Friday, November 5
Piscataway, NJ
7 pm
Michigan State University
10-12,3-10Big Ten
3
at
1
Rutgers
8-16,0-13Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Michigan St.
25
21
25
25
3
Rutgers
22
25
10
23
1
Kabengele’s Career Night Leads Spartans to Win at Rutgers
11/5/2021 10:34:00 PM | Volleyball
GAME CAPSULE
A career-high 18 kills from junior Biamba Kabengele helped Michigan State end a three-game losing skid on Friday night in Piscataway, N.J., as the Spartans took down host Rutgers, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-10, 25-23), in Big Ten volleyball action at College Avenue Gym.
The win moved MSU to 10-12 and 3-10 in the conference, while Rutgers slid to 8-16 overall and 0-13 in the league standings.
Aside from the Spartans' lopsided victory in the third set, the teams battled for most of the evening, as Michigan State held a slim 48-44 edge in kills while Rutgers had the dig advantage at 47-45. MSU did have a sizable advantage at the service line and at the net, tallying 13 aces to RU's nine aces and racking up 14 blocks compared to five for the Scarlet Knights.
Kabengele had a double-double performance, using a .317 hitting clip to get her 18 kills while also recording a team-high 11 digs, three aces, three assists and three blocks. Freshman Julia Bishop stepped up when needed after an injury to sophomore Celia Cullen, as the rookie setter notched a double-double as well with 20 assists, 11 digs and three aces.
Kamila Cieslik paced the Scarlet Knights with 12 kills, while setter Inna Balyko had a double-double of 39 assists and 12 digs to go with a game-high five aces.
Michigan State concludes a three-game road swing on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Penn State. That contest is set for 7 p.m. on B1G+.
PLAYER HIGHS
STATS AND STORYLINES
SET SYNOPSIS
A career-high 18 kills from junior Biamba Kabengele helped Michigan State end a three-game losing skid on Friday night in Piscataway, N.J., as the Spartans took down host Rutgers, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-10, 25-23), in Big Ten volleyball action at College Avenue Gym.
The win moved MSU to 10-12 and 3-10 in the conference, while Rutgers slid to 8-16 overall and 0-13 in the league standings.
Aside from the Spartans' lopsided victory in the third set, the teams battled for most of the evening, as Michigan State held a slim 48-44 edge in kills while Rutgers had the dig advantage at 47-45. MSU did have a sizable advantage at the service line and at the net, tallying 13 aces to RU's nine aces and racking up 14 blocks compared to five for the Scarlet Knights.
Kabengele had a double-double performance, using a .317 hitting clip to get her 18 kills while also recording a team-high 11 digs, three aces, three assists and three blocks. Freshman Julia Bishop stepped up when needed after an injury to sophomore Celia Cullen, as the rookie setter notched a double-double as well with 20 assists, 11 digs and three aces.
Kamila Cieslik paced the Scarlet Knights with 12 kills, while setter Inna Balyko had a double-double of 39 assists and 12 digs to go with a game-high five aces.
Michigan State concludes a three-game road swing on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Penn State. That contest is set for 7 p.m. on B1G+.
PLAYER HIGHS
- Kabengele's career-best 18 kills and 11 digs gave the junior her second career double-double.
- Senior Naya Gros had a team-best eight blocks to go with six kills, matching a season-best seven block assists.
- Bishop's double-double (20a, 11d) gave her seven matches with 20-plus assists and her second contest with double-digit digs.
- Senior Molly Johnson posted a career-high five blocks and matched her career best with a team-high four aces, adding on eight kills.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- Senior Lauryn Gibbs had seven assists and four digs as the starting libero.
- Sophomore Sarah Franklin chipped in nine kills and six digs to go with two aces and a block assist.
- Cullen had 12 assists and two digs before exiting in the third set.
- Freshman Eleanor Stothoff made an appearance in her home state, subbing in for the final point of the third set.
- MSU outhit Rutgers .242 to .135.
