Volleyball Hosts Jam Jenison in Split Week


B1G Week Eight - Spartans at [5] Wisconsin, vs. [RV] Michigan
at Wisconsin	Friday Nov. 19 - 9 pm ET / 8 pm CT UW Field House, Madison, Wis.
vs. Michigan	Sunday Nov. 21 - 1 pm Jenison Field House, East Lansing, Mich.
Radio	vs. Michigan John Kreger, pxp; Spartan Media Network
Television	none
Webstreams (B1G+/$)	at Wisconsin \| vs. Michigan
Live Statistics	at Wisconsin \| vs. Michigan
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Wisconsin \| Michigan
Game Program	Download Digital Game Program
Press Conference	Watch the Cathy George Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

Please note:  In line with indoor mask mandates campus-wide, all fans, media, and individuals working at Michigan State volleyball matches will be required to correctly wear a mask.

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
• The Spartans have a split week, traveling to Wisconsin for a Friday match before hosting Michigan in the annual Jam Jenison game on Sunday. .

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Sports Network. He will call the Sunday game vs. Michigan.

• Both matches will have live video webstream on B1G+. MSUSpartans.com has links to all live statistics and webstreams.

• MSU has four games remaining on the schedule, and three of them will be played at Jenison Field House.

• MSU split last weekend's games - the Spartans won a 3-1 decision over Rutgers on Friday, and then fell 3-1 to Penn State on Saturday. The teams played one another in back-to-back weeks, with MSU winning 3-1 at Rutgers and forcing a five-set match at Penn State the previous Saturday.

• Wisconsin is 21-3 overall on the season and 13-3 in the Big Ten, with its losses coming from two 3-1 setbacks to Purdue and a loss to Maryland. Kelly Sheffield is in his ninth season at the helm of the Wisconsin program, and 21st season overall as a head coach

• The Badgers own a 55-28 all-time edge in the series. The teams last met on Oct. 15 in East Lansing, with the Badgers taking a 3-0 win. UW owns six straight wins dating back to the 2018 season.

In this season's previous meeting, Sarah Franklin led the Spartans with nine kills and added eight digs, narrowly missing a double-double. Naya Gros had seven kills and two blocks, leading MSU with a .462 hitting percentage. Celia Cullen's fifth double-double of the season came from 18 assists and 11 digs.

• MSU hosts Michigan for its annual Jam Jenison game on Sunday. Mark Rosen is in his 23rd season at Michigan and 30th overall as a head coach. Michigan enters its Friday matchup at Purdue with a 15-10 overall record and is 8-8 in B1G, having split each weekend of Conference play.
• MSU leads the all-time series with the Wolverines by a 54-47-1 mark, which includes a 35-15 mark in games played in East Lansing. Michigan has won seven straight in the series after eight seasons of splitting the annual two meetings of the teams. The squads met just once during the Covid-19 altered 2020-21 season.

Michigan State lost a dogfight at Michigan in the season's first weekend, falling 3-1 in a four-set battle. Biamba Kabengele had eight kills, seven digs, five aces, and a pair of blocks, Sarah Franklin's 25 kills were bolstered by 14 digs and two aces, and Celia Cullen posted with 50 assists. Michigan's Paige Jones and Jess Mruzik each had 16 kills in the match and Jacque Boney led all players with eight blocks.

• In 1990, Michigan State and Michigan began a "State Pride" season series to celebrate the in-state rivalry. A State of Michigan flag, bearing the state motto "Tuebor" (`I Will Defend') serves as the trophy for winner of the head-to-head meetings of the two teams. The squads shared the Flag in 2014 as both tiebreakers (set wins, and then total points) were even. MSU had won or shared the Flag in six straight seasons (2010-15) before Michigan claimed the Flag from 2016-20. The teams met just once in 2020-21.

Team Notes
• MSU has been without the services of at least one starter in every match this season. Senior DS/L Lauryn Gibbs missed the first 13 matches of the season,MB Rebecka Poljan recently returned after missing nine contests and Cecilee Max-Brown has not played in each of the last six.

