Spartans fall at No. 5 Wisconsin

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State fell at No. 5 Wisconsin on Friday night, 3-1 (15-25, 25-17, 36-34, 17-25). It was the first match for the Spartans in a split week, continuing this Sunday with a hosting of Michigan for the annual Jam Jenison game. MSU moves to 11-15 overall and 4-13 in the Big Ten, while Wisconsin holds a 22-3 record, 14-3 in league play.

After Wisconsin went up in the first two sets, the Spartans took the home team into a battle for the third set's final point. Throughout several ties and lead changes the 25-point mark came and went, and Michigan State finally was able to pull away with a 36-34 set victory. The fourth and final set ended similarly to the first two, giving Wisconsin the win at home.

With the third set going into several extra match points and swapped ties, the teams combined for more than 120 digs in the match, coming up with 62 each. Wisconsin held a slight 60-55 edge in kills and had 24 blocks to Michigan State's 16. The Badgers hit .270 compared to .150 for the Spartans.

Sarah Franklin led the Spartans with 19 total kills and a .196 hitting percentage. Lauryn Gibbs had 22 digs total, tying her career-high set at Purdue in 2019. Celia Cullen and Julia Bishop both saw action in the setter position, Cullen totaling 35 assists while Bishop had seven.

Michigan State plays host to Michigan on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 1 p.m.

PLAYER HIGHS

Sarah Franklin finished the contest with a double-double, tallying 19 kills and ten digs.
Naya Gros and Rebecka Poljan totaled eight kills each.
Celia Cullen went to double-digits in assists (35) and digs (ten) while also recording four kills.

STATS AND STORYLINES

The third-set Spartan rally was the longest set of the season for the Green & White, both teams pushing past the traditional 25-point set decision and going to a 36-34 finish in MSU's favor.
This was the first time the Spartans won a set on the road against the Badgers since 2017, when Michigan State won the match at home against Wisconsin 3-2.
Sarah Franklin put down 11 kills in the epic third set.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Wisconsin took off on a 9-2 run to open the set, forcing a Spartan timeout. The first points for the Green & White came from kills by Rebecka Poljan and Julia Bishop. The Badgers extended to a 12-4 lead midway through the frame, stopped twice by Naya Gros's first kill of the match and a team error. Celia Cullen came up with her first kill to cut the Badger lead down to nine. Emma Monks earned back-to-back points for the Spartans with a pair of kills late in the set. Wisconsin closed out the set 25-15. They led by as many as 11 points twice in the frame.

SET TWO: The home team opened the second set with a 4-0 run, stopped by back-to-back kills from Poljan. The Spartans kept the score close early on as Sarah Franklin had her second kill of the match to narrow the Badger lead to 6-3. Michigan State drew the first timeout after a 3-0 Wisconsin scoring run. Behind a pair of attacking errors from Wisconsin and a kill by Biamba Kabengele, the Spartans narrowed in on the Badgers by a three-point margin. The home team struggled through errors to keep the game close, helped along by more kills from Franklin, Monks and Kabengele. The Spartans hung on throughout, but Wisconsin came away with a 25-17 set win.

SET THREE: MSU put up a fight in the third. The score stayed close as Gros and Franklin came up with more kills to make it 4-2 early on with a narrow Badger lead. Molly Johnson came up with her first stuff of the game, followed up by a service ace to bring the Spartans within a single point of Wisconsin, 9-8. Things stayed knotted at 10-10 thanks to a Poljan kill, and back-to-back Wisconsin attack errors gave the Spartans their first lead of the match, 12-11. The Spartans held on throughout, tying it at 24 after a Johnson-Monks block. Match point came and went, the tie continuing as Franklin laid down four more kills. The set was filled with official reviews and replays, but the Spartans pulled away with a Gros kill and an attack that was ruled in error by Wisconsin. The fourth set was forced after a 36-34 rout in the third.

SET FOUR: Wisconsin jumped out to an early 9-4 lead to force an MSU timeout. Poljan, Gros and Franklin each earned points from the Spartans off kills. The Spartans were on the defense throughout the set, fighting to keep the Badger lead from growing. Gros helped with an MSU run, putting down a kill to cut the deficit to 15-12. Wisconsin was the first to 20 points, with the Spartans down by five. Franklin again led in kills throughout the set. The Badgers pulled away for the 25-17 win, putting down 14 kills in the set to MSU's 11.

Players Mentioned

Julia Bishop

Celia Cullen

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Emma Monks

Rebecka Poljan