Spartans Battle in Five-Set Loss at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Michigan State volleyball dropped a tightly-contested five-set match to Illinois (25-22, 24-26, 18-25, 28-26, 5-15) Sunday afternoon in Huff Hall.

MSU drops to 12-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten with the loss, while Illinois moves to 8-5 (3-1 B1G) with the win.

The Spartans hit .212 for the match and led Illinois in service aces, 10-9. Illinois led in kills (71-58), total blocks (11.5-5) and digs (69-53).

Junior outside hitter Karolina Stansizewska posted a team-high 17 kills, just one short of her career high, and hit .406 while also adding six digs and a team-high-tying three service aces. Freshman outside hitter Bianca Mumcular tallied 15 kills for her fifth double-digit kill outing in MSU's last six matches, while junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig added a season-high 11 kills on a team-best .500 hitting and posted three blocks.

Redshirt freshman setter Malayah Long posted her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high 47 assists and 47 digs. She also added one service ace. Junior libero Lia Schneider tallied nine digs.

Six different Spartans had at least one service ace in the match, with Staniszewska and junior defensive specialist Ky Clayton each recording three, while Mumcular, Long, Kulig and sophomore defensive specialist Mya Bolton each added one.

After MSU opened the match with a Staniszewska service ace, neither team was able to take more than a one-point lead in a back-and-forth battle to start the first set until Illinois took a two-point advantage at 12-10. A Kulig kill got the Spartans back within a point at 12-11 before Illinois used a pair of kills to retake a two-point advantage at 14-12. The Spartans then responded with kills from Waye and Staniszewska and an attack error to take a two-point of their own, 16-14. Illinois tied the set back up with a pair of MSU errors, but an Illini error followed by a Clayton service ace extended the MSU lead again to two points at 18-16. MSU was forced to call a timeout after an Illinois 5-2 gave the Illini the lead at 21-20, but a Mumcular kill followed by an Illinois error helped the Spartans retake a one-point lead at 22-21. Illinois tied the set back up with a kill at 22-22 but followed with another error to give the Spartans a 23-22 lead. In a thrilling finish to the first set, a block from Kulig and Staniszewska got MSU to set point and a Doezema solo block finished off a 5-2 Spartan run to seal the first set, 25-22.

In similar fashion to the first set, the second frame saw neither team take more than a one-point lead until a 3-0 run from the Illini gave Illinois a 12-9 lead to force an MSU timeout. MSU went on a 5-1 with kills from sophomore Breccan Scheck, Doezema and Staniszewska to then retake the lead at 15-14. The teams then traded points back-and-forth until Illinois got to set point at 24-23, but a kill from Staniszewska tied the set back up at 24-24. Another kill gave Illinois its second set point and an attack error from the Spartans helped the Illini secure the second set in extra points, 26-24.

Illinois got out to a 4-0 start in the third set, but the Spartans used a Staniszewska ace and Illini error to tie the set at 7-7 before Illinois went on a 4-0 run to take a four-point lead again at 11-7 and force an MSU timeout. Illinois extended their lead to 13-8 after the timeout and continued to stretch the lead to take the third, 25-18, and take a 2-1 lead.

The Spartans used four service aces, one from each from Malayah Long and Mya Bolton and two-straight from Clayton to take an 10-8 lead and force an Illinois timeout in the fourth set. An Illinois error and a kill from Long out of the timeout then extended the Spartan lead to three at 12-9. Illinois tied the set at 15-15, but MSU responded with a Doezema kill and Staniszewska ace to push the lead back to two at 17-15. Illinois got to match point at 24-23, but a service error to follow tied the set at 24-24. A block from Waye and Doezema then got the Spartans to set point at 25-24 before Illinois tied the set again with a kill. Another Illinois service error gave the Spartans their second set point at 26-25, but the Illini fought off the second Spartan set point with another kill. A kill from Mumcular got the Spartans to their third set point and a successful MSU challenge after Illinois was originally awarded the point gave MSU the fourth set, 28-26, and forced a fifth set.

MSU used a Staniszewska kill to tie the fifth set at 2-2 and tied the match again at 4-4 with a Mumcular kill, but Illinois followed with an 11-1 run to take the fifth set and match, 15-5.

Up next, MSU begins a four-match homestand against Iowa on Friday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. on B1G+.