- The Spartans' 14 blocks matched a season high, as did the team's 13 service aces.
- This was the first MSU win over Rutgers since Oct. 18, 2019, a 3-0 sweep in East Lansing.
- Michigan State now leads the all-time series over Rutgers by a 12-2 margin.
SET SYNOPSIS
- SET ONE: Trading points early, the Spartans were able to take the advantage away from Rutgers at 4-3 after an RU attack error. Despite letting the Scarlet Knights tie the score four times, the Spartans did not let RU retake the lead the rest of set. A kill and a block from Naya Gros on consecutive points made it 19-17 and forced a Rutgers timeout, and a block from Molly Johnson and Emma Monks send the frame to another timeout at 23-20 MSU. Back-to-back points from Beka Kojadinovic led to a Spartan timeout but kills from Biamba Kabengele and Sarah Franklin secured the set. A .294 hitting percentage paced MSU to 14 kills in the opening frame, six of which were from Kabengele, while the Spartans also held Rutgers to a .147 attack clip.
- SET TWO: Michigan State was rolling early in the set, jumping out to a 13-5 lead after rattling off a 5-0 surge that was capped by a Franklin kill before Rutgers took a timeout. The Scarlet Knights then rebounded with a 9-1 stretch themselves, using a 5-0 run that forced the second MSU timeout at 14-14. MSU responded with three-straight points, including a pair of blocks, but RU clawed back again to tie the frame and eventually take its first lead of the set at 20-19 off a Spartan service error. Franklin brought it even again at 20-20 with a kill, but Rutgers grabbed five of the final six points to win their first set of the match. Kabengele added four more kills in the frame and the Spartans had 11 total kills in the set despite a .125 hitting clip, while RU improved to a .250 attack percentage on 11 kills and landed four services aces in the set.
- SET THREE: The Spartans got out to a 6-3 lead and extended it with a 4-0 run, as back-to-back aces from Johnson made it 10-3 before a RU timeout. Michigan State continued to dominate the frame, not allowing consecutive points to Rutgers until back-to-back Scarlet Knight kills cut the MSU lead to 22-10. The Spartans wrapped up the set with its fourth 3-0 run of the frame, as a Julia Bishop kill, a Johnson ace and a Gros kill put MSU up 2-1 in the match. MSU was strong at the back line and at the net, getting 10 kills at a .381 hitting clip, adding five blocks while adding six aces from the service line in the set. The Spartan also limited their mistakes to two attack errors and two service errors, also holding RU to an -.043 hit percentage.
- SET FOUR: Rutgers was in control early, compiling a 6-0 streak to go up 8-3 and later got four-straight points to take a 12-5 edge following a Madyson Chitty ace. The Green and White matched the run with five consecutive points of its own to cut the lead to 12-10. After a 3-0 RU spurt, Michigan State put together a 9-3 stretch that included five MSU kills and a Grace Danziger ace, regaining the advantage at 19-18. Two-straight Scarlet Knights points were countered with a 3-0 MSU that made it 22-20 Spartans, before both sides traded kills over the last six points, as Kabengele notched her 18th kill of the night for match point. MSU again limited its errors, committing five attack misses and only one service error in the final set despite only hitting .200 in the frame. Rutgers had 15 kills in the frame, but also had 10 attack errors to hit .139.
Team Stats
MSU
RU
Kills
48
44
Errors
18
27
Attempts
124
126
Hitting %
.242
.135
Points
75
58
Assists
42
42
Aces
13
9
Blocks
14
5
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
18
Aces
3
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
4
Blocks
5
Players Mentioned
S
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ Volleyball
OH/RS
/ VolleyballKristen Kelsay Postgame Comments | Michigan
Saturday, September 27
Celebrating the Past | Alumni Weekend | Spartans All-Access
Friday, September 26
Kristen Kelsay Postgame Comments | Chicago State
Sunday, August 31
Kristen Kelsay Postgame Comments | Merrimack
Saturday, August 30