Digging In: Volleyball Turns Page on Non-Conference Schedule
9/20/2023
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The first third of the 2023 volleyball season has come and gone as the Michigan State volleyball program wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule last weekend in Storrs, Conn. While the team has its eyes firmly set on its upcoming B1G opening weekend, we’ll take a look back at the first four weeks of the season to break down how the Spartans fared.
Michigan State enters Big Ten play with an overall record of 8-3, having won four straight and eight of its last nine matches. The Spartans stumbled out of the gate, falling to now No. 16-ranked Arkansas and Tulsa, but have since rebounded in a big way to defeat Central Arkansas, Belmont, Syracuse, Delaware State, North Carolina, UConn, Brown and Binghamton.
I think we did a great job making large gains between each weekend, whether it be our health and recovery, our mindset, or our ability to improve with our scout prep - I think those were all exceptional developments. Specifically on court, our passing has steadily improved and we’re in system a lot more. We’ve found good rhythm with our servers and can keep pressure on teams. I’m glad we scheduled that opening weekend so tough even though it was a hard one to bounce back from. It was exactly what we needed to then get a win against North Carolina and be prepared for this opening Big Ten weekend.Head Coach Leah Johnson
A loss to Duke (receiving votes) is the lone blemish on MSU’s record since the opening weekend of the season. An opening weekend where Michigan State was without its leading point-scorer from 2022, junior outside hitter Aliyah Moore, who returned to the Spartan lineup in a full-time capacity against Duke on Sept. 8. Moore is still getting her legs underneath her due to the lost time in the pre-season, but showed Spartan fans a glimpse of what they can expect from her in B1G play with a 25-kill performance against Brown on Sept. 16.
“Aliyah brings a competitive steadiness and an experience steadiness to our lineup,” said Johnson. “She’s been a starter for two years, once on the left and once on the right. She’s been a primary passer. She’s trained in our system for two years. That in and of itself creates a comfortability around her because she has the confidence of a two-year starter. She wants the ball, and she wants to win. Getting her back in the gym and getting her a high volume of sets is alleviating some pressure from our freshmen and opens up some competitive opportunities for us.”
Hey Spartans, we thought of something funnier than 24… 2??5??
— Michigan State Volleyball (@MSU_Volleyball) September 17, 2023
Which happens to be the new career high in kills for Aliyah Moore #GoGreen | #SetTheStandard pic.twitter.com/VZT02JriiF
When Coach Johnson says freshman, she’s talking about outside hitters Taylah Holdem and Karolina Staniszewska, who each saw a high volume of work on the pins during non-conference and have been playing six rotations for the Spartans. Holdem is the team’s kill leader (117) through 11 matches and has 59 digs while seeing a leading .334 percent of MSU’s serve receive opportunities. Staniszewska ranks second on the team in kills (71), digs (76) and serve receive chances (.241).
Junior outside hitter Grace Kelly has been another bright spot for the Spartans to open the season. Kelly is playing a similar role to the one she played at times in 2022, an energizer bunny/microwave off the bench that can get quick kills and swing some momentum, but she’s playing the role at such a higher level in 2023. Her efforts were rewarded last weekend at the Dog Pound Challenge where she was named to the All-Tournament Team. Kelly is third on the team in kills (68) despite having not started a match. Something that has benefitted her play style is the increased tempo of Michigan State’s offensive system.
“Grace is the most significant player that has benefitted from the tempo being a bit quicker out of the gate,” said Johnson. “She can just use her power in that way to find seams. One thing that spurred our interest in a quicker tempo was watching her replicate a couple of our opponents that ran a faster tempo last year. She was just cranking against us in practice so we knew that was an environment she would thrive in. It’s interesting how you discover things. Sometimes modeling and mimicking other people is exactly the discovery tool you need.”
The increase in tempo has also helped MSU’s middles, specifically sophomore Evie Doezema who transitioned from the pin to the middle this season. Doezema is hitting .427 with 45 kills thus far and is third on the team with 19 total blocks, earning starts in the last four matches of MSU’s non-conference slate. Joining Doezema in the middle have been incoming transfer Amani McArthur and sophomore Nil Okur. McArthur has really started getting comfortable in the Spartan lineup as of late, winning B1G Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 18 after a 20 kill (hitting .545), 14 block weekend at the Dog Pound Challenge.
“I think the increased tempo has helped our middle blockers too because it’s putting pressure on the opposing block to cover more space quicker, and we have scoring middles,” said Johnson. “It has helped Evie transition to the middle because she doesn’t have to think as much, she just goes. Even for her going from the pin to the middle that increased speed has helped her acclimate.”
An increase in offensive tempo has helped Michigan State’s offense make several statistical improvements from this time last season.
2023 Non-Conference Stats: (B1G Rank)
Aces/Set: 1.92 (3)
Assists/Set: 12.24 (2)
Digs/Set: 13.08 (8)
Hitting%: .275 (5)
Kills per set: 13.43 (3)
Opponent%: .153 (4)
2022 Non-Conference Stats: (B1G Rank)
Aces/Set: 1.84 (5)
Assists/Set: 12.28 (7)
Digs/Set: 12.79 (9)
Hitting%: .251 (8)
Kills per set: 13.28 (7)
Opponent%: .157 (6)
We’ve managed to earn over 17 points per set on our own and we’re consistently around the 13 kills per set mark that we shoot for. A lot of that has to do with our tempo just being cleaner. Yes, it’s faster, but it’s the right combination of attacker rhythm with set rhythm. That’s been the biggest improvement from last year to this year.Head Coach Leah Johnson
Freshman setter Cameron Berger is another young player getting her first taste of the Big Ten this weekend. Berger has been a bright spot for the Spartans, making nine consecutive starts at setter to finish out non-conference play. A Top 100 recruit by PrepDig in the Class of 2023, Berger is the team leader in assists with 244 (9.04 assists per set) and continues to improve week over week.
The offensive side of the ball isn’t the only place where the Spartans have shined however, as senior libero Nalani Iosia continues to cement herself as one of the best passers in the country. Iosia earned B1G Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 5 after an MVP showing at the inaugural Kathy DeBoer Invitational. Along with McArthur’s honor on Sept. 18, it’s the first time the Spartans have had two B1G Defensive Players of the Week in a single season since 2015. Iosia’s digs per set have increased from 4.03 in 2022 to 4.30 thus far in 2023 where she has already amassed 20+ digs in a match three times. Volleydork has Iosia ranked as the No. 26 passer in the country, sixth among B1G defensive specialists and 17th among defensive specialists nationally.
Sophomore Jayhlin Swain has been a serving ace for the Spartans through 11 matches, leading the team with 20 aces on the season to rank No. 26 nationally in aces per set and No. 3 in the Big Ten (0.56). In 2022 Swain finished the season with 27 aces to lead the team, so she’s well on her way to topping that mark already. As a team Michigan State wanted to serve tougher this season, and they’ve done that to the tune of 1.92 aces per set.
While the Spartans are satisfied with how non-conference play ended, there are certainly sets they’d like to have back and teams they wish they had another crack at.
All of that is in the rearview mirror however with a trip to Ann Arbor, Mich. scheduled for Friday, Sept. 22.
Read Previous Installments of Digging In
Jan. 27, 2023 – Spartan Volleyball Opens Off-Season Training
Feb. 6, 2023 – Spartan Volleyball Celebrates National Girls & Women in Sports Day
March 20, 2023 – Spring Scrimmages on Horizon for Spartan Volleyball
May 3, 2023 – Takeaways from Spring Volleyball
May 26, 2023 – Current Spartans Prep for Life After Volleyball
July 11, 2023 – Volleyball Using Chess to Enhance Mental Performance
Aug. 14, 2023 – Week One in the Books
Sept. 20, 2023 – That’s a Wrap on Non-Conference Play
Digging In is a notebook for the Michigan State volleyball program written by assistant director of athletic communications Austin Overmann, who is entering his second season as primary contact for the team.
