Rutgers Visits Jenison For Volleyball Finale


Michigan State (3-10) vs. Rutgers (4-14)
Opponent	R utgers
Dates	Friday/Saturday April 2/3, 6 pm each night
Facility	Jenison Field House
Radio	Spartan Media Network; John Kreger pxp Listen Friday \| L isten Saturday
Television	none
Webstream	Watch Friday (BTN+) \| Watch Saturday (BTN+)
Live Statistics	Click Here
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Rutgers
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram
Coverage	Watch this week's Coach George Press Conference

The Fine Print:
• Michigan State finishes its 2021 spring season this weekend when it hosts Rutgers on Friday and Saturday. Both matches are at 6 pm.

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Media Network. The Spartan Media Network broadcasts began on January 31 at home against Ohio State.

• MSU came off a month-long pause for Covid issues with series at home vs. No. 12 Penn State (March 19-20) and then traveled to Iowa last weekend for a two-game set with Iowa. The Spartans took the first match 3-1, but fell in a tight three-setter on Saturday, 3-0.

• The spring 2021 volleyball schedule in the Big Ten conference will consist of , 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 Nebraska or Indiana in spring 2021.

• Rutgers enters the weekend at 4-14, but swept Maryland last weekend at home for its first-ever sweep of a weekend since joining the Big Ten. Caitlin Schweihofer is in her first season as the mentor for the Scarlet Knights.

• MSU leads the all-time series with Rutgers by an 11-0 margin, with just one of those matches played prior to the Scarlet Knights joining the league. The teams met just once in 2019, a 3-0 home victory for the Spartans. MSU is 6-0 against Rutgers in Jenison Field House.

• MSU will honor six seniors after Saturday's match against the Scarlet Knights: Alyssa Chronowski, Julia Hatcher, Bella Legarza, Meredith Norris, Elena Shklyar, and Lauren Swartz. Legarza did not play for MSU this spring as she graduated in December. Swartz earned her undergrad as well as her graduate degree from MSU, and Elena Shklyar will graduate this May with her journalism degree after just six semesters at the school.

Team Notes:
• MSU traveled to Iowa last weekend and came away with a split with the Hawkeyes. MSU took the Friday match 3-1, but fell on Saturday 3-0.

• The Spartans were 2-7 at the time of the Covid pause, having most recently come off a three-game week where MSU played Michigan midweek and twice against Wisconsin, the No. 1 team in the nation. MSU resumed play March 19-20 against the No. 12 team in the country, Penn State.

• MSU had its first two double-digit blocking performances of the season against the Hawkeyes, posting 11 and 12, respectively, on Friday and Saturday.

• 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. Six teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 11: Wisconsin (1), Minnesota (4), Nebraska (5), Ohio State (9), Purdue (10), and Penn State (11).

• MSU is 0-7 at home and 3-3 on the road (2-0 at Maryland, 0-2 at Minnesota, 1-1 at Iowa). The Spartans have played No. 9 Ohio State, No. 1 Wisconsin, No. 12 Penn State, and Michigan at home.

• 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:
• Only three players have appeared in all 13 matches for MSU: setter Celia Cullen, libero Jamye Cox, and middle Naya Gros. Gros and Cox are the only two to have started all nine.

• Alyssa Chronowski hit a career best .545 in the first match against the Hawkeyes, and finished with a season-best 13 kills, five digs, and four blocks. She followed that up with five kills and three blocks on Saturday. On the year, she's averaging 1.56 kills, 0.63 digs, and 0.43 blocks per frame.

• Meredith Norris tied her season high when she had eight kills in the second match at Iowa. She averaged 2.14 kills, 2.00 digs, and added three blocks in the series overall, and on the season averages 1.53 kills and 1.56 digs per set. She is also tied for third on the team in service aces (6).

• Lauren Swartz was one of MSU's top hitters in the Iowa series, hitting .333 with 1.86 kills per frame and adding six digs and six blocks. She;s MS's top hitter with a .297 percentage on the season.

