MSU VOLLEYBALL: Spartans down Wolverines in Straight Sets
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State hosted its annual Jam Jenison event, and a crowd of 4,752 people were treated to a 3-0 sweep of Michigan (25-23, 25-19, 25-21). The Spartans win their seventh game in their last eight tries, and are now 10-4 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play. The Wolverines are 11-3, 1-2 Big Ten.
Alyssa Garvelink hit .700 (7-0-10) and had seven blocks, which included a career-best five solo stuffs, tying the MSU record in the process. Brooke Krandaled the Spartans in kills for the eighth straight match (11), while Rachel Minarick had 27 assists, eight digs, and five kills without an error (.625).
Garvelink's five solo blocks ties the school record for solo blocks in a three-set match, held by Kim Schram (vs. Iowa, 11/22/03), Kenny Rood (vs. Vilanova. 8/29/03) and Shantelle Schmidt (vs. Pittsburgh, 9/18/85). Garvelink's previous career high is two solo blocks in a match. MSU's seven team solo blocks ties the third-most in a three set match, last accomplished vs. Xavier in 2006.
SET ONE: Trailing by 1-2 points through the early part of the match, MSU used three straight aces fromHolly Toliver, a Michigan error, and bookend kills from Chloe Reinig as part of a 7-1 run to take a 21-17 lead, forcing the Wolverines to take their second time out. With MSU leading 23-21, a big swing from Toliver gave MSU set point, and Michigan battled back to fight it off twice to pull within 24-23, and MSU called its timeout. An attempt at a line shot by Caroline Knop went wide, and the Spartans took the opening set. Alyssa Garvelink led MSU with three kills and hit .750, and five players had two each. MSU hit .256 in the frame with 13 kills, UM hit .279 and had 18.
SET TWO: A 7-2 run for MSU gave the Spartans a 12-6 lead in the second frame, and three straight kills from Kranda pushed MSU's lead to five, 16-11. With a 19-16 lead , Toliver stepped in to serve and helped MSU to a 22-16 advantage, getting a pair of terminations from Garvelink and one from Minarick. MSU closed it out with a kill by Kranda down the line, and MSU took the 2-0 lead into the locker room. MSU hit .438 in the frame, getting 18 kills against 12 for the Wolverines. Brooke Kranda had five kills and a block, while Reinig had four kills and a solo block.
SET THREE: The Wolverines opened the set with six kills on nine swings, hitting .556 to take a 9-5 lead. Maintaining a four-point lead to 16-12, the Spartans cut it down to one with kills by Reinig and Fitterer and then a block at the left pin by Reinig and Garvelink to make it 16-15, as UM called the timeout. Trading points, the match was tied at 18 when UM's Abby Cole came up with back-to-back blocks on Reinig to give her team a 20-18 advantage. Out of the MSU time out, Garvelink returned the favor with a solo block on Cole, her seventh stuff of the night. That kicked off MSU's 7-1 run to close out the match, capped with a kill by Kranda to seal the Spartan victory. Garvelink had three of her solo blocks in the third frame and added one block assist.
QUOTABLE:
"We really felt that we needed to come out and make a statement after we were disappointed by our performance vs. Purdue. I thought we passed pretty well and obviously got some really good performances at the net. Its a little unique, because both teams will watch some tape and figure out some new wrinkles before we play each other again on Saturday. They will want to make a statement on their home court, and we're going to have to be ready ."
- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
Brooke Kranda led MSU with a match-high 11 kills and hit .308, and added one block.
Alyssa Garvelink had a career-best five solo blocks and a match total of seven, while hitting .700 (7-0-10).
Holly Toliver contributed six kills , three digs, and three aces, all three coming in the first set.
Chloe Reinig returned to the lineup for the first time in three weeks, and contributed eight kills and three blocks, including two solo.
Rachel Minarick had 27 assists, and added eight digs and five kills, hitting .625, while Halle Petersonrecorded 11 and also had four digs.
Abby Monson had double-digit digs for the ninth straight match (11).
STATS AND STORYLINES
MSU out-blocked the Wolverines 9-5 in the match.
All-American outside hitter Chloe Reinig returned to the lineup after missing three straight weekends and seventh matches overall.
The Spartans move to 52-39-1 all-time against the Wolverines, and have a lead in this year's State Pride Flag series.
MSU is now 10-1 when taking a first-set victory this season.
The Spartans get a quick rematch against their archrival, as the teams meet Saturday at 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor.