Michigan State University
18-10,8-10Big Ten
Ohio State
6-20,3-15Big Ten
Michigan State Drops Road Match to Ohio State
11/23/2025 2:55:00 PM | Volleyball
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Michigan State volleyball fell in four sets to Ohio State (15-25, 26-24, 26-28, 18-25) Sunday afternoon inside Ohio State's Covelli Center.Â
MSU falls to 18-10Â and 8-10Â overall in the Big Ten with the loss, while Ohio State moves to 6-20 and 3-15.Â
Ohio State led in total kills (60-43), digs (71-55) and blocks (10-9), while the Spartans held a 9-6 advantage in service aces.Â
For the 17th time this season, junior outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska posted a double-digit kill match with a team-leading 12. Freshman outside hitter Bianca Mumcular added seven, while junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig and senior opposite Evie Doezema each tallied six. Kulig led the Spartans with six total blocks and added a team-high three service aces.Â
Junior libero Lia Schneider had her fourth 20-dig match of the season with a team-high 21. Redshirt freshman setter Malayah Long provided a team-best 27 assists.Â
Ohio State opened up a four-point lead in the first at 10-6 before MSU used a 3-0 run with a Buckeye attack error and a kill and service ace from Staniszewska to tie get within a point at 10-9. The Buckeyes followed with a kill to extend their lead back to two, but a Mumcular kill and Kulig service ace tied the set at 11-11 before an Ohio State attack error tied the set again at 12-12. Ohio State responded with three-straight points to take back a three-point lead at the media timeout, 15-12, and stretched its lead to five with two-straight points out of the media timeout to force an MSU timeout at 17-12. The Buckeyes closed the set on an 8-3 run out of the timeout to take the first, 25-15.Â
The Buckeyes took a 5-2 lead in the second set, but a 5-1 Spartan run with kills from Staniszewska, Doezema and Mumcular and a Kulig service ace helped MSU to a one-point lead to force a Buckeye timeout at 7-6. Ohio State followed with a pair of kills out of the timeout to take back a two-point lead before Mumcular and Carmen Waye kills, a block from Long and Waye and a Buckeye service error gave MSU its own lead by a pair at 11-9. Neither team was able to take more than a one-point lead in the following points until back-to-back Doezema kills gave MSU a two-point advantage at 16-14. The Buckeyes used three-straight kills to take back the lead at 17-16 and force an MSU timeout and extended their lead to three with two points out of the timeout to take a three-point lead, but MSU responded with 4-0 run with a pair of Buckeye errors, a block from Caroline Formankova and Waye and a Staniszewska kill to take back a one-point lead at 21-20. An Ohio State kill tied the set back up before a Formankova kill and Buckeye error gave the Spartans the lead by a pair at 23-21 to force an Ohio State timeout. MSU was forced into a timeout of its own after the Buckeyes tied the set again at 23-23 before Ohio State got to set point with a kill out of the timeout at 24-23, but a Formankova kill staved off the set point to tie the set at 24-24. After an Ohio State point was reversed following an MSU challenge, MSU reached its own set point at 25-24 and evened the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 second set following a Buckeye attack error.Â
After a back-and-forth start to the third set, a Kulig kill and service ace gave the Spartans a two-point lead at 9-7. The Buckeyes tied the set at 11-11 with a 4-2 run, but Staniszewska and Waye kills and service aces from Schneider and Long helped the Spartans to a 4-1 run to take 15-12 lead at the media timeout. After tying the set at 18-18, the Buckeyes took a one-point lead at 19-18 with a kill, but MSU responded with a Mumcular kill to tie the set again at 19-19. The Buckeyes forced an MSU timeout with back-to-back kills to take a 21-19 lead and extended their lead to three with a service ace out of the timeout, but the Spartans used a Buckeye service error and Staniszewska kill to force Ohio State into a timeout of its own at 22-21. A Schneider service ace tied the set at 22-22 out of the timeout and back-to-back Kulig kills got the Spartans to set point at 24-23 before the Buckeyes staved off the point with a kill of their own. Staniszewska put down another kill to get MSU to its second set point at 25-24, but a 3-1 run from the Buckeyes to close the set gave Ohio State the third, 28-26.Â
MSU took a timeout after the Buckeyes got out to a 10-5 start in the fourth set. A Buckeye service error and Kulig kill closed the gap to three at 10-7 after the timeout, but the Buckeyes responded with three-straight to extend their lead to six at 13-7. A kill from Kulig, two Buckeye attack errors and kills from Doezema and Staniszewska helped the Spartans to a 6-2 run to get within two and force an Ohio State timeout at 15-13. A Cam Berger ace out of the timeout got the Spartans within a point at 15-14, but the Buckeyes followed with three-straight points to force an MSU timeout at 18-14. The Buckeyes used a 5-0 run to take a 23-14 lead before MSU responded with three-consecutive points to close the gap to six, but an MSU service error and Buckeye kill to close the set ended the match, 25-18.Â
Up next, MSU hosts USC on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 6 p.m. inside the Breslin Center on B1G+.Â
