Spartans Fall in Tight Five-Set Battle to OSU

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State and visiting Ohio State waged a five-set battle on Monday evening, and the Spartans unfortunately came down on the short end, falling to the Buckeyes in 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 13-25, 10-15).

The Spartans got significant contributions from three newcomers – Sarah Franklin finished with 20 kills, hitting .236 and added 13 digs for her first collegiate double-double. Just missing double-doubles were classmate Celia Cullen, who contributed 41 assists and nine digs, adding a pair of blocks. Cecilee Max-Brown had 14 kills, hit .215, and also finished with nine digs, posting three blocks.

The battle of freshmen standouts – MSU's Franklin vs. Ohio State's Emily Landot – did not disappoint. Landot had 24 kills, hit .286, and added 11 digs and five blocks for the Buckeyes, who are now 4-0 on the season. Jenaisya Moore posted 14 kills and 14 digs to give the Buckeyes two players with double-doubles, and setter Mac Podraza just missed it with 50 assists and eight digs. Lauren Witte led all players with seven blocks, as MSU edged the Buckeyes in stuffs (9-8).

MSU fell in the opening frame 25-22, but rallied to win the next two sets and take a 2-1 lead in the match. The fourth set was dominated by Ohio State, and the teams were in a tight battle in the fifth right up to the set break, where OSU had taken an 8-7 lead. From there, the Buckeyes outscored MSU 7-3 to secure their third five-set win of the season.

MSU's next scheduled games are on Feb. 12-13 at Maryland, while Ohio State is slated to host Iowa the same weekend.

PLAYER HIGHS

Sarah Franklin had her first career double-double, putting down 20 kills and adding 13 digs, both career bests.
Celia Cullen had season bests in assists (41), kills (4), and blocks (2), and just missed a double-double with nine digs.
Cecilee Max-Brown had 14 kills, nine digs, and three blocks.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: The beginning of the set was much like the start of each of the sets in the previous day – the teams were close through the first 10 points on each side. MSU took a brief 9-6 lead, but the Buckeyes tied it back up. At 10-10, MSU was hitting .273, compared to .179 for their guests. With the teams knotted at 13, Vanja Bukilic ripped off three straight points to push her team out to a 16-13 lead, but a block and a kill from Rebecka Poljan got MSU within a point. The Spartans put down four of the next five points to get within a point at 21-20, but Ohio State got back up three by a pair of kills from Buklic that made it 23-20. On the other side of the net, MSU's freshman Franklin was the hot hand, as she stood toe-to-toe with the young standouts for OSU. At the end, the three youngsters each had six kills for their teams – and none of them with a hitting error. Franklin added five digs for MSU, which hit .282 in the frame.

SET TWO: The Spartans trailed 5-3 when Rebecka Poljan put down a big kill, and then Talia Edmonds stepped in to deliver a 6-0 scoring run that featured a pair of kills for Cullen and made the score 10-5 in favor of the home team – its biggest lead of the weekend. The teams battled back and forth, and while the visitors twice came within two points, MSU stayed steady, and forced Ohio State into a time out with a 20-16 lead. The Buckeyes took the first point out of the break, but a Franklin dagger and Cox ace made it a five-point margin once again. With MSU up 24-18, the Buckeyes twice fended off set point twice before Poljan ended it with her fifth kill of the night. Max-Brown had five kills in the frame on a team-high 13 swings, while Celia Cullen had a pair of blocks to go with her 11 assists. Lindot led her team with five kills and three digs.

SET THREE: Off the second-set victory, the Spartans seemed to find their confidence – and took a 10-5 lead in the third set. MSU pushed that lead out to 17-9 after a pair of kills from Franklin (which pushed her to a new season-best) and a kill and a block from Chronowski. The Buckeyes battled back into it with a 6-2 run to pull within four at 19-15, but MSU answered with a run of its own that made it 22-15. The teams traded points, Franklin's 15^th kill of the night got MSU to set point, and Chronowski finished it off for the 2-1 match lead. Franklin put down seven kills in the third set alone, and with her 10^th dig of the match secured her first collegiate double-double.

SET FOUR: Ohio State rattled off six straight points to open the fourth set after falling behind in the match, and never took its foot off the pedal as the Buckeyes seemingly turned everything they touched into gold as it raced out to a 17-5 lead. Ohio State had a pair of 6-0 runs in the frame to help take the big lead. Trailing 22-9, MSU got two kills from Max-Brown sandwiched around an OSU error to trim the deficit to 10. The visitors hit .400 in the set, compared to just .114 for the Spartans. Max-Brown led the Spartans with four kills and Naya Gros had a pair of blocks; Londot had six kills for Ohio State, adding two blocks and two digs.

SET FIVE: The two teams – of course- battled point-for-point to 7-7, and Ohio State triggered the TV time out. After that short hiatus, Ohio State used a 4-2 run to go up 12-9, and kept the pressure on to close it out 15-10 and take the match by a 3-2 score, its third five-set victory in four matches this season. Londot and Franklin were their teams' go-to as they had been all night lng – Londot had a pair of blocks and five kills on eight swings, while Franklin had four terminations and three digs.

Next Event

Team Stats

Sarah Franklin

Cecilee Max-Brown

Rebecka Poljan

Naya Gros

Players Mentioned

Celia Cullen

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Cecilee Max-Brown

Rebecka Poljan

Players Mentioned

Celia Cullen

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Cecilee Max-Brown

Rebecka Poljan