Spartans Snap Skid With 3-1 Win At Iowa

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State earned its third road victory of the season on Friday, picking up a 3-1 win (18-25, 25-22, 25-13, 25-21) at Iowa.

After dropping the opening frame and hitting .091, MSU righted the ship with an improving hitting percentage in each set, producing 11 (.179), 14 (.237) and 14 (.345) kills in each frame. The Green and White hit .211 in the match, held Iowa to .106, and out-blocked their hosts 11-7.

Alyssa Chronowski exploded for 13 kills and hit a team-best .545, both highs for any Spartan player since returning from a Covid pause. Naya Gros had nine kills and five blocks, while Rebecka Poljan had a team-best six stuffs and added six kills, hitting .417.

Jamye Cox had a team-bst 18 kills, while Elena Shklyar led MSU with 25 assists, a pair of aces, and added seven digs.

Edins Schmidt had 10 kills and four blocks to lead her squad, while Courtney Buzzerio contributed nine kills and 19 assists, just missing a double-double.

MSU is now 3-9, while Iowa is 3-13.

The teams wrap the season series on Saturday. The match begins at 6 pm CT/7 pm ET.

PLAYER HIGHS

Alyssa Chronowski led the Spartans in kills (13) and hitting percentage (.545).
Lauren Swartz hit .467, putting down eight kills, four blocks, and three digs.
Rebecka Poljan led all blockers with six, and also contributed six assists and hit .417.

STATS AND STORYLINES

MSU's two setters, Celia Cullen and Elena Shklyar, had 21 and 25 assists, and Shklyar had seven digs and a pair of aces. MSU had 50 assists, the second game this season the team reached that total.
The Spartans had more energy in their lineup than in last weekend's return from the Covid pause. MSU hit .211, its highest hitting percentage since its last win, which came on the road at Maryland on Feb. 13 (.269). The Spartans also had their first double-digit blocking effort (11).
Jamye Cox got back into double-digit digs with 18.
The Spartans served strong, with a season-low five service errors.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: The home team built a big early lead at 12-6, using a 6-1 run to open things up from their 6-3 lead. MSU never could quite string together a run until trailing 16-9, when a Swartz kill, Shklyar ace, and Norris termination helped the Spartans pull within four (17-13). MSU stayed within striking distance, trailing by three at 20-17, but a 5-1 run for the Hawkeyes closed out the first set victory.

SET TWO: Michigan State had a much stronger start to the second frame, as an 8-2 run opened up a tie score at 5-5. The Spartans owned their largest lead (six) at 22-16 on a kill by Norris, and then got to set point at 24-17 – but the Hawks would not concede on their home floor. Iowa fended off four straight set points – two on Spartan errors, and two more on a block and a kill by Edina Schmidt. The Spartans called a time out to slow the momentum, but Schmidt put down her fifth kill of the night out of the break to make it 24-22. Lauren Swartz terminated – her fifth of the night as well - to allow MSU to close out the set.

SET THREE: Trailing 7-6, MSU scored the next five points on a Jamye Cox service run, which featured a pair of kills from Chronowski, one from Kabengele, and a service ace by the libero. The Spartans kept the pressure on to start to pull away, as Shklyar fed Swartz for a pair of kills and MSU also got an ace from Poljan that pushed the lead out to 17-10. MSU won the race to 20 on kills by Gros and Chronowski, and the Hawkeyes called time out in an effort to slow the Spartans, who held a 20-12 edge. After the break, Chronowski capped the set for MSU with a pair of kills and a block, giving MSU the 25-13 set victory and 2-1 edge in the match. Chronowski had five kills in the frame to lead all players.

SET FOUR: Both Meredith Norris and Jamye Cox had four-point service runs early, but it didn't give MSU much separation - MSU had some help with Iowa errors during Norris' first service run, and the Spartan block came alive in Cox's with back-to-back stuffs from Poljan and Chronowski. The teams battled point for point through the teens, with Iowa taking a brief three-point edge at 18-15, triggering a Spartan time out. Out of that break, Kabengele put down consecutive kills, and Chronowski tied it up at 19-all. In the final stretch, MSU got two kills and a block from Meredith Norris to get MSU to set point, and was able to seal the victory 25-21. The Spartans had just four hitting errors – two on Iowa blocks and put up four stuffs of their own, three from Poljan.

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Team Stats

Alyssa Chronowski

Naya Gros

Lauren Swartz

Meredith Norris

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Naya Gros

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Naya Gros

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz