Michigan State University
3-0,0-0Big Ten
Evansville
1-3,0-0MVC
Spartans Take Down Purple Aces for First Road Win of the Season
9/3/2025 11:27:00 PM | Volleyball
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -Â Michigan State volleyball earned its first road victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Evansville at Meeks Family Fieldhouse Wednesday night.Â
MSU moves to 3-0 with the win, while the Purple Aces fall to 1-3.Â
The Spartans hit .277 for the match and held Evansville to .051 hitting. MSU led the Aces in kills (51-to-36) and digs (41-34) and out-blocked Evansville 12-6. Evansville held a slight advantage in service aces, 6-4.Â
For the second-straight match, junior outside hitter Taylah Holdem led MSU in total kills with 16 and hit .300, also adding nine digs to finish just shy of a double-double. Senior opposite Evie Doezema was just short of a career high in kills, tallying 15 on .294 hitting, while sophomore middle blocker Breccan Scheck added a season-high seven kills and junior outside hitter Karolina Stanisewska posted five. Redshirt sophomore Sarah Vellucci posted a team and career-high 13 digs, while redshirt freshman setter Malayah Long added a career-high 41 assists and six digs.Â
MSU's 12 total blocks were a new season high. Junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig led the Spartans with seven total blocks, Holdem tied a career high with five, Doezema added four and Scheck totaled three.Â
The Spartans got out to a 2-0 start in the first set before Evansville went on a four-point run to take an early lead. An attacking error from Evansville, a pair of blocks from Kulig and Doezema and a kill from Doezema then helped the Spartans to a 4-0 run of their own. Three-straight kills from the Spartans, including back-to-back kills from Staniszewska, forced the Aces to take a timeout at 10-5. Evansville put together another run to get within a point at 17-16 and followed with another to take a 20-19 lead after a pair of service aces. A block from Kulig and Staniszewska tied the match at 20-20 before an MSU service error and an Evansville kill put the Aces back up by two. MSU fought back to tie the match at 23-23, capped off by a Holdem kill, and got to set point after an attacking error from Evansville. Evansville tied the match back up at 24-24 with a kill but followed with two errors to give the Spartans the first set, 26-24. Kulig tallied five of her seven blocks in the first set.Â
Evansville got out to a 4-1 lead early in the second but did not find the lead for the rest of the set after MSU took its first advantage at 7-6 following a block from Holdem and Kulig. The Spartans took their largest lead of the match in the second, leading by 11 at 22-11 after a service ace from Staniszewska, and put the set away with kills from Kulig and Holdem to secure the frame 25-16 and take a 2-0 lead. Â
After the Aces took a 6-2 lead to start the third set, MSU went on a 7-3 run to tie the set at 9-9. A kill from sophomore middle blocker Mia Hood gave the Spartans their first lead of the set at 11-10. The teams then battled back and forth with neither leading by more than two points until Evansville took a four-point lead at 21-17. MSU took a timeout at 22-19 and rattled off three kills to make it 23-22, but an Evansville kill following their own timeout at 24-23 sent the match to a fourth set.Â
Neither team was able to hold the lead for an extended period in the fourth set until MSU earned three-straight points from Evansville errors to take a 17-12 lead and force an Evansville timeout. A block from Hood and Long out of the timeout and several errors from the Aces made it 22-16, while Scheck provided the final kill of the night to end the set and match, 25-16. MSU held the Aces to just -.231 hitting in the final frame.Â
MSU ends its road trip in Evansville on Thursday, Sept. 4, taking on Southern Indiana at 7 p.m. ET inside USI's Liberty Arena.Â
