B1G Play Gets Underway at Indiana, Michigan


B1G Week One - Spartans at Indiana, at [RV] Michigan
at Indiana	Friday Sept. 24 - 7 pm Wilkinson Hall, Bloomington, Ind.
at [RV] Michigan	Sunday, Sept. 26 - 1 pm Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Radio	Spartan Media Network; John Kreger, pxp Listen Live
Television	none
Webstreams (B1G+/$)	at Indiana \| at Michigan
Live Statistics	at Indiana \| at Michigan
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Indiana \| Michigan
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram
Media	Watch the Cathy George Press Conference

THE WEEKEND AHEAD
• MSU opens Big Ten play with four straight road matches, starting on Friday when the Spartans take on Indiana in Bloomington. On Sunday, MSU travels for the first meeting with arch rival Michigan this season - a match which will be played at Crisler Center.

• Both matches this weekend will have a live video webstream on BTN+. MSUSpartans.com has links to all live statistics and webstreams.

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Sports Network. He will both MSU matches this weekend.

• The Spartans went 2-1 in each of the first two weekends of non-conference tournaments before sweeping the final weekend with wins against Oakland, IUPUI, and Central Michigan in last weekend's Green & White Classic.

• Indiana is 6-6 on the season, dropping five of its last six matches over the last two weeks. IU and the Spartans have just one common opponent in Western Michigan - a team MSU swept 3-0 but defeated the Hoosiers, 3-2.

• MSU is 53-31 all-time against the Hoosiers, with the last meetings of the teams coming back in 2019 when each squad won on its home court. The Spartans have won five of the last six in the series.

• Steve Aird is in his fourth year as the head coach of the Hoosiers and previously coached Maryland for four seasons after coming up as an assistant at Penn State. He is 39-55 during his IU tenure.

• Mark Rosen is in his 23rd season at Michigan and 30th overall as a head coach. With a career mark of 649-313 and nearly 450 victories at Michigan, he is among the top win-producers in Big Ten history.

• Michigan enters its Friday matchup at Minnesota with a 7-2 record. Like MSU, Michigan earned three victories in a home tournament last weekend.

• MSU leads the all-time series with the Wolverines by a 54-46-1 mark, which includes a 35-15 mark in games played in East Lansing. Michigan has won six straight in the series after eight seasons of splitting the annual two meetings of the teams. The squads met just once during the Covid-19 altered 2020-21 season.

• In 1990, Michigan State and Michigan began a "State Pride" season series to celebrate the in-state rivalry. A State of Michigan flag, bearing the state motto "Tuebor" (`I Will Defend') serves as the trophy for winner of the head-to-head meetings of the two teams. The squads shared the Flag in 2014 as both tiebreakers (set wins, and then total points) were even. MSU had won or shared the Flag in six straight seasons (2010-15) before Michigan claimed the Flag from 2016-20. The teams met just once in 2020-21.

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

• The Spartans had a pair of .300 team hitting performances last weekend, their fourth and fifth overall. On the year, MSU is hitting .259, which ranks seventh in the Big Ten. MSU has limited its opponents to a .146 hitting percentage against, which is sixth in the B1G and 27th nationally.

• MSU is averaging 2.45 blocks per set, good for ninth in the B1G and 52nd nationally. Opponents are averaging just 1.40 blocks against MSU, a n average of a +1.05 differential.

• With an average of 1.63 service aces per set, the Spartans rank sixth in the Big Ten.

• MSU has led in kills in eight of its nine matches, and has been tied or led in blocks in eight as well. The Spartans are a perfect 7-0 when leading in hitting percentage, and have allowed just one opponent to hit .200 or better.

• Six of MSU's seven victories have come by 3-0 scores, and the seventh a 3-1 triumph in its last time out against Central Michigan. Both of MSU's losses are to either a ranked team (No. 13 BYU) or a team receiving votes in the AVCA poll (Wright State).

• Michigan State completed the non-conference portion of the schedule with a 7-2 record, having won its final three matches. MSU's two losses came in five sets (to RV Wright State) and three sets to No. 13 BYU.

• MSU has gone 148-30 (.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.

• 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 currently ranks ninth in overall attendance this season, list which features six B1G teams among the top 15 attendance draws. The Spartans are 15th nationally in average attendance through the non-conference season (2,242).

• 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 663-441 overall record. She also ranks 45th all-time in head coaching victories.

PLAYER NOTES
• Four players have appeared in all nine matches for MSU thus far: Naya Gros, Rebecka Poljan, Cecilee Max-Brown, and Talia Edmonds. Only Max-Brown and Edmonds have started all nine.

• MSU returned a trio of middle blockers which includes two three-year starters in Gros and Rebecka Poljan, as well as junior Emma Monks. It has proven to be MSU's deepest and most prolific position.

• Poljan hit .439 on the weekend and averaged 3.10 kills and 0.90 blocks per set. She added four digs and four service aces, averaging 13.3 points per set over the three matches to earn All-Tournament Team honors.

• Poljan has hit .500 or better with at least seven kills in four of MSU's nine matches, including twice over the last three.

• Poljan is leading her team with a .473 hitting percentage on the season, ranking third in the B1G and fifth nationally. She's second on the team in blocks (0.85/s), third in both kills (2.74/s) and aces (0.37/s).

• Poljan had career bests of 14 kills, two aces, three solo blocks, and a .778 hitting percentage (14-0-18) vs. Weber State, which is the best hitting percentage of any Big Ten player in a match this season.

• Naya Gros ranks second in the Big Ten and third nationally with 1.77 blocks per set on the season. She is averaging 1.50 kills per set as well.

• Gros earned All-Tournament Team honors last weekend with 2.10 kills and 1.50 blocks pe rframe, hitting a team-best .567.

