Spartans Ousted By Nationally-Ranked Minnesota

Nov. 5, 2005

EAST LANSING, Mich. -

MSU vs. Minnesota Box Score
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The Spartan volleyball team suffered a 3-1 setback tonight to #17 Minnesota in Big Ten action (30-22, 23-30, 32-34, 24-30). With the loss, MSU falls to 11-13, 4-10 Big Ten, while the Golden Gophers improve to 20-5, 10-5 in conference action. Outside hitter Katie Johnson paced the Spartan offense with 24 kills, while sophomore Ashley Schatzle added 23 kills and one block solo in the loss. Libero Nicole Colaluca tallied her 500th dig of the season, finishing the contest with a floor-high 27 digs. Leading the way for Minnesota was Sarah Florian who tallied 16 kills in the win.

Hitting .347 with 22 kills and just five errors in game one, State proved strong taking the 30-22 win. The teams would match points early when at the 15-15 mark a Schatzle kill would give MSU the deciding lead. A Johnson kill would extend the Spartan lead to 24-16 forcing the Gophers to take their second timeout of the set. State's momentum would continue however as the Green and White would post five kills en route to the opening set victory. Wallin hit 1.000 for the set with five kills, while defensively she added three block assists and one block solo. Johnson hit a floor-high seven kills in game one, while Colaluca tallied six digs. Defensively State held the edge with 4.0 total blocks compared to just 1.0 blocks at the net by the Minnesota defense.

Momentum would swing the Gopher way during game two as the visitors captured the 30-23 win. After a strong hitting performance in game one, MSU struggled posting just a .147 average with 10 errors in game two. Minnesota would take the lead early after a Meredith Nelson service ace would extend the advantage to four points at the 9-4 mark. State would not give in however, scoring three straight behind back-to-back kills from Johnson and Langston at the net. The Spartans continued to battle, nearing the lead at the 22-20 mark before Golden Gopher outside hitter Sarah Florian served Minnesota to six straight securing the game two win. Johnson and Schatzle added seven and five kills respectively, while Spartan setter Mickey Davis posted 13 assists for the set.

Colaluca would tally her 500th dig of the season in game three; however the Gophers managed the 34-32 win. Matching points early, MSU would take the 12-9 advantage mid-way through the set. State would hold its lead until the 13-13 mark when an MSU hitting error would give Minnesota the 14-13 advantage. Spartan head coach Cathy George would take her first timeout of the set. An error by MSU at the service stripe would give Minnesota the force it needed to retake the 20-18 lead. MSU would rally at the net to gain the 27-24 advantage before Minnesota would again tie the contest behind the service of Kelly Bowman at 27-27. A point-for-point effort followed, however the Gophers took game three.

Game four proved to be a point-by-point battle as the score was tied 13-13. The Gophers would open up a slight lead at the 15-13 mark after a Florian kill forcing MSU to take its first timeout of the set. Tracy Bellwood would serve the Spartans to three straight to near the Minnesota lead at 18-17. Minnesota would extend its lead to 22-20, before scoring eight of the final 12 points to secure the 30-24 and 3-1 match victory.

Four Spartans posted double-digit kills for the match; Johnson with 24, Schatzle with 23, and Wallin and Langston with 15 and 10 respectively. State hit .222 for the match against the .259 effort of the Gophers, while defensively MSU was out-blocked by a 16.5 to 6.0 margin.

MSU returns to action this Wednesday when it travels to face in-state rival Michigan at 7 p.m. in Ann Arbor.