Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Maryland
Spartans Head to Maryland For Weekend Series
2/10/2021 1:57:00 PM | Volleyball
| Michigan State (0-4) at Maryland (0-6) | |
| Dates | Friday, February 12, 2021 - 6 pm |
| Saturday, February 13, 2021 - 6 pm | |
| Facility | XFINITY Center Pavilion, College Park, Maryland |
| Radio | None |
| Television | None |
| Webstream | Friday (BTN+) | Saturday (BTN+) |
| Live Statistics | Click Here |
| Game Notes | Michigan State | Maryland |
| Social Media | Facebook Twitter Instagram |
| Coverage | Watch this week's Coach George Press Conference |
The Fine Print:
• Michigan State heads back on the road to tangle with Maryland in a Big Ten series on Friday and Saturday. Both games begin at 6 pm.
• The spring 2021 volleyball schedule in the Big Ten conference will consist of 10, two-match weekend series and one home-and-home series with its travel partner. Each team will play 22 Conference matches, and no matches against non-conference teams. Michigan State will not play No. 5 Nebraska or Indiana in spring 2021.
• Both matches will air live on BTN+. There will be no television or radio broadcasts.
• MSU leads the all-time series by an 11-1 margin, with the Maryland victory coming last year in College Park. MSU and Maryland have traded dramatic five-set decisions over the last two seasons, with the Terps taking the 3-2 victory in second meeting of the teams in 2019 after MSU earned a 3-0 sweep at home in the first weekend of B1G play.
• Maryland and Michigan State have played a similar schedule, both dropping series to Minnesota and Ohio State. Maryland is coming off a pair of losses at No. 4 Nebraska last weekend, while MSU was idle after playing Ohio State the previous Sunday and Monday.
• Adam Hughes, is in his third season as the Terrapin mentor after being elevated from his position of Associate Head Coach. Overall, this is his seventh season at Maryland.
• In the 2019 meetings, the Spartans earned a 3-0 home sweep in East Lansing in the opening weekend of the season, and Maryland fought to earn a 3-2 victory on its home floor later in the year.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; In MSU's win (25-17, 25-18, 25-19), the Spartan middle blockers were impressive, hitting a combined .469 with 19 kills between the pair. Naya Gros had 10 kills on 17 swings (.417) and added a pair of blocks, while Rebecka Poljan had nine kills, hit .533, and had four blocks and a dig.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; The home team had more digs (44-40), blocks (8-6), and was perfect on serve receive, holding Big Ten leading Maryland without a service ace – the Terps entered the match averaging 1.91 aces per set over their first 12 games.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Rebekah Rath led Maryland with 10 kills and a pair of blocks, while Erika Pritchard had nine kills and 10 digs. For the Spartans, Meredith Norris had nine digs and seven kills, while senior Samantha McLean had 10 digs.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; The rematch went to the Terps - the first-ever win for Maryland over Michigan State in the all-time series and avenged a five-set Spartan win on Maryland's home floor in 2018.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; MSU fell behind early and couldn't find its rhythm, dropping the first set 22-25 after trailing by as many as five points. The Spartans started to find themselves late in the second set and seemed to hit their stride in the third with a commanding 25-14 set victory, but the home team climbed back into it in the fourth (25-19) and took the fifth (15-12) with some help from three service aces and two service errors for the Spartans on the other side of the net.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Gros had 13 kills, hit .417, compiled a career-best six digs, and shared the team lead with six blocks for MSU, while Poljan had eight kills and six blocks. Norris had 17 kills and 12 digs for a double-double, adding a pair of blocks.
nbsp; nbsp; nbsp; Katie Myers led Maryland with 14 kills and hit .542, while Pritchard added 13 kills and 14 digs. Rainelle Jones led the match with eight blocks (one solo), as Maryland out-blocked MSU 13.5-12.5.
Team Notes:
• Michigan State has opened the Big Ten campaign with an 0-4 record, with series sweeps by both No. 7 Minnesota on the road and (RV) Ohio State at home.
• MSU's most recent series against the Buckeyes saw OSU sweep the first night (17-25, 15-25, 20-25), but the Spartans battled the visitors through five sets in the second matchup (22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 13-25, 10-15).
• With a 15-15 record in 2019, 12 of MSU's 15 losses came to teams in the AVCA top-25 or receiving votes at the time of the match. Seven of the 15 losses were to teams ranked in the top eight at the time of the match.
• MSU is not in current AVCA Top 25 National Poll. Five teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 11: Wisconsin (1), Nebraska (4), Minnesota (5), Penn State (8) and Purdue (11). Both Illinois and Ohio State are receiving votes.
• MSU has gone 141-27 (.844) in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-19), and has never lost more than four games prior to the beginning of the Big Ten season.
