Spartans Head to Utah for BYU Invitational


BYU Invitational
Opponents	Dixie State, Weber State, BYU
Dates	Friday-Saturday, Sept. 3-4, 2021
Facility	Smith Field House, Provo, Utah
Radio	none
Television	none
Webstreams	BYUtv; Download the app
Live Statistics	vs. Dixie State \| vs. Weber State \| vs. BYU
Game Notes	Michigan State \| BYU \| Dixie State \| Weber State
Coverage	Cathy George press conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
• MSU heads west to the BYU Invitational Presented by Zion's Bank this weekend, taking on a trio of Utah institutions. The Spartans will tangle with Dixie State and Weber State on Friday, then take on No. 13 BYU on Saturday.

• All three MSU matches this weekend will have a live video webstream on BYUtv. MSUSpartans.com has links to all live statistics and webstreams for the weekend tournament.

• Michigan State opened its 2021 season withthe Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational last weekend, going 2-1 with wins over Western Michigan and Canisius, falling to [RV] Wright State in a five-set thriller in the finale.

• Dixie State is coached by second-year mentor Camilla Hafoka, who took over the reins of the Trailblazer program after two seasons as an assistant coach. Dixie State is completing its transition to a Division I institution, playing its inaugural season in the spring with a 9-8 record and 8-8 mark in the WAC. The Trailblazers went 0-3 in the opening weekend at Boise State.

• Weber State is under the direction of sixth-year head coach Jeremiah Larson. The defending Big Sky champions went 3-0 last weekend, sweeping Seton Hall and North Dakota at home before a five-set victory at Utah State on Saturday to win the Northern Utah Classic.

• Heather Olmstead is in her sixth season guiding Brigham Young, and her Cougars are ranked 13th in this week's AVCA national poll. The defending WCC champions were chosen to repeat in 2021, and swept Southern Utah, LIU, and UNLV to capture the doTERRA Classic last weekend in Provo.

• While this weekend will be MSU's first-ever meetings against the Dixie State and Weber State, MSU does have a (limited) history against BYU. The only previous meeting came in the 1995 NCAA Tournament - MSU received a first-round bye and defeated the Cougars 3-0 in the second round, played at Jenison Field House. The Spartans went on to advance to the Final Four that season.

TEAM NOTES
• Michigan State enters 2021 with a 16-man roster, which includes four seniors, four juniors, two sophomores, and six freshmen.

• MSU allowed just four points to visiting Canisius in Saturday's 3-0 sweep. That figure is tied for the fewest points allowed by a Big Ten team in a regular-season match: (25-4 done four other times since 2008, most recently by Purdue over Rutgers in 2019).
   The overall record by a B1G team in a 25-point set is held by Penn State, a 25-3 second set victory over Binghamton in a NCAA Tournament Second Round matchup.

• MSU had 20 service aces in the opening weekend, an average of 1.82 per set - that ranks fourth among B1G squads. Michigan State's 11.73 assists per frame is fifth in the league.

• The Spartans opened with two straight-set victories over Western Michigan and Canisius, and then dropped its first sets of the season (and the first match) to Wright State, which was receiving votes in the AVCA poll.

• MSU had 10 service aces in the match against Canisius, but the service line was an Achilles heel in the match against Wright State - the Spartans had 15 service errors in the match.

• Over the first four weeks of the season, the Spartans will play 11 non-conference matches, hosting tournaments Aug. 27-28 (Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational) and Sept. 17-18 (Green & White Classic). On Sept. 10-11, MSU will welcome North Carolina and Duke to Jenison Field House for B1G-ACC Challenge matches, and Labor Day weekend sends the Spartans to Utah to participate in the BYU Invitational.

• Three schools on MSU's non-conference schedule were NCAA Tournament qualifiers in 2020, while five Big Ten teams were selected. As a result of Covid, the NCAA Tournament consisted of just 48 teams in 2020, compared to the usual 64. A 64-team event returns in 2021.

• MSU has gone 143-28 (.844) in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-21), 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.
   MSU welcomed more than 5,000 fans over two days at the Auto-Owners Insurance Invitational, including a crowd of 3,072 for the finale vs. Wright State.

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the 2021 season with 600+ career wins (656), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,309), Nebraska's John Cook (765), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (642). She ranks 13th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 658-440 overall record. She also ranks 45th all-time in head coaching victories.

PLAYER NOTES
• Two of the three players who appeared in all 15 matches a year ago return to the Spartan lineup this season: setter Celia Cullen and middle blocker Naya Gros. All but one player on MSU's roster who played last season started at least two matches.

• MSU returned a trio of middle blockers which includes two three-year starters in Gros and Rebecka Poljan, as well as junior Emma Monks.

