Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
Illinois
Volleyball Loses To Illinois In Five
11/20/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 20, 1999
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State volleyball team had its match against Illinois seemingly locked up after winning the first two games on Saturday, Nov. 20 in Jenison Field House. But Illinois, which fought back from a 10-14 deficit in the second game to force the extra points win, had other ideas, and behind the hot hand of Tracey Marshall won the next three games to take the match.
Jessica Sanborn set a career high with 22 kills on .405 hitting, adding 11 digs and seven blocks, a season high. Sarah Gustin led all hitters with 27 kills and Erin Hartley fought out of a long slump with 26 kills on .352 hitting with 10 digs and four blocks.
The Spartans hit .429 in game one and Sanborn hit six kills with no errors on .857 hitting as the Spartans cruised to a 15-6 win.
Michigan State looked to have game two well in hand, serving for the game at 14-9. The Illini had other ideas and ran the score back to a tie, 14-14, and then took their first lead of the game at 15-14. A Tammy Vonderheide kill put the teams back into a tie and then Hartley and Sanborn ended the game with back-to-back kills. Sarah Gustin and Hartley each had 10 kills in the game as MSU outhit Illinois .459-.343.
The tide of the match shifted with the game-two Illini rally. The Spartans led early at 3-2 in game four but that was the last lead they would have for the entire match. Illinois rambled to a 15-8 win, sparked by Tracey Marshall?s eight kills. Marshall, who did not start and did not play until the third game, destroyed the Spartans with her powerful, accurate hitting.
The Illini tied up the match with another 15-8 win in the fourth game as Illinois hit .381 to MSU?s .156. Betsy Spicer had eight kills for UI, while Marshall added another seven. Hartley led the Spartans with four kills.
Rally scoring is the arch-enemy of Michigan State. The Spartans entered this match 1-4 in five game matches. They ended the match with a 1-5 slate in long matches, losing the game and match 15-9.
Four Spartans hit double-figure kills, three of those 20-or-more. Five Spartans had 20-dig matches led by Maren Witzel?s 16, tying a career high and Vicki Basil set her career high with 86 assists. The Spartans outblocked Illinois 14-13 but were outhit .324-.300, mainly due to the Illini?s .571 hitting percentage in the fifth game.
Michigan State is tied for fifth in the conference with a 9-9 slate and is 19-11 overall. Illinois is in fourth place in the Big Ten with an 11-7 conference record and is 15-9 overall.
