Spartans Fall to Illini, 3-0

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State suffered a 3-0 setback to Illinois on Friday (18-25, 12-25, 16-25) at Jenison Field House.

Illinois, which sits atop the Big Ten in aces per set, used 11 in addition to a .333 hitting percentage – the highest of any Spartan opponent this season – to post the straight set victory The Illini also out-blocked MSU 7-3 on the night.

MSU hit just .067 in the match – its second-lowest of the Big Ten season. Sarah Franklin led MSU with seven of its 26 kills on the night, while Biamba Kabengele and Rebecka Poljan each had five. Kabengele and Franklin each added five digs. Molly Johnson and Poljan led the squad with two blocks each.

The Spartans host Northwestern Saturday evening to close out the regular season. MSU will honor its five seniors (Talia Edmonds, Lauryn Gibbs, Naya Gros, Molly Johnson, and Rebecka Poljan) after the match.

PLAYER HIGHS

Sarah Franklin had seven kills and five digs, compiling five of her terminations in the final set.
Biamba Kabengele had five kills, five digs, a block and an ace.
Rebecka Poljan recorded five kills, adding three digs and a team-high two blocks.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: MSU fell behind by three (8-5) and then five (12-7) points, forcing the Spartans to take a time out to regroup. MSU kept fighting, coming back within a point twice. At 15-11, both teams had five kills and five errors to their credit, and Illinois won the race to 20 with seven kills and an .080 success rate but had four service aces. MSU called time out down seven at 20-13, and the Spartans came out of the break to score five of the next six points, fueled by Cullen and Gros kills and a Kabengle ace to get within three at 21-18. Illinois countered with a 4-0 run to close it out, which included the Spartans being whistled for being out of rotation on set point. Gros had three kills to lead MSU, while Kabengele and Poljan each had a pair. Gibbs led all players with four digs. Illinois, which entered the weekend leading the Big Ten in service aces, had six in the frame.

SET TWO: The Illini raced out with seven kills on their first nine swings, adding three aces in building a 13-5 edge, and the Spartans called time out. Illinois was hitting on all cylinders, and MSU assisting with some hitting errors at a critical point as the visitors extended their lead to 18-6 on runs of seven and four points. Molly Johnson put together a kill and a dig and the Spartans also got kills from Kabengele and Poljan to bring MSU back into single digits, but Illinois had straightened out any first-set errors and kept coming, going back up 11 at 23-12. Back-to-back blocks at the right pin closed out the set for Illinois which hit .600 (13-1-20) and had three blocks and three aces. MSU finished the set with seven kills against seven errors, with

SET THREE: Illinois raced out to an 8-3 lead in the third set, despite committing three hitting errors, and kept coming as they were able to ride a .333 hitting percentage (11-3-24) into a 17-10 advantage, and MSU called time out. The Spartans scored two of the next three out of the break, but Illinois held their seven-point edge to 20-13. With the Illini up 23-14, MSU got a tip kill from Franklin and a cross-court termination from Kabengele to make it 23-16, but Illinois closed it out with the next two points to earn the sweep. The visitors hit .382 in the third frame, with a trio of blocks and two more aces to push their match total to 11. Sarah Franklin had five of her seven kills in the set.

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Team Stats

Sarah Franklin

Rebecka Poljan

Biamba Kabengele

Naya Gros

Players Mentioned

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Rebecka Poljan

Players Mentioned

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Rebecka Poljan