• Poljan led the Spartans with a .429 hitting percentage last weekend, putting down 1.88 kills per frame and adding a pair of aces and adding five blocks.

• Monks led MSU with three solo blocks in the home tournament, hit .400, and provided 2.29 kills per set.

• Poljan ranks seventh in the Big Ten with her .429 hitting percentage. Monks ranks 10th.

• Gros averaged 1.57 blocks per set over last weekend's matches, with a pair of solo stuffs. She ranks seventh among B1G blockers, and is tied for third in the league in solo blocks (2)

• 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' 290 career block assists is 39 shy of getting her into MSU's all-time top 10 in that category, and her 343 total blocks is just 45 away from joining MSU's top-10 all-time list.

• Poljan averages 1.7 kills per frame and boasts a .255 hitting percentage over her first three collegiate seasons, averaging 1.0 blocks per set. She ranks second among MSU's returning point scorer behind Gros, as they average 2.4 and 2.5 points per set, respectively.

• Monks started 21 of the 60 matches in which she has appeared over two seasons, and averages 0.8 blocks, 1.4 kills, and a .289 hitting percentage in her career, MSU's active leader in that category. In 2020-21, she posted 1.5 kills and 0.8 blocks per set.

• Monks had a career-best 20 swings in the match vs. Wright State.

• Redshirt freshman Sarah Franklin returned to the active roster after an injury derailed her spring 2021. She contributed 2.91 kills per set, and added 2.45 digs and 0.45 assists over the three matches.

• In the spring 2021 campaign, Franklin was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after the Maryland series, and through her seven matches posted 3.81 kills per set and 4.13 points per set - both would have ranked sixth in the Big Ten last season. She also averaged 2.18 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Franklin tied her career best with three blocks vs. Canisius.

• Cecilee Max-Brown led MSU with 3.18 kills per frame on the weekend, hitting .181 and adding 1.64 digs. Both she and Franklin play all six rotations. Last year, Max-Brown averaged 2.3 kills and 1.1 digs per set, contributing six service aces. The junior transferred to MSU from Oregon State after her freshman season.

• Biamba Kabengele started all three matches for MSU, averaging 2.33 kills and displaying the hard work she's put into her defensive game with 2.33 digs per frame. She also led MSU with four service aces over the three matches.

• Kabengele had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs against Wright State, establishing a new career best in digs for the junior.

• Kabengele appeared in 10 matches a year ago after exploding in the final third of her freshman season. She averaged 2.3 kills per set and hit better than .200 as a freshman.

• Molly Johnson appeared in two matches last weekend, and averaged 5.0 digs and 1.4 kills per set.

• MSU's most youthful position is at setter, but both sophomore incumbent Celia Cullen and freshman Julia Bishop saw action last weekend.

• Cullen started all three matches, and put up 9.33 assists, 3.50 digs, and two aces over six sets. Bishop came off the bench in the final two matches and posted 9.8 assists, 1.0 digs, and added five kills on five attempts. Bishop had 27 assists in three sets against Wright State, while Cullen's high was 33 over three sets in the opener against Western Michigan.

• Cullen played six of MSU's 11 sets, and her 9.33 assists per set ranks eighth in the Big Ten. With five sets (of 11) Bishop does not meet the 50% of sets played threshold, but would rank just ahead of Cullen with 9.8 assist per frame.

• Cullen played in all 55 of MSU's sets in 15 matches a year ago, alternating between a 6-1 and 5-2 offense. She contributed 7.98 assists per frame, while contributing 1.7 digs per set and adding seven assists.

• Cullen posted the first double-double of the MSU season with 33 assists and 10 digs. Three players followed suit in the Wright State match: Max-Brown (14 kills, 10 digs), Franklin (12 kills 14 digs) and Kabengele (11 kills, 11 digs, .261 hitting percentage).

• Redshirt junior and captain Talia Edmonds wore the libero jersey for the first three matches of her career last weekend. She responded with a team-best 3.45 digs per set, and she added 12 assists (1.09/s) and three service aces.

• Edmonds, who missed the entire 2019 season with an injury, played in 12 matches a year ago. She contributed 1.16 digs per frame, and 12 service aces over her first 31 career matches.

• Senior Lauryn Gibbs missed opening weekend with an injury. She had seen a significant increase in her defensive role for MSU, and in 2020-21 averaged 0.36 assists and 1.28 digs per frame. She had the third-most service aces and boasted a .934 percentage. She has played in 63 matches (179 sets) over her first three seasons, averaging 1.4 digs and 0.2 assists per frame.

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Players Mentioned

Julia Bishop

Celia Cullen

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Rebecka Poljan