Big Ten Play Begins Wednesday at No. 5 Penn State

2019 Volleyball Week Five / Big Ten Week One:
MSU at No. 5 Penn State | Maryland at MSU
at Penn State	Wednesday, Sept. 25, 8 pm \| Rec Hall \| Tickets
	TV: FS1 \| Live Stats \| Webstream
vs. Maryland	Saturday, Sept. 28, 8 pm \| Jenison Field House \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
Facility	MSU Athletics No-Bag Policy
Ticket Promotions (Saturday)	Spartan Football: Show your MSU/IU football ticket stub for FREE Admission Four Seats, Four Treats
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (or download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| P enn State \| Maryland
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print

• MSU opens its Big Ten schedule this week, playing a road match at No. 5 Penn State on Wednesday before returning home to host Maryland on Saturday.

• Wednesday's match will air live on FS1 with Matt Janus and Jill Dorsey on the call.

• Saturday's match will have a live video webstream via BTN+. 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.

• MSU and Penn State's Wednesday meeting starts off the Big Ten season. The Nittany Lions have won nine straight in the series and owns a 46-7 mark in matches between the teams. Head coach Russ Rose is celebrating his 41st season on the Penn State sideline.

• Penn State enters Conference play with a 7-2 overall record, and earned a split with No. 4 Pitt last week in a home-and-home series.

• In last year's meeting of these teams, Penn State came into Jenison Field House and took a 3-0 win. Alyssa Chronowski had 10 kills and Naya Gros had eight blocks in the loss. Kaitlyn Hord and Taylor Leath both had nine kills, and Jonni Parker had eight kills and four blocks.

• The teams met just once a year ago, but will play twice in 2019. Penn State comes to MSU on Sunday, Oct. 20.

• Maryland journeys to East Lansing for a Saturday night matchup. The Spartans are a perfect 10-0 against the Terrapins all-time, which includes a 6-0 mark since the school joined the Big Ten Conference. The teams will also play again next week in College Park.

• Adam Hughes is in his second season as the head coach of the Terps, and has guided his charges to an 8-4 mark in non-conference play, which included a pair of sweeps after a tough five-set loss to the home team in the South Carolina Gamecock Invitational last weekend.

• MSU and Maryland played a five-setter last year in College Park, with the Spartans taking the victory behind 19 kills and seven blocks from Alyssa Chronowski. Erika Pritchard posted a match-best 24 kills and added three service aces.

Team Notes

• The Spartans wrapped up non-conference action with a league-best 9-1 record, and have won five straight matches entering league play.

• MSU was hindered with injuries last weekend, missing up to three starters as the squad downed Auburn (3-1), IUPUI (3-1) and Western Michigan (3-0). The Spartans were able to overcome early struggles in the first two matches to go 3-0 and capture their second non-conference tournament title of the season.

• 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.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.86 blocks per set - good for second in the Big Ten and 11th nationally.

• The Spartans have limited opponents to a .135 hitting percentage, which is tied for first in the Conference and fifth nationally with Nebraska. Offensively, MSU ranks in a tie for third in the league (28th nationally) in hitting percentage (.281).

• Just three of the 10 teams the Spartans faced in the non-conference schedule were able to post a .200 hitting percentage or better in the match, topped by Tennessee which hit .276 in a hard-fought five-set battle, (MSU's only loss of 2019). The other seven opponents all hit .159 or below, with four opponents hitting under .100.

• The Spartans hit a season-best .413 against Western Michigan, committing a season-low seven hitting errors.

• MSU delivered six double-digit blocking performances so far, its season best of 16 coming in the opener vs. Duke. MSU has had fewer blocks than its opponent in just two matches (Tennessee and Oakland), where the Spartans fell short by one block each.

• MSU dropped the first set to both Auburn and IUPUI last weekend, the first occasions this season that MSU did not win the opening set.

• In its six set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has scored 25, 20, 22, 23, 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. 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.

• 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 20, with three appearing in the top seven. Among non-conference opponents, both Tennessee and Cincinnati are now receiving votes, as are B1G foes Michigan and Indiana.

• MSU played 10 non-conference matches in 2019, the fewest non-league matches scheduled for the Spartans since 2005.