• MSU's top three hitting percentages in Big Ten matches this season have come on the road - the Spartans hit .324 in the road win at Iowa, .313 in the five-set victory at Purdue, and .316 in the five-set loss at Penn State. MSU's best hitting percentage in a home B1G match came last Friday against Rutgers (.235).

• MSU's average of 1.57 service aces per set on the season ranks third in the Big Ten.

• Seven of MSU's 11 victories have come by 3-0 scores, with three in four (Central Michigan, Rutgers twice) and one in five (at Purdue). Eight of MSU's 13 losses are to either a ranked team (No. 13 BYU, No. 12 Nebraska, No. 7 OSU, No. 8 Minnesota, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 15 Penn State) or a team receiving votes in the AVCA poll (Wright State, Michigan).

• Michigan State completed the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 7-2 record. MSU's two losses came in five sets (to RV Wright State) and three sets (to No. 13 BYU).

• MSU has gone 148-30 (.844) in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-21), and has never lost more than four games prior to the beginning of the Big Ten season.

• Three schools on MSU's non-conference schedule were NCAA Tournament qualifiers in 2020, while five Big Ten teams were selected. As a result of Covid-19, the NCAA Tournament consisted of just 48 teams in 2020, compared to the usual 64. A 64-team event returns in 2021.

• MSU currently ranks 10th in overall attendance this season (27,777), a list which features eight B1G teams among the top 15 attendance draws. The Spartans are eighth nationally in average attendance through 12 weeks of the 2021 campaign (2,525).

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the 2021 season with 600+ career wins (656), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,309), Nebraska's John Cook (765), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (642). Through the 2020-21 season, she ranks 13th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 663-443 overall record. She also ranks 45th all-time in head coaching victories.

Player Notes
• Sarah Franklin is averaging 3.93 kills per set and 4.51 points per frame, which both rank third in the Big Ten. In Conference games only, she ranks third in the Big Ten with 4.72 points per set and 4.10 kills per frame. She is also averaging 2.24 digs and 0.60 blocks per set.

• A six-rotation player, Franklin delivered her ninth double-double of the season last Saturday against the Nittany Lions, and also had a double-double (27k, 10d) at Penn State on Nov. 6. Her 27 terminations was a career best. In addition, Franklin's 25 kills in matches against vs. Michigan (Sept. 29) and Purdue (Oct. 20) gives her three of the top 10 single-game performances this season in the league.

• Junior Biamba Kabengele stepped into a new role over the last three weekends and the results have been season and career bests in numerous categories. She tied her career best with 18 kills at Rutgers, as well as establishing a new career high in digs at Penn State (17). Last weekend, she led MSU with 13 kills and had eight digs against Rutgers and added 11 and 8 vs. PSU. Kabengele is third on the team in kills per set (2.38) and is also averaging 1.96 digs.

• Kabengele recorded her second career five-ace game against Michigan (Sept. 29), a mark she originally set last February against Maryland. She is fifth in the Big Ten and 59th nationally with 0.42 aces per set.

• Molly Johnson has started each of the last six matches and like Kabengele, has established new season or career bests. She had a season-best nine kills last Friday vs. Rutgers, and tied her season high with five blocks at Penn State. She tied her career bests with nine digs at Penn State and four aces at Rutgers (Nov. 5-6)

• Cecilee Max-Brown also plays six rotations for the Spartans, but has missed the last six matches. She has five double-doubles on the year: she had MSU career bests in both kills (17) and digs (18) at Purdue (10/20), and then delivered 14 kills and 15 digs at Maryland (10/23).

• In 19 starts, Max-Brown is averaging 2.86 kills, 2.39 digs, and 0.33 blocks. She is contributing 2.83 kills, 2.53 digs, and 0.44 aces in Conference games.

• MSU returned a trio of middle blockers which includes two three-year starters in Naya Gros and Rebecka Poljan, as well as junior Emma Monks. It has proven to be MSU's deepest and most prolific position.

