MSU Falls To Rutgers In Five-Set Battle

GAME CAPSULE

In a battle that lasted more than two and a half hours, Rutgers outlasted Michigan State, 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 22-25, 14-16) on Friday night at Jenison Field House.

Rutgers won the battle at the service line, rolling up 14 aces in a match which the Spartans lost their combined three sets by seven points. The Scarlet Knights slightly out-hit MSU (.206-.192), and each team had 12 blocks on the night. The match featured 48 tie scores and 30 lead changes over the five sets as the teams fought through the five-setter.

Rutgers had four players in double figures, with two posting double-doubles: Beka Kojadinovic (15 kills, 12 assists) and Anastasiia Maksimova (12 kills, 11 digs, four blocks).

The Spartans had several season and career bests, led by a season-best 18 kills for Alyssa Chronowski, who also hit .217 and added three blocks (one solo). Cecilee Max-Brown and Becka Poljan each had nine terminations, with Poljan adding seven blocks (one solo). Jamye Cox posted 24 digs to establish a season high, and Meredith Norris' 18 digs was a career best.

The Spartans play Rutgers again on Saturday to conclude the season for both teams. Game time is 6 pm.

PLAYER HIGHS

Alyssa Chronowski put down 18 kills, hit .217, and
Becka Poljan had season bests of nine kills and seven blocks.
Cecilee Max-Brown had nine kills and a pair of digs coming off the bench

STATS AND STORYLINES

Jamye Cox contributed a season-best 24 digs. She pushed her career total to 1,408.
Meredith Norris had 18 digs – also a career high – and added three assists
Naya Gros contributed seven kills and four blocks (two solo)
Celia Cullen had 47 assists, four kills, five digs, and a pair of blocks.
Lauren Swartz contributed eight kills, four digs, and two blocks.
Rutgers earned their first win in the all-time series, snapping an 11-game win streak for MSU.
The Spartans played their second five-set match of the season, previously taking Ohio State to five on Feb. 1.
MSU had a season-high 14 reception errors.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: MSU was up 5-2 early on its guests, but Rutgers rallied to take a 7-6 lead, and then went up 13-10 to force MSU into a timeout at the midpoint of the frame. The visitors were hitting .667 (8-0-12) at that point of the set, compared to .267 for the Spartans, who had seven kills against three errors (one Rutgers block). Alyssa Chrononwski was the early hot hand that put down her sixth kill to bring MSU within a pair at 14-12, and a block by Poljan and Johnson tied things up at 14-all. A pair of kills and a block by Maksimova pushed the lead for Rutgers back out to three, and MSU called its second time out. MSU came out of the break with a Norris kill and an ace by Poljan to trim it back down to one. The teams battled point-for-point after MSU won the race to 20, and a service ace followed by a Spartan miscue got Rutgers to set point. Chronowski buried her seventh kill on the next play, but another error on the MSU side ended it, 25-23. MSU hit .194 to Rutgers' .345.

SET TWO: MSU held a 9-7 lead, but Rutgers battled back and went up 14-10 before a block and a kill by Chronowski and an RU error brought the Spartans within a point, 14-13. MSU rallied to go up 17-15 on a Poljan block and Gibbs ace, and maintained the two-point lead through the Rutgers time out and won the race to 20, 20-17, on a Max-Brown termination. MSU got to match point on back-to-back Scarlet Knight errors, and a third straight miscue handed the set to MSU, 25-18. Chronowski added four kills without an error and a dig in the set, while Poljan had to blocks and two kills for MSU, which hit a scorching .480, limiting Rutgers to .207 after a hot first set in which the Scarlet Knights hit .345.

SET THREE: Rutgers went on a 3-0 run to open up a 5-5 deadlock, and held that lead until going up 15-11 on a pair of blocks and an assist, one each coming from Maksimova. MSU called time out, and the Scarlet Knights came out of the break with an ace. After trailing by as many as five, the Spartans rallied to tie things up at 19-19. With 21's on both sides of the scoreboard, Chronowski put down her 15^th kill of the night and Gros followed with a solo block, and MSU finished it off with a Poljan termination, 25-23. MSU hit just .103 in the frame, but got four kills from Chronowski, three from Max-Brown, and four blocks for Gros, including two solo.

SET FOUR: Rutgers ran out to an 8-4 lead in the fourth, forcing MSU into a time out. Two straight RU errors brought the Spartans within two, and then a solo stuff from Poljan and another Scarlet Knight hitting error tied things up at eight-all. Two straight kills from Swartz got MSU back in front at 11-10, but this one had the look from the outset that it would be point-for-point. The teams traded two-point leads to the finish line – tied at 20-20, Rutgers scored four of the next five points – a block, a kill, an ace, and a Spartan error – to get to set point, and even though a kill from Max-Brown made it 24-22, the visitors closed it out. Swartz had four kills for MSU and Poljan had a pair of blocks and three terminations. Rutgers out-blocked the Spartans 5-2 in the frame, and hit .250 to MSU's .085.

SET FIVE: The Spartans had to play catchup for most of the set, as an early 4-0 run gave Rutgers a 6-3 lead. MSU tied things up at 8-8 and 11-11, but led 13-11 when MSU called time out. Swartz and Poljan put up the huge block and Edmonds served up an ace to tie things at 13-all, and it was Rutgers' turn to call time out. Poljan put up her season-best seventh block of the night to get MSU to match point, but Beka Kojadinovic went off the block to tie things up at 14's. A Spartan error and a final ace of the night – the 14^th for Rutgers – ended the match in favor of the visiting Scarlet Knight. Swartz led the Spartans with three kills and added a block.

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Team Stats

Alyssa Chronowski

Rebecka Poljan

Cecilee Max-Brown

Lauren Swartz

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Naya Gros

Cecilee Max-Brown

Meredith Norris

Lauren Swartz

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Celia Cullen

Naya Gros

Cecilee Max-Brown

Meredith Norris

Lauren Swartz