Final Non-Conference Matches On Tap in Kalamazoo

**2019 Volleyball Week Four:**
***Delta Hotel by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center Tournament***
Dates/Times	Friday, Sept. 20 vs. Auburn, 10 am
	Friday, Sept. 20 vs. IUPUI, 5 pm
	Saturday, Sept. 21 vs. Western Michigan, 5 pm
Location	Kalamazoo, Mich.; Read Fieldhouse/University Arena Directions/ Parking \| Tickets
Webstream	vs. Western Michigan only; Click Here
Live Statistics	Follow along here
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| A uburn \| I UPUI \| Western Michigan
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print

• MSU completes non-conference play this weekend in Kalamazoo, taking on Auburn, IUPUI, and host Western Michigan in the Delta Hotel by Marriott Kalamazoo Conference Center Tournament.

• Only the MSU-WMU match will have a video webstream. Visit MSUSpartans.com for direct links to video and live statistics.

• 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.

• Auburn is 4-4 on the season, and had a three-game winning streak snapped with a Sunday five-set loss to TCU. Enija Bidzane is leading the way with 3.03 kills per set, while Shania White is producing 0.91 blocks per frame to go with 1.29 kills. Libero Payton White is averaging 4.14 digs per frame.

• Rick Nold is in his ninth season at the helm of the Auburn volleyball program. These two teams last met in 2017 at Georgia Tech, a 3-0 MSU victory. The Spartans lead the all-time series by a 3-0 margin.

• IUPUI is coming off a tough loss on Tuesday evening to Indiana State, its second straight loss after a three-match winning streak. The Jaguars are now 4-6 on the season, and are led offensively by McKayla Wright (3.36 K/s, 2.64 D/s) and Hannah Oehlberg (3.0 K/s, 4.26 D/s). Haley Hoffman has averaged 1.16 blocks per frame.

• MSU leads the all-time series with the Jaguars 2-0, the last meeting a 3-0 Spartan sweep in 2015. Lindsey Froehlich is in her first season as the head coach after serving on the staff as an assistant since 2015.

• Cathy George spent 11 seasons (1994-2004) as the head coach at Western Michigan before coming to MSU. It will be George's first trip back to Kalamazoo as the MSU head coach, the two teams played last year for the first time since George was patrolling the WMU sideline (a 3-1 MSU victory). MSU leads the all-time series, 3-2.

• WMU head coach Colleen Munson is in her 14th season at the helm of the program. She was an assistant to George at WMU before spending five years at East Carolina, and played for George as an undergrad at Texas-Arlington.

• The host Broncos are 8-1 on the season, dropping its last match to Milwaukee (3-0) after starting the year on an impressive winning streak. Rachel Bontrager is hitting .314, contributing 3.73 kills and 0.62 blocks per set, and adding 2.22 digs. Janell Williams is the tean's blocks leader (0.97 per set), and Maggie King is adding 3.08 kills and 1.92 digs per frame.
Team Notes:

Team Notes
• The Spartans are 6-1 after a pair of home sweeps last week against Oakland and North Carolina.

• MSU has gone 138-27 (.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 2.96 blocks per set - good for second (behind Purdue, 3.15) in the Big Ten and 12th nationally.

• MSU has delivered five double-digit blocking performances in the first seven matches. MSU established its season best of 16 in the opener vs. Duke, and had 12 blocks aginst both Cincinnati and North Carolina. MSU has out-blocked its opponent five times as well, falling short against both Tennessee and Oakland by one block in each match.

• The Spartans have averaged nearly a full block better than their opponents through seven matches (2.96-2.00).

• The Spartans have limited opponents to a .143 hitting percentage, which is fifth in the Conference. MSU has held two opponents under .100 and five of seven below .200. Tennessee (.276) is the only team to hit better than .206 vs. MSU this season.

• Offensively, MSU ranks fifth in the B1G in hitting percentage (.270), and has hit better than .300 twice. MSU's lowest hitting percentage of the season came in the opener vs. Duke (.204).