• Gros has a pair of single-match performances which both rank among the top 10 in the Big Ten this season. She put up 10 blocks against Dixie State (second), and had seven block assists in the most recent game against Central Michigan, which ranks in a tie for 10th.

• Gros' five solo blocks vs. Dixie State (Sept. 3) tied the record for solo stuffs in a three-set match, last accomplished by Alyssa Garvelink vs. Michigan in 2015. Her 10 total blocks in the contest tied for the fifth-highest total in a three-set match, last posted by Sarah Gustin vs. Northwestern in 1998. The school record of 12 total blocks in a three-setter is held by Alexis Matthews vs. Michigan (November 2010).

• Gros' career average of 1.22 blocks per set ranks fourth on MSU's career list, and is on par with the career average of most recent two-time All-American Alyssa Garvelink, who averaged 1.21 blocks per set from 2014-17. Gros' 320 career block assists is nine shy of getting her into MSU's all-time top 10 in that category, and her 378 total blocks is just 10 away from joining MSU's top-10 all-time list.

• Monks led MSU with three solo blocks in the Spartans' first home tournament. On the year, she's hitting .463, averaging 1.91 kills and 0.55 blocks per frame in five matches.

• Redshirt freshman Sarah Franklin shared Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the week of Sept. 13-18. In last weekend's matches, she earned Tournament MVP kudos as she averaged 4.2 kills and hit .320, adding 2.10 digs and 0.6 blocks per frame. She was perfect in 36 serve-receive opportunities. She returned to the active roster after an injury derailed her spring 2021.

• A six-rotation player, Franklin put down a career-best 21 kills and added 10 digs for her second double-double of the season in the weekend finale vs. Central Michigan, and also had tied her previous season best with 13 kills in the weekend opening victory over Oakland, where she just missed a double-double with nine digs. The 21 kills is the fourth-best single-game performance in the Big Ten this season.

• Franklin is ranked 10th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.56), and she is 12th in points per frame (4.06). Her 2.33 digs per set is tied for second on the team, and she is also chipping in 0.59 blocks.

• Cecilee Max-Brown is one of two six-rotation players for the Spartans. In nine starts, she's averaging 2.90 kills, 2.23 digs, and 0.43 blocks. She has been the top target in MSU's serve receive (223 chances).

• Max-Brown delivered 2.5 kills, 2.7 digs, and 0.40 blocks per set last weekend in MSU's victories. She dug up 14 balls in the finale vs. Central Michigan, her career best.

• Junior Biamba Kabengele has started five of six matches for the Spartans, and is averaging career bests in both kills (2.6) and digs (2.3) this season. She had a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs against Wright State, establishing a new career best in digs.

• Molly Johnson averaged 1.50 digs, 1.0 kills, and 0.8 blocks per set in MSU's three victories last weekend, adding four service aces.

• Johnson has appeared in seven of MSU's nine matches, starting two. She's averaging 1.19 kills per set, ranks eighth in the B1G in service aces (0.44), and is averaging 0.50 blocks and 1.94 digs per frame.

• MSU's most youthful position is at setter, but both sophomore incumbent Celia Cullen and freshman Julia Bishop have seen significant action.

• Cullen ranks fifth in the Big Ten with 10.77 assists per frame, and is averaging 0.32 aces, 2.32 digs, and 0.55 blocks as well.

• Cullen's four service aces against Dixie State (Sept. 3) is the second-most for a B1G athlete in a match this season.

• Cullen, Franklin, and Max-Brown each have a pair of double-doubles this season, with Cullen's coming against Western Michigan (33a, 10d) and Dixie State (34a, 10d). Max-Brown's are against Wright State (14k 10d) and Weber State (12k, 10d), while Franklin added her second this weekend vs. Central Michigan (21k, 10d) after posting one in the five-setter vs. Wright State. Biamba Kabengele also had one against the Raiders, (11k, 11d)

• Bishop made her first career start at Brigham Young, delivering 26 assists, seven digs, and two blocks; she also recorded four kills on seven attempts without an error.

• Bishop saw the most time as a back-row specialist in the Green & White Classic, starting two matches. Overall on the year, she has started three of the six matches in which she has appeared, and is averaging 4.33 assists, 1.06 digs.

• Redshirt junior and captain Talia Edmonds earned the libero jersey this season, and has responded with a team-best 3.90 digs per set, which is good for 10th in the Big Ten. She is second on the team in service aces (8), and adding 0.83 assists per set.

• Edmonds averaged 3.40 digs per frame in the Green & White Classic, and had 19 digs in the finale vs. Central Michigan - two shy of her career best of 21 she had vs. Weber State (Sept. 3). Those 21 is the fifth highest in a match this season by a B1G player.

• First-year DS Grace Danziger played in two of the last three matches for MSU, posting a pair of digs and an ace on the final day vs. IUPUI and Central Michigan. She is averaging 0.54 digs per set and has two aces.

• Freshman outside Eleanor Stothoff saw her first action in a Green & White jersey in the match against BYU, and her first career kill came as match point in the win over Central Michigan..

• Senior Lauryn Gibbs has missed the beginning of the season 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.

• Abby Olin and Lia Moore did not appear in any non-conference matches for medical reasons. Olin will miss the entire season with injury. Freshman middle Aubrey O'Gorman is behind a deep, talented group of veterans.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Julia Bishop

Celia Cullen

Grace Danziger

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Lauryn Gibbs

Naya Gros

Molly Johnson

Biamba Kabengele

Cecilee Max-Brown

Emma Monks

Lia Moore

Aubrey O'Gorman

Abby Olin

Rebecka Poljan

Eleanor Stothoff