Michigan Bests Spartans in Four, 3-1

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State battled through a four-set match with archrival Michigan on Wednesday night at Jenison Field House, falling to the Wolverines 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 26-28, 19-25).

The match featured 30 tie scores and 11 lead changes as the teams battled through the match, taking leads only to watch their counterparts cut into them. The first three sets were settled by a total of seven points, with a 28-26 battle going to Michigan in set three.

MSU got another big night from sophomore Biamba Kabengele, who had 17 kills and three digs as she hit a team-best .310. Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week Sarah Franklin had 15 kills and nine digs, adding a pair of blocks. Celia Cullen had a double-double with 37 assists and 15 digs, adding a block to her stat line as well. Naya Gros had five blocks (two solo) and three kills.

For the Wolverines, Paige Jones had 16 terminations, 18 digs, and hit .239, while May Pertofsky had 13 kills and hit a match-best .400. Setter Scottee Johnson had a doube-double with 29 assists and 10 digs.

MSU continues its five-match homestand when it welcomes No. 1 Wisconsin to Jenison Field House for a pair of matches on Saturday and Sunday.

PLAYER HIGHS

Biamba Kabengele had 17 kills, hitting a team-best .310.
Sarah Franklin had her sixth double-digit kill effort in seven matches, posting 15 kills, nine digs and two blocks.
Celia Cullen had a double-double with 37 assists and 15 digs.

STATS & STORYLINES

Jamye Cox tied her season best with 18 digs, tied for the match high.
Naya Gros led all players with five blocks (two solo)
Elena Shklyar came off the bench to deliver three service aces and added a pair of digs.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Michigan took an early 6-4 lead thanks to a pair of aces that had a fortuitous hang-up on the tape. The teams were trading points and MSU tied it up at 7-7 on a big kill from Kabengele. Michigan used a 7-0 run to turn a tie ballgame into a 15-8 lead on a Scottee Johnson service run, and Sarah Franklin put down back-to-back kills that made it 16-11. MSU battled back to within three at 18-15, and the Wolverines called time out to regroup. A 4-1 run from the Spartans fueled by three Kabengele terminations brought MSU within a point at 20-19. Franklin and Gros tied things up at 22-all, but UM scored the next three to take the set 25-22. Kabengele finished the frame with six kills on 11 swimgs, while Franklin had five kills, a pair of digs, and a block. Paige Jones had four kills for the Wolverines, who hit .211 to MSU's .175.

SET TWO: The Spartans took a 9-6 second-set lead on the strength of a .667 hitting effort (4-0-6), but the Wolverines came back with a 4-1 run to tie thing up at 10-10. The teams were tied up through 14's, and after a Gros kill Michigan scored three straight to go up 17-15 which triggered an MSU time out. MSU came out of the break with a Franklin kill and Gros block sandwiched around a Michigan error, and it was time for a UM time out as MSU went up 18-17. Michigan State won the race to 20 on a Franklin kill, and then Cox delivered a service ace to make it a two-point lead, 21-19, and UM called its second time out. Cox served the Spartans to set point, and Franklin finishes it off to tie the match at 1-1. MSU had four aces in the set and got three kills from Franklin and two more from Kabengele, and hit .333 (compared to .267 for the visitors)

SET THREE: The Spartans used a 6-1 run to open up a 9-5 lead early in the third set, remaining composed and poised when out of system and continuing to get big swings from Kabengele and Franklin. The MSU block was also imposing, as Gros had already gotten a hand on four attempts (one solo stuff) as the Spartans went up 13-9 when Chronowski and Poljan teamed up for their second of the night. MSU took its largest lead at 17-10, hitting better than .300 to that point of the set and forcing Michigan into a time out. The Wolverines scored four of the first five points out of their break to trim it down to 18-14 with two kills by May Pertofsky. The Spartans led by five and got to 20 on a block by Cullen and Gros (her fifth of the night), but Michigan trimmed it to a three-point deficit with another Pertofsky kill and MSU called time out to regroup. Out of that break, the Wolverines got a big block followed by a Spartan miscue to bring the visitors within a point, but the 11^th service error of the match for UM got MSU the sideout. A long rally ended in a Michigan point to knot the score at 21-21, and the Spartans called a time out. The teams traded service errors out of that break, then kills from Kabengele and Paige Jones to bring us to matching 23's on the scoreboard. Michigan took the advantage at 24-23, and 25-24, but Kabengele found spots down the line to tie up the match both times. A Jones kill for the Wolverines followed by the Spartans hitting the pin on an attack ended the frame 28-26 to give Michigan a 2-1 match lead. Jones had six kills on 17 swings for her team, while Kabengele had seven against just one error on 19 attempts for MSU. The Wolverines hit .170 to MSU's match-low .136, while MSU out-blocked their visitors 3-2.

SET FOUR: The Wolverines raced out to a 9-5 lead in the fourth set, blowing open a 4-4 tie with a 5-1 run. UM led it by five at 12-7, but the Spartans battled back into it to trim it to a two-point deficit with some help from back-to-back Wolverine errors. MSU kept coming close, but Michigan would regain the lead. MSU trailed 19-14 before back-to-back kills by Kabengele and Gros followed by a Shklyar ace trimmed the deficit back to two and Michigan called a time out. Out of the break the Wolverines had three straight attempts met with the Spartan block, but Jones finally found a hole to get to 20. The Wolverines closed it out by a 25-19 score to take the match by a 3-1 margin. Pertofsky had four kills and both Jones and Murray had three each for the Wolverines, who hit .182 in the final frame; MSU was led by Franklin's three kills, and Cox had seven of her 18 digs in that final set.

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Team Stats

Biamba Kabengele

Sarah Franklin

Rebecka Poljan

Alyssa Chronowski

Players Mentioned

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Biamba Kabengele

Elena Shklyar

Players Mentioned

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Biamba Kabengele

Elena Shklyar