Spartans Rally For Comeback Win Over Auburn, 3-1

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State opened the Western Michigan Tournament on Friday morning with a 3-1 win over Auburn.

Adjusting to a new lineup, the Spartans started a bit slow in the first, and fell to the Tigers by a 25-22 margin. The team rebounded, however, to hit .216 and .387 in the next two sets to go up 2-1 in the match, and closed it out with a third straight-set victory. MSU hit .256 in the match and held Auburn to .119, and each team finished with nine team blocks.

Freshman Biamba Kabengele had a career-best 15 kills in the win, hitting .303 with three digs and a block. Rebecka Poljan recorded 12 kills, hit .409, and added a team-best four blocks, and Alyssa Chronowski rounded out MSU's double-digit killers with 10, adding three blocks (two solo).

Tatum Shipes led her team with eight kills and four blocks, and Val Green and Enija Bidzane each had seven terminations.

MSU plays IUPUI at 5 pm to wrap up the day of action, and then takes on the host Broncos on Saturday

PLAYER HIGHS

Rebecka Poljan posted seven kills on 14 swings, hitting .500 and adding eight blocks.
Biamba Kabengele had 15 kills and hit .303, and also contributed three digs and a block.
Alyssa Chronowski had three blocks (two solo) to go along with 10 kills.

STATS & STORYLINES

MSU had 17 service errors, eclipsing the previous season high of 10 against both Cincinnati and Tennessee.
The Spartans lost the first set of a match for the first time this season.
Kabengele established a new career best with 15 kills. Her previous high was six against Indiana State (Sept. 6)
Jamye Cox had 17 digs and five assists, continuing her streak of eight games with double-digit digs to start the season.
Poljan hit .409, the second-highest percentage for a player this season with 12 or more kills. She hit .500 in her last match vs. North Carolina (7-0-14).
Molly Johnson had six kills and three blocks, hitting .500.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: MSU looked to set the tone early on a block and a kill by Poljan followed by an ace by Samantha McLean, which forced the Tigers into a very early timeout down 3-0. Auburn rallied back with a 9-2 run to tie the set at 10-10 then take a 13-10 lead, as MSU had five hitting errors and two more from the service line and the Tigers overcame their early hitting woes. The Tigers grew their lead to five (19-14), as miscues continued to hinder the Green & White and dropped its hitting percentage to -.045. A 6-0 run fueled by a kill and block from Johnson tied things up at 20's, and with the score knotted up at 22, the Tigers closed it out on a 3-0 run to take the opening frame 25-22. Kabengele had four kills in the opening set, and the Spartans had four others with two. Val Green led the Tigers with four terminations.
SET TWO: Tied at seven, MSU and Auburn traded runs – MSU on a four-point service run by Samantha McLean, followed by a four-point run for the Tigers to tie things up at 11 and again at 13. The Spartans went on a 12-4 run to finish off the set, knotting the match at one set each. Kabengele had five kills and a block in the set, and Poljan added four terminations and two blocks. Tatum Shipes had three of Auburn's seven kills, as the Tigers hit -.031 in the set (7-8-32). MSU countered wit 15-7-37 (.216) and had 14 digs, including five from Jamye Cox.

SET THREE: Down 4-1, MSU got a personal four-point run from Alyssa Chronowski (three kills and a solo block) to take a 5-4 lead, and extended it out to 13-10 by hitting .455 (7-2-11) compared to three kills against three errors for the Tigers. Kabengele's 10^th kill of the day – a joust at the net – allowed MSU a five-point cushion (16-11), After a Poljan kill gave MSU a six-point edge at 18-12, Auburn called its time out. After MSU took a 21-14 lead, the Tigers used a 3-0 to pull back within four at 21-17, but a kill out of an MSU time out by Swartz stopped the run. MSU closed it out 25-20 on a line shot by Chronowski, who ed MSU with five kills and a pair of solo blocks in the set. Poljan had four kills and Kabengele three, as MSU hit .387 (16-4-31). Enija Bidzane led the Tigers with four kills as AU hit .080 (8-6-25).

SET FOUR: The Spartans built an 8-4 lead and got some help pushing it out to six (11-5) on three straight errors by Auburn. MSU had its largest lead at 15-7, but the Tigers shed two points off that deficit on a block and a kill by Chelsey McClellan. Kills by Naya Gros and Chronowski made it 17-9, and the Tigers called time out to try to slow the Spartan offense. With MSU holding an 18-13 edge after a nasty line shot by Molly Johnson, Auburn was able to trim down the lead to three at 20-17 on a pair of kills and a block, then two at 22-20 with consecutive kills by Bidzane and McClellan. MSU closed it out on kills by Chronowski and Gros to take the set 25-22 and the match 3-1. Chronowski, Gros, and Kabengele each had three kills as MSU hit .226, and held off Auburn as it hit its match-best .308.

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Team Stats

Biamba Kabengele

Rebecka Poljan

Alyssa Chronowski

Naya Gros

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Rebecka Poljan

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Rebecka Poljan

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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Biamba Kabengele

Rebecka Poljan

Alyssa Chronowski

Naya Gros

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Samantha McLean

Rebecka Poljan