Volleyball Set To Begin 1999 NCAA Tournament
11/29/1999 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 29, 1999
STATE UPDATE: Michigan State (20-12, 10-10) travels to Firestone Fieldhouse on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., for the first and second rounds of the 1999 NCAA Tournament where it will meet Cal Poly at 5 p.m. PT on Friday, Dec. 4. The Spartans were ousted by Pepperdine in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 1998 and will look to advance to the second round to seek retribution. Last week State lost to Michigan, 3-0 (7-15, 5-15, 1-15), and defeated Northwestern, 3-1 (5-12, 15-12, 15-9. The Spartans are now 6-6 in road matches and are 5-5 in their last 10 matches. Eight Big Ten teams were selected to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in conference history.
SIX STRAIGHT: 1999 marks the sixth time in Michigan State volleyball history that the Spartans have earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. This year is also the sixth consecutive NCAA bid for MSU, all under seventh-year head coach Chuck Erbe. Michigan State is 6-5 (.545) in NCAA Tournament matches. See page 17 for a complete NCAA Tournament history.
ROUND 1 - MSU vs. Cal Poly: Cal Poly makes its 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament this season and its first since 1989. The Mustangs (20-8 overall, 11-5 Big West) have won three of their last four matches and are led by senior middle blocker Kari De Soto who is averaging 4.43 kills per game on .396 hitting. Setter Carly O?Halloran leads the team at 11.69 assists and 2.52 digs per game while Cal Poly has two players averaging over 1.00 blocks per game in DeSoto (1.57) and Worthy Lion (1.27). This will be the first meeting between the Spartans and Mustangs. Head coach Steve Schlick (UC Santa Barbara, ?79) is in his fourth season at Cal Poly and maintains a 70-44 record in his first head coaching position. For more information visit the Cal Poly website at www.calpoly.edu/~athletic/.
OTHER TEAMS IN MSU?s BRACKET: No. 2 seed Pepperdine and Arkansas State play in the 7:30 match on Dec. 4. If MSU defeats Cal Poly, the Spartans would face the winner of that match at 7 p.m. PT on Dec. 5. The West Coast Conference Champion Pepperdine Waves are 24-3 overall and finished their conference slate with an unblemished 14-0 record. The Waves have three players averaging 3.00 kills per game or more: Jamie Hill at 3.88, Stacy Rouwenhorst at 3.83 and Melissa Snow at 3.33. Setter Melissa Plass averages 13.00 assists per game while Lisa Borom is the leader on defense at 3.06 digs per game. Hill also averages a team-high 1.17 blocks per game and Jennifer Fopma contributes 1.00 pg. Pepperdine has won three of its last four matches. Pepperdine holds the series lead, 1-0, after a five game upset in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament in East Lansing, Mich. (12/3/98). For more information see www.pepperdine.edu/athletics/.
Arkansas State, co-champion of the Sun Belt Conference and winner of the conference tournament, comes into the NCAA Tournament with a 28-6 record. The Lady Indians, making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995, have won 12 straight matches and 23 of their last 25. Susanne Snipes leads the team at 3.63 kills per game while setter Jessica Barney averages 12.39 assists per game. Beth Cochran is Arkansas State?s leading blocker at 1.43 pg while Shauna Standart leads the team in digs at 3.03 pg. The Lady Indians and Spartans have never met. For more information see www.asuindians.edu.
20: Michigan State has reached the 20-win plateau for the fifth consecutive year and the 11th time in school history.
ADDING BASIL TO THE MIX: Michigan State started the season with hopes of contending for a Big Ten title. On Sept. 25 starting setter Christie Landry tore the ACL in her right knee, ending her season. Vicki Basil, who started her freshman year when Landry was MSU?s starting outside hitter, stepped back into the starting role and has led the team to its sixth straight NCAA Tournament. The change marks a role reversal of sorts as Landry replaced Basil at setter in the starting lineup at the end of 1997, leading MSU to the NCAA second round, when Basil injured her wrist.
HOT IN NOVEMBER: Prior to November Jessica Sanborn had never tallied 20 kills in a match. Since the change of the calendar, the junior has posted the number three times (11/6, 11/19, 11/20) including a career-high 22 against Illinois on Nov. 20. Along the same lines, Angela Morley had recorded double-figure kills only one time this season, in her collegiate debut on Sept. 3 (17). Since Nov. 12, Morley has hit over 10 kills in four of six matches.
500 CLUB: Three MSU hitters have reached 500 career kills this season. Sarah Gustin was the first to reach the mark on Sept. 24 and currently has 816 in her career and 482 this season. Erin Hartley, who now has 676 in her career and 371 this season, reached 500K on Oct. 13 while Jessica Sanborn hit the milestone on Oct. 22 and has 639 in her career, 401 of them this season.
2 x 2,000: Both of MSU?s setters reached the 2,000 career assists mark in 1999. Christie Landry was MSU?s starter until tearing the ACL in her right knee. She stands fourth on the MSU all-time chart with 2,188 career assists. Her replacement Vicki Basil, who was MSU?s starter in 1997, recently moved into third place on the all-time chart and has 2,295 assists for her career.
WE ALL DIG IT: Six of MSU?s regular seven-person rotation average 1.99 digs per game or more: Erin Hartley (2.45), Vicki Basil (2.37), Maren Witzel (2.31), Tammy Vonderheide (2.15), Jessica Sanborn (2.09), Sarah Gustin (1.99).
COACHING MILESTONE: Chuck Erbe recorded his 150th win as MSU?s head coach versus Purdue on Nov. 6. He is 152-78 (.661) in his seventh season at MSU and 462-199-3 (.698) in his 19th season as a head coach.