• Poljan missed nine straight matches, beginning Oct. 3 at Nebraska and returned to the lineup sparingly on Halloween at Ohio State. She returned to the starting lineup last weekend, and led MSU with six blocks and added four kills against Penn State. On the season, Poljan is hitting .377 (fifth, B1G), and averaging 2.10 kills, 0.76 blocks, and 0.29 aces per set.

• Poljan's .778 (14-0-18) hitting percentage vs. Weber State (9/3) is the best single-game percentage by a player in the Big Ten this season, and her .632 vs Oakland is ranked 10th.

• Naya Gros ranks fifth in the Big Ten and 18th nationally with her career best of 1.34 blocks per set on the season, and her 115 total blocks is fifth in the B1G. She is hitting a career-best .320, and averaging 1.70 kills per frame. She had nine kills, four blocks and hit .462 last weekend vs. Rutgers, and then had six kills and five blocks vs. Penn State.

• Gros' career average of 1.20 blocks per set ranks sixth on MSU's career list, and is just behind the career average of most recent two-time All-American Alyssa Garvelink, who averaged 1.21 blocks per set from 2014-17. Gros' 383 career block assists and 447 total blocks both rank seventh in the MSU annals.

• Gros' 1.20 blocks per set average for her career ranks 14th among active Division I players this season.

• Emma Monks had a big match at Ohio State (10/31), posting a career-best 10 blocks and nine kills and hitting a season-best .600 (9-0-15). She averages 1.45 kills and 1.00 blocks per set, hitting .270 on the season.

• Both Gros and Monks have 10-block performances this season. Gros' came against Dixie State (Sept. 3), with five solo and five block assists. Monks had one solo and nine block assists at Ohio State. Ten blocks is the fourth highest total in a game overall this season, and the third highest in a Big Ten game. Gros' five solo blocks vs. Dixie State (Sept. 3) tied the record for solo stuffs in a three-set match, last accomplished by Alyssa Garvelink vs. Michigan in 2015.

• MSU's most youthful position is at setter, but both sophomore incumbent Celia Cullen and freshman Julia Bishop have seen significant action. MSU has utilized both as setters over the last nine matches after Bishop saw some time in early B1G games in a defensive role.

• Bishop earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 8 after posting a pair of double-doubles at Rutgers and Penn State.

• Bishop is averaging 4.90 assists per set on the season splitting time between setter and DS, and is adding 1.51 digs per frame. She has 24 kills on the season with just one error on 45 attempts, (.511).

• The two setters are MSU's most reliable at the service line. Cullen has just eight service errors in 213 chances (.962), while Bishop has five miscues in 156 serves (.968).

• Cullen is contributing 8.34 assists per frame, and is averaging 0.17 aces, 1.67 digs, and 0.49 blocks as well.

• Cullen has four double-doubles this season , with her most recent a 18-assist, 11-dig performance vs. Wisconsin (10/15).

• Senior Lauryn Gibbs returned to the lineup against Ohio State and Minnesota (10/8-9) after missing the first six weeks with injury. She has worn the libero jersey over the last nine matches. She tied her season best with 14 digs last Friday vs. Rutgers, and is averaging 2.26 digs and 0.80 assist per set.

• Redshirt junior and captain Talia Edmonds wore the libero jersey in the first 16 matches of the season, and still leads the team with 2.67 digs per set. She is adding 0.59 assists and 0.16 aces per frame as well. She missed last weekend's matches.

• First-year DS Grace Danziger has appeared in 14 of 16 B1G matches for the Spartans She is averaging 0.66 digs per set and has five aces.

• Freshman outside Eleanor Stothoff saw her first action in a Green & White jersey in the match against BYU, and her first career kill came as match point in the win over Central Michigan.

• Abby Olin, Aubrey O'Gorman and Lia Moore have not yet appeared in any matches in 2021. Olin and Moore will miss the entire season with injury.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Julia Bishop

Celia Cullen

Grace Danziger

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Lia Moore

Aubrey O'Gorman

Abby Olin

Rebecka Poljan

Eleanor Stothoff