• Naya Gros averaged 1.71 kills and 1.57 blocks per set in the Iowa series. In game one, she tied her season best with nine kills and added five blocks; she came back on Saturday with match-high six stuffs. On the season, Gros has averaged 1.54 kills and leads the squad with 0.98 blocks per set, good for 15th in the B1G.

• Gros' career average of 1.16 blocks per set ranks seventh on MSU's career list, and is close to on par with the career average of two-time All-American Alyssa Garvelink, who averaged 1.21 blocks per set from 2014-17. Gros' 274 career block assists is 55 shy of getting her into MSU's all-time top 10 in that category, and her 323 total blocks is just 65 away from joining MSU's top-10 all-time list.

• Rebecka Poljan has started all 11 matches in which she has appeared, and is averaging 1.24 kills and 0.62 blocks per set and leads the team with a .248 hitting percentage. She led the squad with six blocks and added six kills in the first match vs. Iowa, and added three kills and two stuffs in game two. She hit over .400 in both games.

• Senior libero Jamye Cox had double-digit dig performances at Iowa, averaging 4.57 over the two matches. She is averaging 3.72 digs per set on the season, good for ninth in the Big Ten.

• Cox ranks fourth all-time at MSU in career digs (1,384) and fourth in career digs per set (3.77). Ahead of her on the all-time digs list is Kori Moster (2,218, 2011-14), Veronica Morales (1,484, 1994-97), and Jill Crumm (1,466 1986-89).
• Freshman setter Celia Cullen has posted three matches with 40 assists or more, including her season best of 50 in the first match at Maryland. She ranks ninth in the Big Ten in assists per set (7.85), and is also averaging 1.89 digs and is tied for third on the team in service aces (6).

• Elena Shklyar averaged 5.57 assists per set last weekend as MSU returned to a 6-2, and added 1.29 digs per frame. Overall on the season, she ranks second on the team with seven aces, and adds 2.19 assists and 0.66 digs per frame.

• Emma Monks came off the bench in the third set of Saturday's match against Iowa and produced four kills and four blocks in the frame. In seven matches, Monks is averaging 1.5 kills and 0.75 blocks per frame.

• Lauryn Gibbs has seen a significant increase in her defensive role for MSU. She tied her season best with eight digs in the second game at Iowa and averaged 1.86 per set in the series. On the year, she's averaging 0.34 assists and 1.29 digs per frame.

• Biamba Kabengele had nine kills, six digs and five blocks in the Iowa series. She's averaging 2.16 kills per set on the season over nine matches. She has five aces on the season, all coming in a win at Maryland, the second-most aces in a single game for a Big Ten player this season.

• Molly Johnson has appeared in nine matches this season, and is averaging 1.42 kills and 0.37 blocks per set on the year.

• Talia Edmonds missed the entire Penn State series and most of the Iowa matches with illness, playing sparingly in the second match vs. the Hawkeyes. She's averaging 1.23 digs per set. Edmonds returned to the court after missing the 2019 season with an injury.

• Cecilee Max-Brown missed Friday's match vs. Penn State as well as the Iowa series. On the year, she is averaging 2.16 kills per set and also contributing 1.08 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 Sarah Franklin will miss the remainder of the season with an arm injury. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after the Maryland series, and currently ranks seventh in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.81) and eighth in points per set (4.13). She is second in the league and 26th nationally in attempts per set (12.12). She is averaging 2.18 digs per set as a six-rotation player, second on the team behind libero Jamye Cox.

• Franklin had two 20-kill efforts in her final three matches, as well as delivering a pair of double-doubles. Her 3.82 kills per set would rank third in the MSU freshman record book. Only six players have previously averaged better than three kills per set in their freshman season: Veronica Morales, Jenna Wrobel, Kim Schram, Becky Belanger, Jenny Rood, and Erin Hartley.

• Senior Julia Hatcher has missed her senior season with the same injuries that have hampered her playing time in previous seasons.

• Freshmen Lia Moore and Grace Danziger have not yet played for the Spartans in 2021. As a January 2021 enrollee, Danziger is not eligible to play until the fall 2021 campaign.

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Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Grace Danziger

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Alyssa Garvelink

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Julia Hatcher

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Bella Legarza

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Lia Moore

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz