Michigan State University Athletics
Volleyball Head To Ohio State/No. 1 Penn State
11/11/1999 12:00:00 AM | Swimming and Diving
Nov. 11, 1999
? STATE UPDATE: Michigan State (18-8, 8-6) defeated Wisconsin, 3-0 (16-14, 15-9, 15-12) and Purdue, 3-2 (2-15, 15-13, 12-15, 15-13, 15-8) last weekend. The Spartans have now won seven of their last eight matches and are tied for fourth place in the Big Ten with Illinois.
? BASIL NAMED BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Junior setter Vicki Basil became the fourth Michigan State player to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors this season when she was honored on Nov. 8. Basil tallied two double-doubles (assists, digs) last weekend in helping MSU defeat Wisconsin, 3-0, and Purdue, 3-2. Against Wisconsin, she had 51 assists and 12 digs to go with three kills and two blocks. In the Purdue match, Basil set a career high with 78 assists and added 13 digs and a career-most five blocks. Basil is currently third in the Big Ten, averaging 13.49 assists in conference matches and is third on the team in digs per game at 2.36. She is 19 assists away from the 2,000th of her career and needs 48 more assists to move into sixth place on the MSU career assists chart. Jessica Sanborn earned the school?s first Big Ten Player of the Week honor for 1999 on Sept. 13. Erin Hartley followed on Oct. 17 with Angela Morley being named on Oct. 25. Michigan State has had four different players named Big Ten Player of the Week just one other time in its volleyball history, in 1995 when Dana Cooke, Veronica Morales, Val Sterk and Jenna Wrobel all earned the award.
? OHIO STATE: The OSU match will be televised in Columbus on a tape-delayed basis by Insight Communications. Ohio State is 12-9 overall, 6-8 in the Big Ten (t-6th). The Buckeyes split last weekend, defeating Illinois, 3-0 (15-8, 15-13, 15-9), but losing to Indiana, 0-3 (5-15, 10-15, 10-15). The team is led by Rosie Snow (3.99 kills pg, 2.63 digs pg) and Jen Flynn (3.06 kills pg, 2.55 digs pg). Setter Katie Virtue is averaging 12.92 assists per game while Suzie Stiling and Sue Calligaris are the OSU?s leading blockers at 0.85 and 0.82 per game, respectively. Ohio State leads the series 29-17. The Spartans won the last meeting in East Lansing on Sept. 25, 8-15, 15-6, 15-10, 15-5. MSU has won the last three meetings and six of the last nine.
? PENN STATE: No. 1 Penn State is 24-1 overall, 14-0 (1st) in Big Ten matches. The match this weekend will be locally televised by WPSX. The Nittany Lions lost their first match of the season but have since won 24 in a row. The team is led by Lauren Cacciamani who is averaging 4.53 kills per game. Amanda Rome leads the team in digs at 3.25 pg, while setter Bonnie Bremner averages 12.44 assists per contest. PSU has three players averaging one or more blocks per game led by Cacciamani at 1.58. Penn State leads the series 14-4. The Nittany Lions won the last meeting, 3-2 (10-15, 15-3, 15-5, 11-15, 15-8) in a nailbiter in East Lansing on Sept. 24. Penn State has won the last six meetings.
? FINDING POW?s: Michigan State in 1999 is just the second school in Big Ten history to have four different players earn Player of the Week honors in one season. The Spartans also had four players win the award in 1995. Penn State owns the record, set in 1997, with five different players earning a Big Ten POW award: Bonnie Bremner, Terry Zemaitis, Lauren Cacciamani, Christy Cochran and Lindsay Anderson.
? EIGHT IS ENOUGH: Angela Morley is in the middle for MSU. The redshirt freshman blocked 17 shots last weekend, nine against Wisconsin and eight versus Purdue. In the last more shots in MSU?s 3-0 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 5. In the last six matches, Morley has tallied eight or more blocks, including a school-record 14 against Indiana on Oct. 23.
