Friday, November 3
East Lansing, Mich.
7 PM
Michigan State University
15-9,7-6Big Ten
3
vs
0
Maryland
15-10,5-8Big Ten
1
2
3
F
Maryland
14
18
22
0
Michigan St.
25
25
25
3
Photo by: Brittney Kimball
Strong Serving Leads Volleyball to Sweep of Maryland
11/3/2023 10:04:00 PM | Volleyball
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball had six service aces in set two and eight in the match on Friday night, defeating Maryland 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-22) inside the Breslin Center. Junior setter Rachel Muisenga had a career-high four aces and freshman outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska tied her season-high of three.
"I thought our serving did a good job of putting them out of system all night," Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson said. "Our middles were unreal tonight. Zuzanna (Kulig) hit .583 and Amani (McArthur) hit .412. They took huge volume and carried the weight for us offensively."
The Spartans improve to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in B1G play with the victory. Seven conference victories are the most by Michigan State since 2017 when the team went 14-6. Maryland drops to 15-10 overall and 5-8 in conference action.
Michigan State's offense was led by its middles as fifth year Amani McArthur and freshman Zuzanna Kulig combined to hit .500 (15-1-28). McArthur had eight kills and Kulig added seven on no errors. Freshman outside hitter Taylah Holdem led all players with 10 kills and posted her eighth double-double with 10 digs.
Senior Nalani Iosia led all players with 17 digs and McArthur posted a match-high six blocks. Muisenga led with 16 assists and junior setter Julia Bishop had 14.
MSU got strong performances from its middles in a dominant first set of play. McArthur finished with five kills and Kulig added four in the frame as Michigan State hit .370. Maryland led by three early, 7-4, before the Spartans stormed back to score 13 of the next 15 points. A 13-2 MSU run put them up 17-9 over the Terrapins and they never looked back. A 3-1 Maryland run cut the lead to six, but MSU responded with a 6-1 run that put them on set point, where they'd eventually clinch it 25-14.
Set two also started in favor of the Terps, who opened up an 9-3 advantage over the Spartans before MSU started their comeback. Trailing by six, Michigan State went on a 13-1 run to take a 16-10 lead over Maryland. The serve and receive game was a big part on MSU's run which featured five service aces and a Terrapin service error. Maryland made a bit of a comeback just past the mid-way point of the set, using a 4-2 run to pull back within four. Both sides would trade points for much of the remainder of the frame before back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Aliyah Moore and Holdem secured the set, 25-18.
A back-and-forth third was the closest set of the night as it featured eight tied scores and two lead changes. Teams traded points through the mid-way point with things tied up at 15-15. Michigan State used a 4-0 run that featured a pair of blocks to take a 19-15 lead over the Terrapins. A 5-1 Maryland run tied it up once again at 20-20, but the Spartans would score four straight to put themselves on match point after a pair of kills by Staniszewska. After consecutive Terp points, Moore found the set and match-winning kills.
UP NEXT
Michigan State is back in action at the Breslin Center on Saturday night, taking on Iowa at 7:00 p.m. The Hawkeyes were swept by Michigan on the road on Friday night (25-20, 26-24, 25-14) to fall to 8-17 (0-13 B1G).
"I thought our serving did a good job of putting them out of system all night," Michigan State head volleyball coach Leah Johnson said. "Our middles were unreal tonight. Zuzanna (Kulig) hit .583 and Amani (McArthur) hit .412. They took huge volume and carried the weight for us offensively."
The Spartans improve to 15-9 overall and 7-6 in B1G play with the victory. Seven conference victories are the most by Michigan State since 2017 when the team went 14-6. Maryland drops to 15-10 overall and 5-8 in conference action.
Shelled out 8 aces in our win tonight 🤌🏼#GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/QJ58zE5kGT
— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) November 4, 2023
Michigan State's offense was led by its middles as fifth year Amani McArthur and freshman Zuzanna Kulig combined to hit .500 (15-1-28). McArthur had eight kills and Kulig added seven on no errors. Freshman outside hitter Taylah Holdem led all players with 10 kills and posted her eighth double-double with 10 digs.
Senior Nalani Iosia led all players with 17 digs and McArthur posted a match-high six blocks. Muisenga led with 16 assists and junior setter Julia Bishop had 14.
MSU got strong performances from its middles in a dominant first set of play. McArthur finished with five kills and Kulig added four in the frame as Michigan State hit .370. Maryland led by three early, 7-4, before the Spartans stormed back to score 13 of the next 15 points. A 13-2 MSU run put them up 17-9 over the Terrapins and they never looked back. A 3-1 Maryland run cut the lead to six, but MSU responded with a 6-1 run that put them on set point, where they'd eventually clinch it 25-14.
Set two also started in favor of the Terps, who opened up an 9-3 advantage over the Spartans before MSU started their comeback. Trailing by six, Michigan State went on a 13-1 run to take a 16-10 lead over Maryland. The serve and receive game was a big part on MSU's run which featured five service aces and a Terrapin service error. Maryland made a bit of a comeback just past the mid-way point of the set, using a 4-2 run to pull back within four. Both sides would trade points for much of the remainder of the frame before back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Aliyah Moore and Holdem secured the set, 25-18.
Make that four ACES for Rachel Muisenga tonight! Maryland calls time.#GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/lTOBouYz4w
— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) November 3, 2023
A back-and-forth third was the closest set of the night as it featured eight tied scores and two lead changes. Teams traded points through the mid-way point with things tied up at 15-15. Michigan State used a 4-0 run that featured a pair of blocks to take a 19-15 lead over the Terrapins. A 5-1 Maryland run tied it up once again at 20-20, but the Spartans would score four straight to put themselves on match point after a pair of kills by Staniszewska. After consecutive Terp points, Moore found the set and match-winning kills.
UP NEXT
Michigan State is back in action at the Breslin Center on Saturday night, taking on Iowa at 7:00 p.m. The Hawkeyes were swept by Michigan on the road on Friday night (25-20, 26-24, 25-14) to fall to 8-17 (0-13 B1G).
Team Stats
MD
MSU
Kills
26
41
Errors
15
22
Attempts
103
114
Hitting %
.107
.167
Points
34.0
58.0
Assists
25
37
Aces
1
8
Blocks
7
9
Game Leaders
Kills
10
Aces
1
Blocks
1
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
6
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
S
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS/L
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
OH
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