Michigan State University
12-1,2-1Big Ten
Northwestern
11-4,1-2Big Ten
Volleyball Earns Four-Set Road Victory at Northwestern
10/3/2025 11:33:00 PM | Volleyball
EVANSTON, Illinois -Â Michigan State volleyball earned its first Big Ten road victory of the season with a 3-1 win (15-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-21) over Northwestern Friday night inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.Â
MSU moves to 12-1 overall and 2-1 in the B1G with the win, while Northwestern drops to 11-4 and 1-2 in the conference.Â
The Spartans hit .219 for the match and led Northwestern in both kills (50-to-47) and service aces (6-3). Northwestern held a narrow advantage in total blocks (10-8) and digs (59-50). Â
For the second-straight match, freshman outside hitter Bianca Mumcular led the Spartans in kills with a career-high 16 on .325 hitting, her fourth double-digit kill outing in MSU's last five matches. She also added eight digs and a pair of service aces. Junior outside hitter Karolina Stansizewska tallied nine kills and 10 digs, while sophomore middle blocker Carmen Waye added nine kills and a pair of blocks. Junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig hit a team-best .333, tallying a season-high eight kills and a team-high five total blocks. Staniszewska and sophomore Breccan Scheck each added three blocks.Â
Making her sixth-consecutive start at libero, junior Lia Schneider tallied a team and season-high 16 digs and provided a pair of service aces. Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long led MSU in assists with 34 and added eight digs. Long and junior defensive specialist Ky Clayton each tallied one service ace.Â
Northwestern led early in the first set and took a four-point lead at the media timeout, 15-11. The Wildcats then used a 4-0 run out of the timeout to extend their lead to eight at 19-11 and force an MSU timeout. The Spartans used back-to-back kills from Waye to get within seven at 20-13, but a 5-2 Northwestern run to follow gave the Wildcats the first set, 25-15.Â
MSU came out firing in the second set and got out to an early 6-3 after a Clayton service ace. After an MSU service error, the Spartans went on a 3-0 run with kills from Waye and Staniszewska and a Wildcat error to extend their lead to five at 9-4. MSU used another 3-0 run with a kill and service ace from Mumcular and a kill from Kulig to take a 15-7 lead at the media timeout before a kill from Doezema and a solo block from Long made it an 18-9 lead in favor of the Spartans, forcing a Northwestern timeout. Northwestern got back-to-back points with a kill a block to get within eight at 19-11, but a kill from Staniszewska and back-to-back kills from Mumcular extended the MSU lead back to 11 at 22-11. Mumcular's fifth kill of the set got the Spartans to set point and a Northwestern error helped the Spartans seal the second set, 25-15, and even the match at 1-1. MSU hit .500 in the second set, recording just one attacking error.Â
The Wildcats opened the first set on a 4-0 run and held the lead early in the third set until the Spartans tied the frame at 11-11 with a block from Staniszewska and Waye. Northwestern used a 3-1 run to take back a two-point lead at 14-12, but the Spartans fired off eight-straight points with three Mumcular kills, two Schneider service aces and three Wildcat errors to take a six-point lead at 20-14. The Wildcats called a timeout at 23-18 after a Mumcular kill and got within four after an MSU service error out of the timeout but could not get any closer than three as a Waye kill gave MSU a 2-1 lead headed to the fourth set, 25-20.Â
The Spartans forced a Wildcat timeout after taking an 8-4 lead in the fourth following back-to-back kills from Mumcular, a block from Scheck and Kulig and a Northwestern error. After a Northwestern kill out of the timeout, MSU logged four-straight points with two kills from Kulig, a kill from Scheck and a Wildcat error to take a 12-5 lead. MSU was forced to call a timeout of its own after the Wildcats used a 6-2 run to shrink the Spartan lead to three at 14-11. MSU responded out of the timeout with two-straight points with a kill from Long and a Northwestern attacking error, but the Wildcats followed with three-straight points of their own got Northwestern back within two at 16-14. Kills from Waye, Mumcular and Scheck got the Spartans to a 19-16 lead before a Kulig and Scheck block forced a Northwestern timeout at 21-17. Northwestern scored two points after MSU's first set point to get within three at 24-21, but a Wildcat service error ended the set and match, 25-21.Â
Up next, MSU finishes its road trip at Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m. ET on B1G+.Â
