No. 1 Badgers Down MSU, 3-0

Saturday, February 20

East Lansing, MI

2:30 pm

Michigan State University

2-6,2-6Big Ten

Wisconsin

9-0,9-0Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Wisconsin	25	25	25	3
Michigan St.	20	9	13	0

2/20/2021 4:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

GAME CAPSULE

No. 1 Wisconsin came into Jenison Field House and earned a 3-0 victory over Michigan State (20-25, 9-25, 13-25). The Badgers improve to 9-0 on the season, while MSU falls to 2-6.

The Spartans hung with the Badgers in the first set, battling to a five-point deficit in the first set. After that, the Badgers turned things up a notch. Wisconsin had just six hitting errors in the match (five due to Spartan blocks), limiting unforced errors and earning significant victories in the second and third frames.

MSU's middles stood out on a rough day for the Spartans. Naya Gros hit .538 for MSU, putting down eight kills on 13 swings and also had a pair of blocks. Becka Poljan added five kills and hit .364, and also had two blocks on the day. Celia Cullen contributed 25 assists, seven digs, and two blocks (one solo).

The Badgers spread out their offense, getting eight kills from each Dana Rettke, Jade Demps, and Grace Loberg. Wisconsin hit .397 in the match, adding seven service aces.

MSU completes its weekend series vs Wisconsin at Jenison Field House on Sunday.

PLAYER HIGHS

Naya Gros had a team-high seven kills and two blocks, hitting .538.
Rebecka Poljan put down five kills and had two blocks.
Jamye Cox had 12 digs and an ace.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: The Badgers ran out to an 8-3 lead on the strength of four kills and a pair of blocks. A 3-0 run on a solo block by Cullen and a kill from Gros brought the deficit down to three at 9-6, and then fought back into it to tie it up at 13-13 after a kill by Max-Brown and a block by Kabengele and Poljan. A 7-2 run allowed the visitors to win the race to 20 and take a five-point lead, and MSU called its second time out. Gros came out of the break with a line shot for the sideout, and Talia Edmonds put her first serve down for an ace to trim it to three; the Badgers went back up five and held on for a 25-20 victory in the frame. UW hit .297 to MSU's .143, but the Spartans outblocked their guests 4-3. Naya Gros had five kills on seven swings to lead MSU, while Dana Rettke had four on eight for Wisconsin.

SET TWO: The Badgers once again took control early and kept their foot on the gas, using a 6-1 run to go up 12-4, then a 6-2 stretch to take a 17-6 lead, and the Spartans called their second time out. The Badgers hit .650 (14-1-20) in the frame to run away with it, 25-9, with Rettke and Grace Loberg leading the way with four kills each. For MSU, both Norris and Poljan had two kills, as MSU was limited to .091 (7-5-22).

SET THREE: The Spartans were within one on a Jamye Cox service ace (7-6), but a 5-1 run from Wisconsin gave them some separation, 12-7. The Badgers kept their five-point edge to the media timeout, (15-10), and finished off the set by a 25-13 margin, hitting .333, which finished them off at .397 in the match, a season high surrendered by the Spartans. Swartz, Poljan, and Gros all had two kills as MSU hit .-.037 (8-9-27).