Saturday, October 16
6:30 pm
Michigan State University
8-9,1-7Big Ten
1
vs
3
Maryland
15-5,3-5Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Maryland
18
25
25
25
3
Michigan St.
25
21
16
18
1
Photo by: Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications
Strong Start Not Enough in Loss to Maryland
10/16/2021 9:44:00 PM | Volleyball
GAME CAPSULE
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Despite a double-double from sophomore Sarah Franklin, Michigan State fell to Maryland, 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 16-25, 18-25), in Big Ten volleyball action on Saturday evening in Jenison Field House.
The loss moved the Spartans to 8-9 and 1-7 in the conference standings, while the Terrapins improved to 15-5 overall and 3-5 in league play.
After taking the opening set on the back of a .472 hitting percentage, MSU could not counter many of the Maryland runs in the final three sets due to 14 service errors and four blocking errors by the Spartans. On the other side of the net, the Terrapins limited their mistakes to 13 attack errors and four serving errors while hitting above .200 in all four sets. A wide 58-45 MSU edge in kills did not negate the Maryland advantage in aces (7-5), digs (60-59) and blocks (11-7).
Franklin's 20 kills earned the outside hitter her fourth performance this fall with 20-plus terminations. Her 13 digs also got Franklin her fifth double-double of the campaign. Junior Cecilee Max-Brown also reached double-digit digs, recording a career-best 15 digs on Saturday in addition to nine kills and two aces, and Naya Gross added on 10 kills off a game-high .381 hitting percentage. Maryland was led by Sam Csire's double-double (15 kills, 10 digs), while Maryland setter Sydney Dowler had a double-double as well with 34 assists, 11 digs and three aces.
Michigan State now heads to West Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday, Oct. 20 for a matchup with Purdue, before completing the regular-season series with Maryland on Oct. 23 in College Park.
PLAYER HIGHS
STATS AND STORYLINES
SET SYNOPSIS
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Despite a double-double from sophomore Sarah Franklin, Michigan State fell to Maryland, 3-1 (25-18, 21-25, 16-25, 18-25), in Big Ten volleyball action on Saturday evening in Jenison Field House.
The loss moved the Spartans to 8-9 and 1-7 in the conference standings, while the Terrapins improved to 15-5 overall and 3-5 in league play.
After taking the opening set on the back of a .472 hitting percentage, MSU could not counter many of the Maryland runs in the final three sets due to 14 service errors and four blocking errors by the Spartans. On the other side of the net, the Terrapins limited their mistakes to 13 attack errors and four serving errors while hitting above .200 in all four sets. A wide 58-45 MSU edge in kills did not negate the Maryland advantage in aces (7-5), digs (60-59) and blocks (11-7).
Franklin's 20 kills earned the outside hitter her fourth performance this fall with 20-plus terminations. Her 13 digs also got Franklin her fifth double-double of the campaign. Junior Cecilee Max-Brown also reached double-digit digs, recording a career-best 15 digs on Saturday in addition to nine kills and two aces, and Naya Gross added on 10 kills off a game-high .381 hitting percentage. Maryland was led by Sam Csire's double-double (15 kills, 10 digs), while Maryland setter Sydney Dowler had a double-double as well with 34 assists, 11 digs and three aces.
Michigan State now heads to West Lafayette, Indiana on Wednesday, Oct. 20 for a matchup with Purdue, before completing the regular-season series with Maryland on Oct. 23 in College Park.
PLAYER HIGHS
- Franklin led all players with 20 kills, adding 13 digs for her fifth double-double of the season
- Gros tallied 10 kills and registered team highs with a .381 hitting clip and four blocks
- Max-Brown paced the Spartans with a career-best 15 digs, and missed a double-double by one kill
- Junior Biamba Kabengele led MSU with three service aces to go with five kills
- Sophomore Celia Cullen had a team-best 48 assists, her second-highest total of the season, and missed out on a double-double with nine digs
STATS AND STORYLINES
- Senior Lauryn Gibbs made her first start of the season at libero, tallying seven digs and five assists
- The 58 kills by Michigan State on Saturday were a season high, surpassing the 57 kills at Michigan on Sept. 26
- Maryland's 13 attack errors were the lowest of any MSU opponent this season
- Gros has now recorded multiple blocks in 15-straight contests
- Michigan State now leads the all-time series with Maryland by a 13-2 margin
SET SYNOPSIS
- SET ONE: The Spartans took an early lead thanks to a Cecilee Max-Brown kill and back-to-back aces from Biamba Kabengele at 5-2. Maryland took its first timeout of the frame trailing 18-14 to stop a MSU run and grab a point, but the Spartans used a 5-0 surge to widen the gap, eventually closing out the set with kills from Kabengele and Sarah Franklin. The Green and White ended the opener by outhitting the visitors, .472 to .200, also holding a 21-7 advantage in kills. Individually, Franklin and Gros each tallied five kills for the Spartans by the end of the set.
- SET TWO: Maryland came out in the next set with a 4-0 run before MSU was able to respond, but the Spartans took five of the next six points to bring it even. The hosts used a 3-0 stretch later to tie the set again at 11-11 and did the same thing again to make it 18-18, but five-straight points by the Terrapins gave UMD its largest lead of the frame. Maryland secured the set despite Franklin registering seven kills in the frame for MSU, as the Terrapins posted a .256 hitting percentage and 13 kills compared to the Spartans .111 clip and 14 kills.
- SET THREE: Maryland bookended a 3-0 MSU run with 3-0 runs of their own to take an opening 6-3 edge, but MSU gradually brought the set to 10-10 after Max-Brown had a kill and ace on back-to-back points. The Terrapins retook the lead and did not look back after that, using a 5-0 run that turned into a 15-6 closing stretch to win the set. Hitting .269 to the Spartans' .147 clip, Maryland also picked up five aces in the frame. Franklin recorded six of the 11 MSU kills in the set, compared to the 10 total kills from the guests.
- SET FOUR: The Spartans were able to go up 7-4, but the Terrapins once again went on a roll with a 5-0 streak, aided by three-straight MSU attack errors. Maryland compounded that into a 14-3 run before Michigan State was able to tally back-to-back points off UMD attack errors. The Terrapins ended the clinching set with five kills over their final six points, finishing with 15 kills and a .263 attack percentage in the fourth frame. For the Spartans, they racked up 12 kills despite a .103 hitting clip.
Team Stats
MD
MSU
Kills
45
58
Errors
13
27
Attempts
128
154
Hitting %
.250
.201
Points
64
70
Assists
40
57
Aces
7
5
Blocks
12
7
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
20
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
0
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
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/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
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/ Volleyball
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/ VolleyballOH
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