• MSU is sixth in service aces (1.44) among Big Ten squads. Maryland leads the pack with 2.07 per frame.

• 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. Six 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, as are B1G foes Michigan and Indiana.

• MSU complete its slate of 10 non-conference matches this weekend, 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 which wiped 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.
   Through three weekends, the Spartans are ninth in total attendance (9,769) and 11th in average attendance (2,442)

• 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
• MSU continues to see different players stepping up with big performances, getting contributions from all over the court.

• Alyssa Chronowski put up back-to-back double-digit kill efforts as MSU swept both its opponents at home. She posted a combined .326 hitting percentage and 0.5 blocks per set, tying for the team lead in points on the week.

• Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.57 kills per set, and adds 0.75 blocks and 0.46 digs, hitting .312.

• Meredith Norris established a new career best with five blocks against North Carolina, adding five kills and nine digs vs. the Tar Heels. Earlier in the week, she led MSU with 11 kills and added two blocks and nine digs vs. Oakland.

• Norris has had eight or more digs in six of seven games. She has four matches with nine digs, and in three of them would have had a double-double with one more. She had the Spartans' first double-double of the season vs. Cincinnatti (13 kills, 10 digs) on Sept. 6.

• Norris ranks 13th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.60), and third in aces per set (0.52). She's also contributing 2.40 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• MSU is one of two schools to have two players ranked among the top 15 in the B1G in blocking - Rebecka Poljan ranks seventh (1.32/s) and Naya Gros ninth (1.28). Wisconsin's duo of Dana Rettke and Danielle Hart are sixth and 10th.

• Poljan tied her career best with eight blocks and established a career high in block assists (8) while hitting .500 (7-0-14) in the win over North Carolina, and also had a pair of kills and two blocks in a sweep of Oakland. Poljan averaged 1.67 blocks per set on the week, adding two service aces.

• Poljan is hitting .291 and averages 1.60 kills per set, and leads the squad with her 1.32 blocks per set. She's also averaged 0.48 digs per frame through the first three weeks.

• Gros led the Spartans with a .715 hitting percentage (10-0-14) and added four blocks in a sweep of Oakland last Thursday, and followed that up with three kills four blocks (one solo) against UNC on Sunday. She leads the Spartans with six solo blocks.

• Gros is ninth in the Big Ten with 1.28 blocks per frame, and her hitting percentage of .351 leads the team (36-9-77). With fewer than 3.33 attempts per set, she does not appear in the Big Ten rankings, but she would rank 10th.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.32 kills per frame to go with her 0.84 blocks. She had five kills in the most recent match against North Carolina.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averaged 3.5 digs per frame over MSU's five-match homestand, and has posted double-digit dig efforts in each of the seven matches this season. She is averaging 4.36 per set - good for third in the B1G. She also had a season-best five assists vs. UNC, and averages 0.88 assists per frame.

• The Spartans run a 6-2 offense with setters Elena Shklyar and graduate transfer Audrey Alford. The duo averages 4.79 and 5.04 assists per set, respectively, and each has five service aces.

• Senior setter Maggie Midgette played the final two sets of the UNC match, compiling 11 assists and adding a pair of digs.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean recorded 14 digs in the opener vs. Duke, establishing a new career best. She's averaging 1.70 digs/s on the season.

• Molly Johnson posted 1.83 kills and 0.67 blocks per frame last week in MSU's two home sweeps, and is averaging 1.64 kills, hitting .273, and contributing 0.64 blocks per set.

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele played in two of three matches at the Spartan Invitational. She is averaging 1.44 kills and 0.44 blocks per set..

• 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.

• Bella Legarza saw action against Oakland last week, and has appeared in a pair of matches.

• Talia Edmonds will miss at least the entire pre-conference portion of the schedule.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Audrey Alford

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Talia Edmonds

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Maddie Haggerty

Julia Hatcher

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Bella Legarza

Samantha McLean

Maggie Midgette

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz