Opening Weekend Sends Spartans to Minneapolis

Saturday, January 23

Minneapolis, MN

5 pm ET/4 pm CT

Michigan State University

Minnesota

1/21/2021 12:28:00 PM | Volleyball

**Spring 2021 Spartan Volleyball Week One**
Michigan State at No. 7 Minnesota
Dates	Saturday, January 23, 2021 - 5 pm ET/4 pm CT
	Sunday, January 24, 2021 - 4 pm ET/3 pm CT
Facility	Maturi Pavilion, Minneapolis, Minn.
Radio	none
Television	none
Webstream	Saturday (BTN+) Sunday (BTN+)
Live Statistics	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Minnesota
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram
Coverage	Watch this week's Coach George Press Conference

The Fine Print:

• MSU starts off the spring 2021 season with a trip to Minnesota for a two-match series.

• The spring 2021 volleyball schedule in the Big Ten conference will consist of 10, two-match weekend series and one home-and-home series with its travel partner. Each team will play 22 Conference matches, and no matches against non-conference teams. Michigan State will not play No. 5 Nebraska or Indiana in spring 2021.

• Both matches will have a live video webstream via BTN+.

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Media Network. The Spartan Media Network broadcasts begin on January 28 at home against Michigan, and all games will be carried with the exception of Minnesota, Maryland, and Iowa.

• Minnesota advanced to the Final Four a year ago, compiling a 27-6 overall record overall and went 17-3 in Big Ten play, The Golden Gophers earned the No. 7 ranking in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) spring preseason poll, and also secured the top-ranked recruiting class for 2020.

• Hugh McCutcheon is beginning his ninth season at the helm of the Gopher program in 2021. He has guided his program to three Final Four appearances in the last five seasons.

• MSU trails the all-time series against Minnesota by a 19-56 margin. Three of the last six meetings between the teams have gone five sets, dating back to 2016. MSU last won in Minneapolis in 2017, a 3-0 sweep. That match was also played in the first weekend of the Big Ten season.

• In 2019, Minnesota earned a 3-1 win over MSU at Jenison Field House.   A slow start by MSU led to a 15-5 edge for the visitors in the first set, but MSU righted the ship and made a late charge that allowed them to pull within three at 24-21, four times fending off set point before falling 25-21. The second set featured 14 tie scores and six lead changes as the Gophers scored the final six points to turn a 21-19 deficit into a 2-0 match lead with the 25-20 win.
    The third set was as wild an affair with 11 ties and two lead changes, as MSU gutted out a 28-26 victory. The Spartans fell behind by as many as 10 points in the fourth before battling back within three at 21-18, but the Gophers managed to close it out.
   MSU got a balanced attack from its lineup, led by Alyssa Chronowski's 12 kills and four blocks (to solo). Rebecka Poljan had 11 kills and hit .381, and freshman Biamba Kabengele finished with 10 kills and two blocks.
    For the visitors, middle Regan Pittman led her squad with 19 kills and added five blocks, hitting .484. Alexis Hart had 10 kills and four digs, while Taylor Morgan had six blocks (four solo) and added seven kills, hitting .375.
The Gophers held slight leads in blocks (12-10) and hitting percentage (.207-173), but MSU held the edge in both kills (55-49) and digs (50-45). Minnesota racked up 11 service aces against five errors, while MSU had three aces and eight errors.

Team Notes:
• Michigan State owned a 15-15 record in 2019, but returns a seasoned squad with 12 returning letterwinners. Its nine top kill producers all return, as do starters at all seven positions.

• With a 15-15 record, 12 of MSU's 15 losses came to teams in the AVCA top-25 or receiving votes at the time of the match: No. 5 and No. 8 Penn State, No. 5 and No. 6 Nebraska, No. 6 and No. 7 Wisconsin, No. 7 Minnesota, No. 16 Purdue, No. 19 Illinois, No. 21 Tennessee, and [RV] and No. 23 Michigan. Seven of the 15 losses were to teams ranked in the top eight at the time of the match.

• The Spartans averaged 2.63 blocks per set which ranked third the Big Ten and 22nd nationally. MSU's 289 total blocks ranked fifth in the B1G and 34th in Division I.

• MSU limited opponents to a .183 hitting percentage a year ago, which ranked third in the Big Ten.

• MSU is not in the AVCA Pre-Season National Poll. Six teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 25, with Wisconsin (1), Nebraska (5), Minnesota (7) and Penn State (9) taking up residence in the top 10. Purdue (13), Michigan (24) round out the top 25 appearances for B1G schools.

• 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.

• MSU ranked ninth in total attendance among Division I institutions in 2019, welcoming 46,510 fans through the turnstiles, The Spartans also finished seventh in average attendance in 2019, with 3,101 per match.

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the season with 600+ career wins (653), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,299), Nebraska's John Cook (749), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (638). She ranks 13th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 653-427 overall record. She also ranks in the top 80 all-time in head coaching victories.

Player Notes:
• Senior Alyssa Chronowski played 83 of 110 sets a year ago, averaging 2.22 kills, 0.55 blocks, and 0.45 digs per frame, hitting .192. She was third on the team with a 2.58 points per set average.

• Chronowski averages 2.64 kills per set over her three-year career, and 0.59 blocks per set.

• Senior libero Jamye Cox has been the MSU starter since her freshman year of 2017. As a junior, she was fourth in the Big Ten with 4.06 digs per set over 28 matches (100 sets). She also averaged 0.70 assists per set and added 19 service aces.

• Cox's 4.06 digs per set average in 2019 ranked ninth in MSU's single-season recordbook. In her career, her 1,213 digs ranks eighth all-time in the Spartan annals, while her 3.78 digs per set ranks fourth. Her 1,213 career digs places her 16th among active Division I players.

• Cox was MSU's digs leader in all but four matches last season, with double-digit totals in 26 of 28 contests. Her season best of 28 digs came at Michigan, one shy of her career-high total of 29.

• Senior middle Julia Hatcher has fought through injury the last two seasons, and hopes to see more action in her final collegiate season. She appeared in just four matches last season (all non-conference) before missing the remainder of the year.

• Meredith Norris is a six-rotation player for the Spartans, and a year ago averaged a team-best 2.67 kills and 0.25 aces per frame to go with 2.00 digs and 0.44 blocks.

• Norris missed a double-double on five occasions last season where she had double-digit kills and nine digs. She had two of MSU's five double-doubles and 11 matches with nine or more digs.

• Lauren Swartz averaged 1.40 kills per frame in 2019 to go with her 0.75 blocks and 0.61 digs per set.

• Lauryn Gibbs started two of her 19 matches a year ago at libero and has shown in pre-season that she intends to make a bid for more playing time in 2021. Gibbs played the final 10 sets of the year at libero, in which she averaged 4.3 digs and 0.90 assists per frame. Overall, she averaged 1.76 digs and 0.40 assists per set, and added five aces on the season.

• Naya Gros was the only player to appear in all 110 sets and one of just three to appear in all 30 matches for MSU in 2019. She averaged 1.23 blocks per set (which ranked seventh in the B1G and 53rd nationally), and added 1.72 kills and hit .282.

• Gros' career average of 1.21 blocks per set is on par with the career average of two-time All-American Alyssa Garvelink, who averaged 1.21 blocks per set from 2014-17. Gros' 240 career block assists is about 80 shy of getting her into MSU's all-time top 10 in that category, and her 278 career blocks is just over 100 away from joining the all-time list.

• Molly Johnson appeared in 29 of 30 matches as a sophomore (101 of 110 sets). She contributed an average of 1.64 kills, 0.43 digs, and 0.65 blocks per set , hitting .234 (tops among MSU's outsides).

• Rebecka Poljan appeared in 23 matches (77 sets) a year ago, missing significant time with injury. She averaged 1.08 blocks per set, which ranked second on the team and 13th in the Big Ten. She added 1.81 kills per frame wth a team-best .283 hitting percentage.

• Last year, the Spartans ran a 6-2 offense, utilizing three setters throughout the year. Two have graduated, with junior Elena Shklyar returning. She appeared in 28 matches (77 sets) on the year and averaged 4.65 assists (14th B1G), adding 1.23 digs per frame. She also contributed 13 service aces on the season.

• Redshirt sophomore Talia Edmonds returns to the rotation after missing all of the 2019 season with an injury. She saw action in 56 sets over 19 matches as a freshman in 2018, when she averaged 0.30 digs and added seven service aces on the year.

• Biamba Kabengele played in 23 matches and 70 sets in 2019, including 16 of 20 Big Ten contests when she earned a larger role as the Conference season wore on. She averaged 2.43 kills (second on the team) and hit .201, adding 0.59 digs and 0.37 blocks per set.

• Kabengele posted double-digit kill totals in each of the last four matches of the 2019 season, and was MSU's leader in five of the final seven.

• Cecilee Max-Brown is a transfer to MSU from Oregon State. She missed considerable time to injury during her freshman year in 2019, when she played in 11 matches and 38 sets, making eight starts. She finished the season with 111 kills and averaging 2.92 kills/set – second on her team.

• Emma Monks appeared in 14 matches for MSU in 2019, earning more playing time as the season wore on and starting three of the final four matches of the season. Overall on the year, she hit .355, contributing 0.75 blocks and 1.32 kills per set. Her seven solo blocks was fourth on the team.

• Four freshmen have joined the Spartans for the spring 2021 campaign. This class was the No. 13 ranked class among the fall 2020 group in Division I volleyball.

• MSU welcomed freshman setter Celia Cullen to campus in January 2020, and she spent about six weeks training with the team before the spring semester was cut short. Cullen was a 2019 Michigan Miss Volleyball finalist and was the No. 24 Senior Ace (No. 6 among setters) in the class of 2020.

• Freshman Sarah Franklin was the No. 29 Senior Ace in the Class of 2020, and earned five varsity letters in volleyball as a prep player and surpassed 2,000 kills in her high school career.

• Lia Moore missed most of her junior high school season and subsequent club campaign due to injury. She is the most recent Spartan to come to East Lansing through the Chicagoland area.

• Grace Danziger accelerated her high school graduation and joined MSU in January 2021. Due to NCAA rules, she is not eligible to compete in the spring semester.