Volleyball Aims to Peak in Final Week of Regular Season

EAST LANSING, Mich. – After splitting a pair of matches last weekend, the Michigan State volleyball team will conclude its season at home this week with matches against Rutgers and Iowa. The Spartans get the week started on Wednesday, Nov. 23 when it welcomes the Scarlet Knights to the Breslin Center at 6:00 p.m. MSU will put a bow on its 2022 campaign on Saturday, Nov. 26 when Iowa comes to town for a 2:00 p.m. match.

Both matches will be streamed on B1G+, with John Kreger calling the action on the Spartan Radio Network.

ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers is 8-22 this season with a 2-16 mark in Big Ten play. The Scarlet Knights have lost five straight after a 3-0 win over Iowa on Nov. 4 at Jersey Mike's Arena. Rutgers previously defeated the Spartans in five sets earlier this season in the opening week of B1G play. Caitlin Schweihofer guides Rutgers in her third season, with a career record of 95-165 and a mark of 22-57 since arriving in Piscataway, N.J.

The Scarlet Knights rank No. 293 nationally in hitting percentage (.165) and No. 295 in opponent hitting percentage (.240). Rutgers is No. 313 in kills per set (10.76), No. 310 in assists per set (10.03) and No. 314 in digs per set (12.27).

Alissa Kinkela is the team's top outside averaging 2.67 kills per set on .217 hitting. Taylor Humphery averages 2.53 kills per set on .086 hitting. Lauren DeLo and Alyssa Nayar have each been setting in Rutgers' system as of late with DeLo averaging 6.72 assists per set.

Madyson Chitty leads Rutgers in digs per set (2.75) and total digs (283) while Lucy Malone also averages over two digs per set at 2.20.

Rutgers ranks No. 155 nationally in blocks per set led by 1.04 blocks per set by tina Grkovic and 1.02 blocks per set by Megan Vernon. Vernon leads the team in total blocks with 102 (17 solo, 85 assisted).

Michigan State is 13-3 against Rutgers all-time with a 7-2 record when meeting in East Lansing. MSU enters the weekend looking to avenge a loss to the Scarlet Knights earlier this season.

ABOUT IOWA
Iowa is 8-21 this season with a 2-16 mark in Big Ten action. This is the first and only meeting between the two teams during the 2022 season. Iowa has lost two straight after a senior day sweep of Rutgers on Nov. 13. Jim Barnes is in his first season as head coach of the Hawkeyes after recent stints at Tulane and Baylor. Barnes is looking to right the ship in Iowa City with a career coaching record of 463-366 and a winning record at every previous coaching stop. Hawkeye assistant coach Aubrey Becker is the wife of Michigan State assistant coach Mike Becker.

The Hawkeyes rank No. 237 nationally in hitting percentage (.186) and No. 294 in opponent hitting percentage (.239). Iowa ranks No. 184 in kills per set (12.34), No. 212 in assists per set (11.20), No. 250 in blocks per set (1.81) and No. 199 in digs per set (14.02).

Michelle Urquhart leads the Hawkeyes with 2.54 kills per set on .149 hitting, while Amiya Jones is the points per set leader a 3.39, with 2.47 kills per set on .228 hitting. Delaney McSweeney leads the team in hitting percentage at .289. Lily Tessier and Bailey Ortega set for the Hawkeyes with Tessier averaging 6.72 assists per set followed by Ortega's 3.99.

Mari Hinkle averages 4.01 digs per set for Iowa with 405 total digs this season. Urquhart and Tessier each average over 2.00 digs per set. Jones leads Iowa with .93 blocks per set and 95 total blocks (17 solo, 78 assisted).

Michigan State is 52-28 all-time against the Hawkeyes with a 23-14 record when meeting in East Lansing. The Spartans were defeated by Iowa on Oct. 29, 2021

SPARTAN NOTES
Junior libero Nalani Iosia is closing in on 1,000 career digs, sitting at 975 with four more matches to be played. With 421 digs this season, Iosia recently moved into 10th all-time for single season digs at Michigan State, passing the 2018 performance of Jamye Cox (419). Iosia is 18 digs away from moving into ninth place on that list.

Freshman middle blocker Nil Okur is on pace to finish the season with one of the best hitting percentages by a first-year student-athlete in program history. Okur's .307 hitting percentage would rank fourth all-time by an MSU freshman.

Senior Emma Monks is hitting .348 this season, which would tie for ninth in the MSU single-season record book, matching the mark of Vanessa King in 2007. Jenny Rood hit .346 for the Spartans in 2003.

Fifth year Rebecka Poljan is hitting .288 for her career, which is .002 away from tying Naya Gros for 10th all time at Michigan State at .290.

Freshman Maradith O'Gorman is 11 kills away from a three-way tie for 10 all-time at Michigan State for kills by a freshman with 246. O'Gorman would tie Dana Cooke (1993) and Jennifer Gray (1990). O'Gorman is 14 kills away from ninth place (249) set by Naya Gros in 2018.

Against Northwestern on Sunday, the Spartans scored 82 points with set scores of 25, 28 and 29 to set the program record for the most points in a three-setter under the 25-point scoring system.

Emma Monks, Zoe Nunez and Julia Bishop were all named Academic All-District by College Sports Communicators on Tuesday to qualify them for the Academic All-America ballot. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at their current institution. No student-athlete is eligible until they have completed one full calendar year at their current institution and been on a college roster in that sport for two years. Graduate students who are competing at a different institution than the one from which they earned their undergraduate degree are eligible even if they are in their first semester at the graduate institution.

Joining the team as freshmen next season will be Cameron Berger (Setter/Eden Prairie, Minn.), Makya Clayton (DS/Lee's Summit, Mo.), Zuzanna Kulig (Middle Blocker/Chrzanów, Poland), Karolina Staniszewska (Outside Hitter/Marki, Poland) and Taylah Holdem (Outside Hitter/Christchurch, New Zealand).

Michigan State volleyball set a program single-game attendance record this season, playing in front of the largest crowd in Spartan volleyball history with 7,326 fans in attendance at the Breslin Center on Oct. 14. The crowd broke the previous program record of 6,838 set in 2016. Michigan State currently holds the seventh best average attendance in the country this season and is on pace to continue its streak of consecutive Top 10 finishes (currently six straight) with an average home attendance of 3,302. This is the highest average attendance in program history in just year one of the Leah Johnson coaching era.

LAST TIME OUT – vs. Northwestern (11/20/2022)
Michigan State volleyball completed the season sweep of Northwestern on Sunday afternoon, taking down the Wildcats 3-0 (25-20, 28-26, 29-27). The Spartans didn't drop a set to Northwestern all season, sweeping the Wildcats in each match-up. MSU earned its 12th win of the season to improve upon last season's win total of 11.

Michigan State out-hit the Wildcats .278 to .179 and out-blocked Northwestern 8-4. The Spartan attack was consistent throughout the match as Michigan State hit .300 in set one, .262 in set two and .279 in set three. MSU had six service aces led by a pair from each of junior Nalani Iosia and graduate Zoe Nunez.

Senior Emma Monks set a new career-high in kills in her final career away game with 13. Sophomore Aliyah Moore followed Monks into double-digits with 12, including the match-winner in set three. Fifth year Rebecka Poljan and freshman Maradith O'Gorman each had nine kills. Nunez posted her 10th double-double of the season with 35 kills and 11 digs. Iosia led the team with 18 digs and is 25 digs away 1,000 for her career. Monks and O'Gorman each had five blocks for the Spartans.

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Players Mentioned

Cam Berger

Julia Bishop

Ky Clayton

Taylah Holdem

Nalani Iosia

Zuzanna Kulig

Emma Monks

Aliyah Moore

Zoe Nunez

Maradith O'Gorman

Nil Okur

Rebecka Poljan