• 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.

• 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

• Naya Gros and Biamba Kabengele were named to the All-Tournament Team at the Delta Hotels Western Michigan Tournament. Kabengele was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the first such honor of her career.

• Kabengele played an expanded role in the WMU tournament with the injuries altering the Spartan lineup. She rose to the occasion, delivering 3.64 kills per set and hitting .333 over the three matches to earn a spot on the All-Tournament Team. She established a new career best with 15 kills against Auburn, then bettered the feat with 18 terminations later in the day vs. IUPUI. She added six digs and three blocks (two solo).

• Kabengele is averaging 2.65 kills per set and hitting .295 overall on the season. She has contributed seven blocks (two solo). Among first-year players in the Big Ten, she ranks third in hitting percentage, second in blocks per set, and fifth in blocks per frame (0.35).

• Gros was the MVP of the Western Michigan Tournament, averaging 1.45 blocks per set and hitting .408, contributing 2.27 kills per set. She tied her career best with 10 blocks vs. IUPUI, which included a career-best four solo stuffs.

• Among Big Ten leaders, Gros ranks eighth in hitting percentage (.373), and fifth in blocks (1.33).

• Molly Johnson posted 2.36 kills and 0.64 blocks per frame last weekend in the WMU tournament, hitting .340. Johnson had 10 kills against both IUPUI and Western Michigan. She's averaging 1.86 kills per set and hitting .296 on the year, averaging 0.64 blocks.

• Rebecka Poljan hit .471 in two matches of the WMU weekend, missing the match vs. IUPUI. She averaged 2.86 kills and 1.0 blocks per frame as recorded 12 kills, hit .409, and added a team-best four blocks vs. Auburn and returned vs. WMU to contribute eight kills, three blocks, a pair of aces, and led all players with a .583 hitting percentage (8-1-12).

• Poljan boasts a .342 hitting percentage (13th, B1G) and averages 1.88 kills per set, while ranking seventh in the Big Ten and second on the team with 1.25 blocks per frame.

• The Spartans have averaged a block better than their opponents through 10 matches (2.86-1.89). MSU has four players between 0.70 and 1.33 blocks per set, led by Gros and Poljan; Alyssa Chronowski is third with 0.75 and Lauren Swartz fourth (0.70). Gros leads the way with 11 solo blocks, Chronowski five, and Swartz three.

• Meredith Norris appeared only in the WMU match last weekend, but produced seven kills, an ace, and a block.

• Norris ranks 14th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.46), and second in aces per set (0.50), which falls 33rd nationally. She's also contributing 2.25 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.30 kills per frame to go with her 0.94 blocks. Last weekend vs. IUPUI, she established a new career high with 18 digs (bettering her previous high of five) and added five assists and five kills.

• Alyssa Chronowski appeared only against Auburn last weekend, and posted 10 kills and three blocks (two solo).

• Chronowski averages 2.57 kills per set, good for second on the team, and adds 0.75 blocks and 0.46 digs per set while hitting .276.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 4.14 digs per frame, good for fifth in the Big Ten. Cox has had double-digit dig efforts in each of the 10 matches this season, including 28 vs. Duke in the season opener - one shy of her career best.

• Cox has 955 career digs, and needs 166 to climb into MSU's all-time career top 10 in that category,

• Cox had 17 digs and a season-best five assists in the WMU Tournament opener vs. Auburn.

• The Spartans run a 6-2 offense, with senior Maggie Midgette, sophomore Elena Shklyar and graduate transfer Audrey Alford. They average 4.73, 4.76, and 4.86 assists per set, respectively.

• Midgette played 10 of the 11 sets last weekend, and averaged 5.80 assists per set, and added five blocks and 12 digs (1.20 per set). She had all five blocks against IUPUI, which was a new career best. She had 21 assists vs. the Jaguars, and 20 in the finale against WMU.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.56 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS. Lauryn Gibbs saw time in all three matches last weekend, and averaged 1.22 per frame and is averaging 1.36 per set on the year.

• Freshman Emma Monks made her collegiate debut on Saturday against IUPUI, and posted four kills (on six swings without an error), three digs, an ace, and a block.

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