• MSU ranked ninth in total attendance among Division I institutions in 2019, welcoming 46,510 fans through the turnstiles, The Spartans also finished seventh in average attendance in 2019, with 3,101 per match. There will be limited or no fans at B1G matches in this spring season.
• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the spring 2021 season with 600+ career wins (653), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,299), Nebraska's John Cook (749), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (638). She ranks 13th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 653-427 overall record. She also ranks in the top 80 all-time in head coaching victories.
• Four freshmen have joined the Spartans for the spring 2021 campaign. This class was the No. 13 ranked class among the fall 2020 group in Division I volleyball.
Player Notes:
• Sarah Franklin led MSU for the second straight weekend, posting a pair of double-digit kill efforts which included her first collegiate double-double in the second match aginst the Buckeyes (20K, 13 D). She averaged 3.38 kills per frame on a combined 90 swings, and added 2.38 digs per frame.
• Franklin ranks second in the league and 25th nationally in attempts (11.93 per set) seventh in the B1G in kills per set (3.43). She is averaging 2.36 digs per set, second on the team behind libero Jamye Cox.
• Franklin was the No. 29 Senior Ace in the Class of 2020, earned five varsity letters in volleyball as a prep player, and surpassed 2,000 kills in her high school career.
• Cecilee Max-Brown earned her first start of the season in the second game against Ohio State, and just missed a double-double with 14 kills and nine digs, hitting .231 in the match. She averaged 2.75 kills per set in the OSU series and hit .209, contributing 2.38 digs per set. Overall, she is averaging 2.38 kills per set, hitting .214, and also contributing 1.77 digs per frame.
• Max-Brown is a transfer to MSU from Oregon State. She missed considerable time to injury during her freshman year in 2019, when she played in 11 matches and 38 sets, making eight starts. She finished the season with 111 kills and averaging 2.92 kills/set – second on her team.
• Freshman setter Celia Cullen had her most prolific statistical outing in the five-setter with OSU, posing 41 assists and adding nine digs, four kills, and a pair of blocks. Cullen ranks 10th in the Big Ten in assists per set (7.14), and is also averaging 1.43 digs, while hitting .278 (9-4-18).
• Cullen was a 2019 Michigan Miss Volleyball finalist and was the No. 24 Senior Ace (No. 6 among setters) in the class of 2020.
• Senior libero Jamye Cox posted 14 and 18 digs in the two matches vs. Ohio State, extending her streak of double-digit dig matches to 20 consecutive dating back to the 2019 season. She is averaging 4.00 digs per set (good for fifth in the Big Ten.
• Cox's ranks sixth all-time at MSU in career digs (1,269) and fourth in career digs per set (3.78). Ahead of her on the all-time digs list in fifth place is Becky Belanger 1987-90, 1,293)
• Rebecka Poljan started the second match against Ohio State and shared the team lead of four blocks, and also added six kills and hit .385. She's played in two of MSU's four matches and is averaging 1.00 kill, hiting .250, and averaging 0.67 blocks per set.
• Naya Gros averaged 1.25 kills and 0.67 blocks per set against Ohio State, hitting .227. On the year, shes averaging 0.64 blocks per set, second to Poljan. A year ago, she averaged 1.23 blocks per set (which ranked seventh in the B1G and 53rd nationally), and added 1.72 kills and hit .282.
• Gros' career average of 1.21 blocks per set is on par with the career average of two-time All-American Alyssa Garvelink, who averaged 1.21 blocks per set from 2014-17. Gros' 244 career block assists is about 80 shy of getting her into MSU's all-time top 10 in that category, and her 287 career blocks is just over 100 away from joining the all-time list.
• Emma Monks saw her court time increase significantly over the course of her freshman season, and has seemingly picked right up with an increased level of play to start her sophomore year. She led MSU with a .357 hitting percentage in both games in Minneapolis (6-1-14), and shared the team lead in blocks in the finale (3). She had two blocks and a pair of kills in the first match vs. Ohio State. On the year, she's avergaing 1.75 kills and 0.63 blocks, hitting .244.
• Alyssa Chronowski played in her first match in the second meeting with Ohio State, and responded with three kills, two digs and a block.
• Meredith Norris started both matches against Ohio State. She is averaging 1.33 kills and 1.92 digs per set on the season. She is a six-rotation player for the Spartans, and a year ago averaged a team-best 2.67 kills and 0.25 aces per frame to go with 2.00 digs and 0.44 blocks.
• Both Talia Edmonds and Lauryn Gibbs have seen time in their defensive roles for MSU. Edmonds returned to the court after missing the 2019 season with an injury, and had a pair of service aces in the opening series at Minnesota. She's got 34 service attempts this season - third-most on the team - and is also contributing 0.27 digs per frame. Gibbs has played in nine of 14 sets, and has three assists, one ace, and is averaging 0.56 digs.
