Spartans Drop Season Finale to Rutgers

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State fell to Rutgers in the season finale for both teams,falling by a 3-1 decision (15-25, 25-16, 22-25, 24-26) on Friday night at Jenison Field House.

MSU had three with double-digit kills: Cecilee Max-Brown (13 K, seven digs), Alyssa Chronowski (11 kills, five blocks, three digs, .385 hitting pct.) and Rebecka Poljan (11 kills, three blocks). Senior Meredith Norris had 12 digs, while Jamye Cox led all players with 12.

The Scarlet Knights kept MSU off balance for the second straight match, recording 17 service aces – 10 from the arm of Beka Kojadinovic, who also had 11 kills and nine digs for the near triple-double. Anastasia Maksimova had 10 kills, 13 digs, and three aces for Rutgers, (6-14).

MSU ends the season with a 3-12 overall record. The Spartans celebrated six seniors at the conclusion of the contest: Alyssa Chronowski, Julia Hatcher, Bella Legarza, Meredith Norris, Elena Shklyar, and Lauren Swartz.

PLAYER HIGHS

Cecilee Max-Brown put down 13 kills and had seven digs.
Becka Poljan had season bests of 11 kills and added three blocks, hitting .292.
Alyssa Chronowski had 11 kills, shared the team lead with five blocks, and hit .385.

STATS AND STORYLINES

Naya Grs led all players with a .636 hitting percentage on the night (7-0-11), and shared the team lead with five blocks.
Biamba Kabengele had eight kills off the bench, hitting .389.
Jamye Cox had match-high 16 digs after a season-best 24 on Friday.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Rutgers ran out to a 11-6 lead on the strength of six service aces, as both teams hit over .500 early and Rutgers maintained the five-point lead into a 15-10 score. Rutgers pulled away to get to set point at 24-14, derailed only by a service error on set point; a total of nine service aces for Rutgers was the difference in a 25-15 win for the visitors in the first set. Both Cecilee Max-Brown and Rebecka Poljan had three kills in the set, and MSU had just two hitting errors (11-2-17).

SET TWO: The teams were within two points jostling for control until MSU went on a 5-0 run that made it 13-10, forcing Rutgers to call a time out. MSU got two kills from Max-Brown and one from Poljan in the sequence. Rutgers got back to tie it at 14-14 on a run of their own, with three kills and an ace, and MSU called time to regroup. From there, MSU went on a 8-2 run, weathering out-of-system storms and settling down on serve receive. Poljan got hot with a kill and a block, Naya Gros and Biamba Kabengele each had two kills. Elena Shklyar dumped it on two at set point for the 25-16 victory to tie the match 1-1. MSU hit .286, getting three kills each from Chronowski, Max-Brown and Poljan.

SET THREE: Rutgers jumped out to a four-point edge with three early service aces (11-7), and after an MSU time out, the Spartans scored three straight with some help from two RU errors. The Scarlet Knights righted their ship and scored five straight to make it 16-10, and grew their lead to eight at 22-14. The Spartans scored six of the next seven points – on two kills from Max-Brown and a pair of blocks by Gros – to pull within three at 23-20, forcing Rutgers to call time out. Rutgers got the side out emerging from the break, but back-to-back kills from Chronowsksi made it 24-22, and the Scarlet Knights called their second time out. Rutgers sealed the three-point edge out of the break, and took a 2-1 match lead.. MSU rallied to hit .258 in the set, with four kills each from Chronowski and Max-Brown. Rutgers had six aces in the set to bump their match total to 16, and hit .229.

SET FOUR: MSU pulled ahead 10-7 on the strength of seven kills and a .462 hitting percentage, using two kills from Gros and a kill and a block from Chronowski. MSU led by five at 12-7, but Rutgers scored five out of the next six points (with some help from a pair of Spartan miscues) to come within a point at 13-12, and the home team called time out. Rutgers tied things up at 16-16, and at 19-19, the Spartans called a time out. MSU took the lead 24-22 on a pair of Kabengele kills, but the visitors closed it out on a 4-0 run – helped by a trio of Spartan miscues – to take the set 26-24 and the match 3-1. Kabengele had five of her eight kills in the final set, while Gros and Max-Brown each totaled three.

Team Stats

Cecilee Max-Brown

Alyssa Chronowski

Rebecka Poljan

Biamba Kabengele

Players Mentioned

Alyssa Chronowski

Jamye Cox

Naya Gros

Julia Hatcher

Biamba Kabengele

Bella Legarza

Cecilee Max-Brown

Meredith Norris

Rebecka Poljan

Elena Shklyar

Lauren Swartz