? COACHING MILESTONE: Chuck Erbe recorded his 150th win as MSU?s head coach versus Purdue on Nov. 6. He is 150-74 in his seventh season at MSU and 460-195-3 in his 19th season as a head coach.
? LARGEST AND LONGEST: State?s five-game win over Purdue took two hours and 30 minutes, the Spartans? longest match of the season. MSU also saw its largest crowd of the season at 1,342.
? FINALLY IN FIVE: The Spartans recorded their first five-game win of the season against Purdue on Nov. 6 while the Boilermakers lost their first five-game match of the season after winning six straight. Prior to that, MSU had been winless in three tries in five games (9/3 v. Texas A&M, 9/24 v. Penn State and 10/8 v. Iowa).
? STEADY SANBORN: Jessica Sanborn set her career high with 21 kills against Purdue on Nov. 6. For the weekend she hit 34 kills to go with 22 digs and 10 blocks. Sanborn continues to lead the Spartans with a .352 hitting percentage and is second on the team at 1.15 blocks per game.
? AMAZING STORY: Sarah Gustin recorded the most attempts of her career against Iowa on Oct. 8 with 59. Unbelievably, last weekend Gustin tied the mark not once, but twice! Against Wisconsin she hit 16 kills on 59 attempts while against Purdue she recorded 26 kills on, yes, 59 attempts.
? MILESTONE II: Sarah Gustin recorded the 500th dig of her career against Purdue on Nov. 6.
? LUCKY SEVEN: Maren Witzel tied her career high with seven blocks against Wisconsin on Nov. 5. She had a solid all-around match with seven kills and eight digs to go with one block solo and six block assists. Against Purdue on Nov. 6, Witzel tallied her third double-double of the season with 11 kills and 13 digs.
? WISCONSIN RECAP: Michigan State tied the season series with Wisconsin with a 3-0 win on Nov. 5. The teams were virtually even in every category. The Spartans outhit the Badgers, .206-.124 and outblocked them 15-14. Wisconsin outdug MSU 66-63. Erin Hartley scored a match-high 17 kills to go with 14 digs, three service aces and three blocks. Sarah Gustin contributed 16 kills and eight blocks, while Jessica Sanborn chipped in 13 kills, 11 digs and four blocks.
? PURDUE RECAP: Michigan State also tied the season series with Purdue, surviving a 3-2 match in which Purdue outhit (.285-.262) and outblocked (20.5-19) the Spartans. Sarah Gustin led all hitters with 26 kills as one of three Spartans to reach the 20-kill mark. Vicki Basil tallied a career-high 78 assists while Angela Morley knocked down another eight blocks.
? HOME ADVANTAGE?: Michigan State is currently 7-5 at home. In contrast, MSU is 5-3 on the road and 6-0 at a neutral site. Even if MSU wins its last two home matches in 1999 (11/19 v. Indiana and 11/20 v. Illinois), it will be the lowest home win total (9) in the last five years. The Spartans are currently 6-5 in Jenison Field House. The last time the team had a losing record at home was 1993, when the Spartans went 4-8.
? CAREER MARKERS: ? Vicki Basil needs 17 assists for 2,000 in her career and 45 to move into fifth place (2,028) on the MSU career assists chart. ? Angela Morley needs two block assists to move into sixth (117) on the MSU single-season block assists chart and four more total blocks to move into sixth (145) on the team single-season total blocks chart. ? MSU needs two more block solos to move into seventh (87) on the team single-season solo chart and 24 block assists to move into sixth (438) on the team single season assists chart.
? BLOCKERS: Michigan State has recorded 292 blocks as a team this season. Were the season to end today, MSU?s total would rank it seventh on the school?s single-season chart. Last year, the Spartans ended with 394 total blocks, nine short of the school record of 403, established in 1997. The Spartans are averaging 3.2 blocks per game while holding opponents to 2.3 pg.
? NCAA STATS: Angela Morley is sixth in the nation in blocks per game (1.66), while as a team, MSU is ranked 10th (3.24 pg).