FRUSTRATED IN FIVE: The Spartans are 1-5 in five-game matches. The only five-gamer MSU has won this season came in against Purdue in the Boilermakers? first five-game loss of the season on Nov. 6.
finding pow?S: Michigan State in 1999 is just the second school in Big Ten history to have four different players earn conference Player of the Week awards in the same season. The Spartans also had four players win the award in 1995 when Dana Cooke, Veronica Morales, Val Sterk and Jenna Wrobel all earned the award. Penn State owns the record, set in 1997, with five different layers earning a POW award: Bonnie Bremner, Terry Zemaitis, Lauren Cacciamani, Christy Cochran and Lindsay Anderson.
EIGHT IS ENOUGH: Angela Morley recorded eight blocks in five of six matches between Oct. 22 and Nov. 6 including a school record 14 against Indiana on Oct. 23.
AMAZING STORY: Sarah Gustin recorded the most attempts of her career against Iowa on Oct. 8 with 59. Unbelivably, she tied the record twice, in back-to-back matches no less, against Wisconsin on Nov. 5 and Purdue on Nov. 6.
DEUCE IS NUMERO UNO: Angela 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 is in third place on the MSU single-season blocking chart with 169 (29-140) and moved into a tie for second on the single-season block assists chart with 140 last weekend.
SPREADING THE WEALTH: Three Spartans average at least 3.6 kills per game led by Sarah Gustin?s 4.34. Erin Hartley averages 3.86 pg, while Jessica Sanborn puts down 3.61.
BLOCKING RECORD FALLS: On Oct. 23 the Spartans set or tied four different single match school blocking records. MSU tallied 24 team blocks (4-40) which tied the record set against Illinois on Oct. 6, 1982. The teams? 40 block assists set a new record (old record 38 v. Illinois, 11/14/98). Angela Morley broke Sarah Gustin?s school record (13) with 14 blocks against the Hoosiers including 13 block assists, which tied Gustin?s school record. Gustin tallied 11 blocks (0-11) in the match, tied for second in block assists and eighth in total blocks in a single match.
30: Sarah Gustin scored 31 kills against Iowa on Oct. 8 to tie for 10th best effort in a single match in school history.
A-MO HAS AMMO: Going into last weekend, Angela Morley was 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 on Nov. 19-20. Against Northwestern on Nov. 27, Morley hit .429 with 11 kills and five blocks.
SAVORY SETTER: Vicki Basil notched a career-high 86 assists against Illinois on Nov. 20 to tie the school single-match record. Against Purdue on Nov. 6 she tallied a then career-high 78 which is tied for sixth on the single-match list.
SANBORN NAMED GTE ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT: Jessica Sanborn was named to the GTE Academic All-District IV Second Team it was announced on Tuesday, Nov. 23. Sanborn is one of only five Spartans ever to earn the honor and the first since 1996 when Dana Cooke (first team), Val Sterk (first team) and Julie Pavlus (second team) were all honored. Sanborn, who maintains a 3.33 grade point average in engineering mechanics, is second on the team and was fourth in the Big Ten in hitting last week with a .330 percentage and is second on the team in blocks per game at 1.20. She was honored as the Big Ten Conference?s Player of the Week on Sept. 13 and was named to three all-tournament teams, including an MVP award, earlier in the season. Sanborn is fourth in career hitting percentage at MSU (.288) and is fifth on the career block assists chart (287) and sixth on the total blocks chart (348).
ALL LIVE, ALL THE TIME: Nineteen of MSU?s 32 matches were televised. Every one of MSU?s 14 home matches was seen live in the East Lansing area on AT&T Cable, a local cable station. Other stations, including espn2 and Fox Sports Chicago picked up the action at Wisconsin, Ohio State, Minnesota, Illinois and Penn State. The Spartans also had eight matches broadcast on the radio.
AnGELA-IC DEBUT: Redshirt freshman Angela Morley began her Michigan State career in fine fashion versus Cleveland State in the L&L Classic on Sept. 3. Morley tallied a career-high 17 kills on .682 hitting (17-2-22), six blocks and three digs to help MSU to a 3-0 victory. For the tournament Morley had 34 kills (.247) and led the team with 13 blocks.
TOURNAMENT RECAPS: Michigan State finished third at its own L&L/MSU Classic with losses to then-No. 16 Texas A&M and soon-to-be ranked Clemson. Jessica Sanborn was named to the all-tournament team.
MSU traveled to Massachusetts and won the UMass Motorola Invitational Tournament, defeating New Hampshire, Southern Miss, Seton Hall and UMass. Sanborn was named MVP while Sarah Gustin and Christie Landry were named to the all-tournament team.
The Spartans then swept the WMU Ameritech Invitational, running their winning streak to eight matches by defeating DePaul, Niagara, Loyola and Western Michigan. Christie Landry was named MVP while Jessica Sanborn and Angela Morley were selected to the all-tournament team.
U-S-A: Sophomore Erin Hartley played on the USA Junior National volleyball team at the 1999 FIVB Junior World Championship in Saskatoon, Canada, from Aug. 28 through Sept. 4. The U.S. finished pool play with a 3-0 record but lost to Korea in the quarterfinal. The United States finished eighth in the tournament after losing to the Czech Republic, 1-3, in the seventh-place match.
CAREER MARKERS:
? Jessica Sanborn needs eight more block assists to move into fourth place on the MSU career block assists chart with 295. She needs six more total blocks to move into fifth all-time on that list (354).
? The Spartans need five more blocks to move into fourth on the seasonal records chart with 363. The team needs four block solos to move into fifth on that seasonal chart with 101 and need one block assist to move into fourth on the seasonal chart.
? Angela Morley needs eight more blocks to move into second place on the MSU season chart (177) and 23 more block assists to top the school?s seasonal block assists chart (163).
