Friday, October 6
East Lansing, Mich.
7 PM
Michigan State University
11-5,3-2Big Ten
1
vs
3
Nebraska
14-0,5-0Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Nebraska
25
16
25
25
3
Michigan St.
23
25
15
11
1
Photo by: Brittney Kimball
Volleyball Sets Attendance Record in Battle with No. 2 Nebraska
10/6/2023 10:20:00 PM | Volleyball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball played the No. 2-ranked team in the country tough on Friday night, falling to Nebraska 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 15-25, 25-11) from the Breslin Center. With 8,789 fans in attendance the Spartans set a new program attendance record to break the previous mark of 7,326 set against Michigan on Oct. 14, 2022.
With a loss the Spartans drop to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the B1G prior to facing Northwestern on Saturday night in East Lansing. Nebraska improves to 14-0 overall and 5-0 in conference action.
"Every day we're getting better and we're finding new ways to score," said Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson. "They challenged us in sets three and four with their serving, but in sets one and two we won the serve-pass game. I thought we were executing our game plan wonderfully. I'll look to build from that."
"It was phenomenal with the Izzone here supporting our program tonight," said Johnson. "We set a new program attendance record with over 8700 fans tonight and it just shows that Big Ten volleyball is the place to be. I hope the Izzone wants to make something special out of our volleyball student section Rally Row."
Freshman outside hitter Taylah Holdem led all players on Friday with 16 kills and posted her fourth consecutive double-double with 11 digs in addition to two blocks. Junior outside hitter Grace Kelly had six kills and sophomore middle blocker Evie Doezema had five on just nine attempts to hit .444. Freshman setter Cameron Berger led MSU with 13 assists while junior setter Julia Bishop added 10 along with seven digs. Senior libero Nalani Iosia led all players with 16 digs and junior outside hitter Aliyah Moore tied for the match-high with four blocks.
MSU was out-hit .168 to .088 for the match but held Nebraska to -.103 hitting in set two. Nebraska had not hit negative in a set all season and last hit negative in the fifth set against Oregon in the NCAA Tournament last season when they hit -.050. Hitting .168 was the second-lowest mark of the season for the Cornhuskers. The Spartans were out-blocked 7-6, but finished with 50 digs to Nebraska's 45.
Harper Murray led Nebraska with 12 kills, hitting .176 with seven digs. Lindsay Krause was efficient with nine kills hitting .381. Becka Allick had four blocks to tie for the match high. Bergen Reilly led all players with 29 assists and Lexi Rodriguez posted 13 digs.
Michigan State hung tough with the No. 2-ranked Cornhuskers in set one, leading by as many as five in the first, 20-15, and forced Nebraska to burn each of its timeouts early. A kill by Kelly put MSU up 23-21 to threaten set point, but the Cornhuskers would go on to score four-straight to steal set one, 25-23.
The Spartans bounced back to take set two, winning their first set against Nebraska since Oct. 11, 2019. MSU did not trail in the set after the Cornhuskers tied things up early at 5-5. An 8-2 Michigan State run saw the Spartans build an early five-point lead thanks to a pair of kills from Holdem, an ace by Bishop and a thunderous block by Moore and Doezema. Nebraska was able to pull back within three after a pair of Spartan miscues, but MSU settled down to go on a 10-3 run and push their advantage to double digits up 23-13. Holdem had five of her kills in the second, including a key pair down the stretch.
MSU hit an impressive .320 in the second set to oppose Nebraska's negative -.103 mark, finishing 11 kills on 25 attempts.
Nebraska took lopsided set victories of their own in sets three and four, winning by scores of 25-15 and 25-11 to defeat the Spartans.
UP NEXT
It'll be a quick turnaround for the Spartans who face Northwestern at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 inside the Breslin Center. MSU faced the Wildcats last weekend in Evanston, winning 3-2 in a three-hour match. Northwestern was defeated by Michigan on Friday night, 3-1, to fall to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in the B1G.
With a loss the Spartans drop to 11-5 overall and 3-2 in the B1G prior to facing Northwestern on Saturday night in East Lansing. Nebraska improves to 14-0 overall and 5-0 in conference action.
"Every day we're getting better and we're finding new ways to score," said Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson. "They challenged us in sets three and four with their serving, but in sets one and two we won the serve-pass game. I thought we were executing our game plan wonderfully. I'll look to build from that."
8️⃣7️⃣8️⃣9️⃣
— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) October 7, 2023
Thank you to everyone who showed up and set new ATTENDANCE RECORD!!! #GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/sl8jlzlnh1
"It was phenomenal with the Izzone here supporting our program tonight," said Johnson. "We set a new program attendance record with over 8700 fans tonight and it just shows that Big Ten volleyball is the place to be. I hope the Izzone wants to make something special out of our volleyball student section Rally Row."
Freshman outside hitter Taylah Holdem led all players on Friday with 16 kills and posted her fourth consecutive double-double with 11 digs in addition to two blocks. Junior outside hitter Grace Kelly had six kills and sophomore middle blocker Evie Doezema had five on just nine attempts to hit .444. Freshman setter Cameron Berger led MSU with 13 assists while junior setter Julia Bishop added 10 along with seven digs. Senior libero Nalani Iosia led all players with 16 digs and junior outside hitter Aliyah Moore tied for the match-high with four blocks.
MSU was out-hit .168 to .088 for the match but held Nebraska to -.103 hitting in set two. Nebraska had not hit negative in a set all season and last hit negative in the fifth set against Oregon in the NCAA Tournament last season when they hit -.050. Hitting .168 was the second-lowest mark of the season for the Cornhuskers. The Spartans were out-blocked 7-6, but finished with 50 digs to Nebraska's 45.
Harper Murray led Nebraska with 12 kills, hitting .176 with seven digs. Lindsay Krause was efficient with nine kills hitting .381. Becka Allick had four blocks to tie for the match high. Bergen Reilly led all players with 29 assists and Lexi Rodriguez posted 13 digs.
Michigan State hung tough with the No. 2-ranked Cornhuskers in set one, leading by as many as five in the first, 20-15, and forced Nebraska to burn each of its timeouts early. A kill by Kelly put MSU up 23-21 to threaten set point, but the Cornhuskers would go on to score four-straight to steal set one, 25-23.
The Spartans bounced back to take set two, winning their first set against Nebraska since Oct. 11, 2019. MSU did not trail in the set after the Cornhuskers tied things up early at 5-5. An 8-2 Michigan State run saw the Spartans build an early five-point lead thanks to a pair of kills from Holdem, an ace by Bishop and a thunderous block by Moore and Doezema. Nebraska was able to pull back within three after a pair of Spartan miscues, but MSU settled down to go on a 10-3 run and push their advantage to double digits up 23-13. Holdem had five of her kills in the second, including a key pair down the stretch.
MSU hit an impressive .320 in the second set to oppose Nebraska's negative -.103 mark, finishing 11 kills on 25 attempts.
Nebraska took lopsided set victories of their own in sets three and four, winning by scores of 25-15 and 25-11 to defeat the Spartans.
UP NEXT
It'll be a quick turnaround for the Spartans who face Northwestern at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 inside the Breslin Center. MSU faced the Wildcats last weekend in Evanston, winning 3-2 in a three-hour match. Northwestern was defeated by Michigan on Friday night, 3-1, to fall to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in the B1G.
Team Stats
Nebr
MSU
Kills
39
34
Errors
20
24
Attempts
113
113
Hitting %
.168
.088
Points
56.0
44.0
Assists
38
31
Aces
10
4
Blocks
7
6
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
16
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
3
Players Mentioned
S
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
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