Volleyball Finishes Regular Season On The Road
11/23/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 23, 1999
? STATE UPDATE: Michigan State (19-11, 9-9) defeated Indiana, 3-1 (12-15, 15-11, 15-8, 15-12), but lost to Illinois, 2-3 (15-6, 17-15, 15-8, 15-8, 15-9). The Spartans have two games remaining, both on the road. The Spartans are 5-5 in road matches.
? RADIO: The Michigan match will be on the radio locally by WVFN-AM (730). Play-by-play announcer Jason Colthorp will be joined by former Spartan Veronica Morales with color analysis.
? MICHIGAN: Michigan is 13-14 overall and 5-13 in the Big Ten (9th). The Wolverines split last weekend, upsetting Illinois, 3-1 (15-10, 7-15, 15-12, 15-11), and falling to Indiana, 1-3 (15-10, 7-15, 10-15, 10-15). Nicole Kacor and Joanna Fielder lead the Wolverines at 3.61 and 3.20 kills per game, respectively. Shannon Melka averages 12.09 assists per game while Kacor and Alija Pittenger lead the team in digs at 3.66 and 3.28 per game, respectively. Annie Maxwell is Michigan?s leading blocker at 1.17 pg. Michigan State leads the series 38-20-1. MSU was victorious, 3-0 (15-9, 15-6, 15-5) the last time the teams met on Oct. 13. Erin Hartley led the Spartans with 16 kills on .600 hitting.
? NORTHWESTERN: Northwestern is 4-24 overall and 2-16 (11th) in the Big Ten. The Wildcats split last weekend, falling to Wisconsin, 3-1 (15-6, 10-15, 5-15, 11-15) but upsetting Purdue, 3-2 (8-15, 15-12, 13-15, 15-5, 15-11). Kitty Owen and Carmen Burbach lead the Wildcats with 3.39 and 2.76 kills per game, respectively. Setter Kelli Myer averages 10.21 assists per game while Jennifer Zagorski is tops on defense with 3.23 kills per game. NU?s leading blocker is Owen at 0.81 pg. Northwestern leads the series 26-12. The Spartans were victorious in East Lansing on Oct. 15, 3-0 (15-8, 15-2, 15-2). It marked the second time this season and just the second time in the last three years that the Spartans had held an opponent to 12 points or less. Erin Hartley had 20 kills on .607 hitting to lead MSU.
? STATE PRIDE - PART TWO: Michigan State has a substantial lead in the annual state pride series. The winner is determined by matches won, or if tied, games one. If still tied, the decision comes down to total points. MSU is ahead one match to zero, three games to zero and 45-20 points.
? UP IN THE AIR: Michigan State?s chances of being selected to its sixth-straight NCAA Tournament largely depends on how the team does in its final outings against Michigan and Northwestern. The selection show is on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 10 p.m. ET. The show can be viewed live with the use of a DSS dish such as DirecTV or Dish Network. Sunshine Network (DirecTV 632/Dish Network 422) and Empire Sports (DirecTV 626/Dish Network 432) will air the show live. The satellite coordinates are Galaxy 6, Transponder 9. The MSU volleyball team will be at Damon?s in Lansing for the show beginning at 8:30 p.m.
? SAVORY SETTER: Vicki Basil moved into third place on the MSU career assists list after recording 147 last weekend, including a career-high and school record 86 vs. Illinois. Basil now has 2,222 career assists but second place is a long way off. That mark of 3,773 is held by Courtney DeBolt (1992-95) and is 1,551 assists away for Basil. Basil passed Christie Landry, MSU?s setter the last year and a half before tearing an ACL earlier in the season. Landry currently has 2,188 career assists.
? BIG IN THE MIDDLE: Jessica Sanborn set career marks in kills and digs last weekend while compiling two double-doubles. Sanborn had 20 kills, a career-high 17 digs and a season-best nine blocks against Indiana, and a career-best 22 kills, 11 digs and seven blocks against Illinois. She is fourth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.338) and seventh in blocking (1.20 pg).
? A-MO HAS AMMO: Angela Morley is fifth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.333) while averaging 1.77 kills per game. She had the first back-to-back double-figure kills matches of her career last weekend with 10 kills against Indiana and Illinois. ? DEUCE IS NUMERO UNO: Morley (No. 2) shares the lead in the Big Ten in blocks per game with 1.57 in overall matches and 1.73 in Big Ten matches only. She moved into third place on the MSU single-season blocking chart last weekend and currently has 160 this season (29-131).
? DOUBLE-DOUBLE TOIL AND TROUBLE: Five MSU players tallied double-doubles against Indiana in a long four-game victory. Sarah Gustin had 22 kills and 11 digs, Jessica Sanborn 20 kills-17 digs, Erin Hartley 14 kills-11 digs, Maren Witzel 11 kills-10 digs and Vicki Basil 61 assists-14 digs. A sixth MSU player, Tammy Vonderheide also tallied double-figure digs with 14. A similar statistical distribution could not salvage a two-game lead against Illinois on Saturday, however. Three players had double-doubles (Gustin 27k-11d, Sanborn 22k-11d, Hartley 26k-10d) and five tallied double-figure digs.
? WE ALL DIG IT: Six of MSU?s seven regular rotation average 2.00 digs per game or better: Hartley (2.46), Vicki Basil (2.41), Maren Witzel (2.39), Tammy Vonderheide (2.25), Sanborn (2.11) and Gustin (2.05).
? SPREADING THE WEALTH: Three Spartans average at least 3.7 kills per game led by Sarah Gustin?s 4.35. Erin Hartley averages 4.02 pg, while Jessica Sanborn puts down 3.70.
? ROOFERS, Inc.: Two Spartans average over 1.20 blocks per game and are ranked in the top seven in the conference. Angela Morley is tied for the lead in the Big Ten at 1.57 pg, while Jessica Sanborn blocks 1.20 pg (7th). Erin Hartley is next on the team at 0.84 pg, while Sarah Gustin is at 0.80 pg.
? HIGH SCHOOL NIGHT: Thanks to all of the area teenagers in attendance for MSU?s match against Indiana on Nov. 19, the Spartans tallied their largest home crowd of the year, 2,034. It?s the 21st-best attendance in school history.
? WROBEL HONORED: Jenna Wrobel, MSU?s all-time kills leader and only the third MSU player to earn All-America honors, was honored before Friday?s match versus Indiana. Wrobel had a banner with her number (6) on it hoisted to the rafters of Jenison Field House, joining those of Spartan greats Dana Cooke, Val Sterk and Courtney DeBolt.
? NCAA STATS: In the latest NCAA stats (11/9) Angela Morley was sixth in the nation in blocks per game (1.66), while as a team, MSU was ranked 10th (3.24 pg).
? CAREER MARKERS: ? Angela Morley needs two block assists to move into fourth (131) on the MSU single-season block assists chart and 17 total blocks to move into second (177) on the single-season total blocks chart. ? MSU needs 52 more assists for fourth place (1631) on the team single-season charts and 164 more for third place (1743).
