Saturday, August 27
East Lansing, Mich.
12:00 pm
Michigan State University
2-0,0-0Big Ten
3
vs
2
Eastern Michigan
0-3,0-0MAC
1
2
3
4
5
F
Eastern Mich.
14
25
23
25
8
2
Michigan St.
25
18
25
22
15
3
Volleyball Defeats EMU, Fairfield to Claim Spartan Invitational Championship
8/28/2022 12:05:00 AM | Volleyball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State volleyball program was named champion of the 2022 Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational on Saturday night after a sweep of Fairfield gave the Spartans a spotless 3-0 record for the weekend. MSU defeated Eastern Michigan in five sets on Saturday afternoon (25-14, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-8) before quickly dispatching the Stags in the nightcap (25-15, 25-21, 25-13).
Sophomore Aliyah Moore and freshman Maradith O'Gorman paced the Spartans with 16 kills apiece in Michigan State's five-set thriller against Eastern Michigan. Fifth-year Rebecka Poljan added 11 kills, while senior Emma Monks had nine in addition to a team-high seven blocks. Junior Nalani Iosia was a steady presence for the Spartans with a team-best 13 digs, and fifth-year Zoe Nunez successfully set up the MSU attack on 49 occasions.
Playing in their second five-set match of the weekend, Michigan State once again rose to the occasion, hitting .400 in the fifth set while holding EMU to a .000 hitting percentage when it mattered most.
After going down 0-2 in their first match of the season, Michigan State saw steady progress throughout the weekend, culminating with the 3-0 win over reigning MAAC champion Fairfield.
"One of the most significant improvements between the two days of the tournament was our middle connection," Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson said. "Becka and Zoe found a tempo that worked, and we saw that benefit for sure. I think our service pressure at the start of the Fairfield match was closer to where we want it, whereas yesterday we started set one slow."
Poljan led the team with 15 kills in the match against Fairfield, hitting a team best .429 while adding four blocks. Moore joined Poljan with 11 kills, extending her streak of double-digit kill performances to start the season. Nunez posted a game-high 38 assists and Iosia added 18 digs.
Freshman Evie Doezema had the best game of her young career against the Stags, finding eight kills and hitting .353. Doezema and O'Gorman each found success from behind the service line with three aces each. Making her collegiate debut was freshman Nil Okur who started in the middle. Okur had six kills and two aces for the Spartans.
Michigan State's ability to go on a run was a key to success on Saturday night as the Spartans used big scoring runs to pull away in each set. MSU trailed Fairfield in set one, 13-11, before scoring eight unanswered points. In the second, the Spartans went down 18-13 before calling a timeout. Eventually going on another 8-0 run to take a 21-18 lead.
"During that first timeout we talked about cleaning up our side of the net," Johnson said. "Fairfield was doing some nice things, and teams are going to do good things and score points, but we were creating our own chaos instead of forcing a team to do that to us. The team cleaned up some of their fundamentals and it totally changed the score. We got two timeouts in the same rotation which is a big deal."
The Spartans used a handful of 4-0 runs to build a comfortable lead over Fairfield in the third set, before eventually using a 7-0 run to seal the deal.
NOTABLES:
UP NEXT: Michigan State travels to Annapolis, Md. for the Kristen Dickmann Invitational, held Friday, September 2 through Saturday, September 3 at the United State Naval Academy. The Spartans will face UAlbany on Friday morning before meeting host Navy on Friday night. Michigan State wraps up its time at the invite with a match against VCU at noon on Saturday.
2022 Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational All-Tournament Team
MVP: Nalani Iosia, Michigan State
Maradith O'Gorman, Michigan State
Zoe Nunez, Michigan State
Mya Wilson, Louisiana
Celeste Darling, Louisiana
Raeven Chase, Eastern Michigan
Sophomore Aliyah Moore and freshman Maradith O'Gorman paced the Spartans with 16 kills apiece in Michigan State's five-set thriller against Eastern Michigan. Fifth-year Rebecka Poljan added 11 kills, while senior Emma Monks had nine in addition to a team-high seven blocks. Junior Nalani Iosia was a steady presence for the Spartans with a team-best 13 digs, and fifth-year Zoe Nunez successfully set up the MSU attack on 49 occasions.
Playing in their second five-set match of the weekend, Michigan State once again rose to the occasion, hitting .400 in the fifth set while holding EMU to a .000 hitting percentage when it mattered most.
After going down 0-2 in their first match of the season, Michigan State saw steady progress throughout the weekend, culminating with the 3-0 win over reigning MAAC champion Fairfield.
"One of the most significant improvements between the two days of the tournament was our middle connection," Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson said. "Becka and Zoe found a tempo that worked, and we saw that benefit for sure. I think our service pressure at the start of the Fairfield match was closer to where we want it, whereas yesterday we started set one slow."
Poljan led the team with 15 kills in the match against Fairfield, hitting a team best .429 while adding four blocks. Moore joined Poljan with 11 kills, extending her streak of double-digit kill performances to start the season. Nunez posted a game-high 38 assists and Iosia added 18 digs.
Freshman Evie Doezema had the best game of her young career against the Stags, finding eight kills and hitting .353. Doezema and O'Gorman each found success from behind the service line with three aces each. Making her collegiate debut was freshman Nil Okur who started in the middle. Okur had six kills and two aces for the Spartans.
Michigan State's ability to go on a run was a key to success on Saturday night as the Spartans used big scoring runs to pull away in each set. MSU trailed Fairfield in set one, 13-11, before scoring eight unanswered points. In the second, the Spartans went down 18-13 before calling a timeout. Eventually going on another 8-0 run to take a 21-18 lead.
"During that first timeout we talked about cleaning up our side of the net," Johnson said. "Fairfield was doing some nice things, and teams are going to do good things and score points, but we were creating our own chaos instead of forcing a team to do that to us. The team cleaned up some of their fundamentals and it totally changed the score. We got two timeouts in the same rotation which is a big deal."
The Spartans used a handful of 4-0 runs to build a comfortable lead over Fairfield in the third set, before eventually using a 7-0 run to seal the deal.
NOTABLES:
- Rebecka Poljan hit .488 (26-4-45) over the course of both matches on Saturday with a combined seven blocks.
UP NEXT: Michigan State travels to Annapolis, Md. for the Kristen Dickmann Invitational, held Friday, September 2 through Saturday, September 3 at the United State Naval Academy. The Spartans will face UAlbany on Friday morning before meeting host Navy on Friday night. Michigan State wraps up its time at the invite with a match against VCU at noon on Saturday.
2022 Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational All-Tournament Team
MVP: Nalani Iosia, Michigan State
Maradith O'Gorman, Michigan State
Zoe Nunez, Michigan State
Mya Wilson, Louisiana
Celeste Darling, Louisiana
Raeven Chase, Eastern Michigan
Team Stats
EMU
MSU
Kills
47
63
Errors
23
30
Attempts
135
148
Hitting %
.178
.223
Points
61
80
Assists
43
59
Aces
8
7
Blocks
6
10
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
16
Aces
2
Blocks
5
Kills
11
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
7
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Volleyball
L
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballKristen Kelsay Postgame Comments | Chicago State
Sunday, August 31
Kristen Kelsay Postgame Comments | Merrimack
Saturday, August 30
The Next Set | Kristen Kelsay | Spartans All-Access
Monday, August 25
Volleyball B1G Media Day Press Conference | July 29, 2025
Tuesday, July 29