. She averaged 2.20 kills and hit .333, delivering six kills vs. Indiana State and five more vs. Tennessee.

• MB Julia Hatcher appeared in just 20 sets in 2018 before she was forced to miss the remainder of the season with injury. She made her 2019 debut against the College of Charleston.

• Sophomore DS Lauryn Gibbs has appeared in three of MSU's five matches, and is averaging 1.39 digs per frame.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Julia Hatcher

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz