Spartans Fall 3-0 at No. 7 Minnesota

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State fell to 2-0 on the young season with a 3-0 loss at No. 7 Minnesota on Saturday. Minnesota took both ends of the season-opening series for both teams.

The Spartans were within two and three points of their hosts in the first two sets, (24-26, 22-25), but struggled with some unforced errors on the day that really became troublesome in the final frame, when Minnesota sealed the sweep with a 25-12 victory. MSU held the Gophers to a .189 hitting percentage after the home team hit over .300 in the first matchup on Saturday.

Sarah Franklin led MSU in kills for the second straight match, posting 10 terminations, hitting .179 and adding eight digs. Emma Monks added six kills, led MSU with a .357 hitting percentage, and shared the team lead with three blocks on the day. Sophomore transfer Cecilee Max-Brown also had six kills and added four digs, and senior Jamye Cox had 14 digs, her first double-digit effort this season.

Minnesota senior Stephanie Samedy led her squad with 14 kills, eight digs, and six blocks, while Adanna Rollins had nine kills, led her team with a .261 hitting percentage and added six digs.

Michigan State will have a bye week upcoming due to the pause by Michigan Athletics, and is scheduled to be back in action on Feb. 5-6 against Ohio State at Jenison Field House.

PLAYER HIGHS

Sarah Franklin had 10 kills and 8 digs, going for double-digit kills in each of her first two collegiate games.
Emma Monks had six kills, hit .357 and shared the team lead with three blocks.
Cecile Max-Brown had her Spartan high of six kills and added four digs.
Jamye Cox had her first double-digit dig game of the season (14).

STATS & STORYLINES

Minnesota out-blocked its guests 8-6 in the match, after holding an 8-1 edge in the Saturday matchup.
MSU had nine service errors and 21 attacking errors on the day, hitting .111.
Cullen and Franklin were the two Spartan freshman who saw their first action, while Oregon State transfer Cecilee Max-Brown came off the bench to record three kills on four swings in the second and third sets.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Minnesota jumped out to a big 8-3 lead with a pair of blocks, but the Spartans came back on a service run by Elena Shklyar to pull within a point at 8-7. A run of kills from Norris, Monks, and Swartz followed by a block put MSU up 12-11, MSU took its first two=point ege at 19-17 after a tie game swung towards MSU on a Monks kill and block by Swartz and Gros. A Gopher error allowed MSU to win the race to 20, but Minnesota tied it back up on a fortuitous serve off the tape fell for an ace and an error by the Spartans. MSU took a 23-21 lead on a Swartz kill, but after a time out the Gophers came out with three straight points as Stephanie Samedy took over. Trailing 24-23, Cecilee Max-Brown came in off the bench and delivered a kill to tie it up, but a service error gave the lead back to Minnesota. Samedy polished it off with her sixth kill of the set to secure the first frame, 26-24. Samedy led all players with her six kills and five digs, while Emma Monks was the Spartan leader with three kills and three blocks. MSU out-blocked their hosts 6-3 in the set after having just one block total in the Friday matchup.

SET TWO: Despite coming out on the short end of a pair of early challenges, MSU found itself tied up at 10-10 with the Gophers. A 3-0 Gopher run on a kill by Rollins and a block by Samedy and Myers gave the home team a three-point edge. a 5-1 run by MSU allowed the Spartans to knot it up at 16's, as MSU went to Franklin for three straight kills. The squads were both hitting under .200 – MSU .176, Minnesota .188 – to that point of the frame. Minnesota used a three-point run to blow open an 18-18 deadlock, but MSU put together a 4-2 run of its own on three kills and a Max-Brown service ace to pull within a point at 23-22. A service ace and hitting error on the Spartans sealed the 25-22 win for the home team in the second frame. The Gophers recovered late to hit .256 in the frame (14-4-39), while MSU hit .178 (16-8-45).

SET THREE: Michigan State fell behind 6-1 with a pair of errors and a pair of Samedy kills aiding the effort. The Spartans responded with three straight points – two kills from Franklin and one from Johnson – got MSU back within two at 6-4, but Minnesota used an Adanna Rollins service run as well as a Pittman ace to put together a 6-1 run to bloat their lead out to 12-5, and then 18-7 as MSU had some struggles at the service line while the Gophers posted a pair of aces. Trailing 23-8, MSU scored four of the net five points to make it 24-12, but Rollins polished it off for the 3-0 sweep.

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Team Stats

Sarah Franklin

Emma Monks

Cecilee Max-Brown

Meredith Norris

Players Mentioned

Jamye Cox

Sarah Franklin

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Elena Shklyar

Players Mentioned

Jamye Cox

Sarah Franklin

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Elena Shklyar