Michigan State University
Northwestern
Volleyball Drops 3-2 Decision To Northwestern
10/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2006
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Spartan volleyball team lost its second five-game match of the season on Saturday, dropping a 3-2 decision to Northwestern in Big Ten action at Jenison Field House. The Wildcats won by scores of 19-30, 30-21, 27-30, 30-26, 15-11. With the loss, Michigan State falls to 11-5, 2-4 in Big Ten play, while Northwestern improves to 8-7, 2-4 against conference opponents.
"This was a tough match tonight," Spartan head coach Cathy George said. "With just two days of practice before our next match, we now turn our focus to preparing our game plan for our contest against Michigan this Wednesday."
A trio of Spartans tallied double-digit kill totals, led by outside hitter Katie Johnson with 24 kills on a match-high 54 attempts. Ashley Schatzle added 20 kills and seven digs, while Vanessa King posted 15 kills on 22 attempts for a .636 attack percentage. Setter Allison Ianni added her third double-double of the season, posting 56 assists and 13 digs in the loss. Northwestern tallied 10 aces at the service stripe, while State managed just one service ace for the second consecutive match.
Defensively, MSU tallied 12.0 total blocks at the net, compared to 10.0 by the Wildcat defenders. King anchored the Green and White, posting a career-high 9.0 total blocks on one block solo and eight block assists. Ianni and Johnson tallied four and three blocks, respectively, while Jessica Hohl and Heather McDaniel each added one block for the match. Libero Nicole Colaluca posted a team-best 14 digs in the Spartan backcourt, while Ianni and defensive specialist Miken Trogdon contributed 13 and 11, respectively.
State scored three points behind the service of Schatzle early in game five for an early 4-2 lead. A Wildcat kill and Spartan hitting error knotted the score at 4-4, and Northwestern took a 6-4 upper hand on back-to-back kills by outside hitter Lindsay Anderson. Trailing 7-5, Johnson and Schatzle connected on consecutive swings after a time out to even the score at 7-7. Northwestern scored four of the next five to take a dominating 11-8 lead, and Michigan State failed to post a kill the remainder of the match as the Wildcats won the battle in game five, 15-11.
King placed a ball down the left sideline to push the Spartan lead to 16-7 midway through game one. Back-to-back blocks by Schatzle and Northwestern hitting errors late in the set saw the Spartans take game one, 30-19. Ianni tallied 10 assists in the set, directing the Green and White to a .303 hitting percentage against a .031 effort by the Wildcats. Johnson led the offense with seven kills, while King posted a flawless four kills on four attempts in the win.
The Wildcats found momentum in game two, as Michigan State took its second timeout of the set when trailing 14-9. Northwestern scored three straight out of the break to push its lead to 17-9. The teams then matched three-point runs, but NU's Stephanie Jurivich connected on three swings late in the set to even the match with a 30-21 victory. State was unable to match solid hitting by the Wildcat offense, posting just 17 kills against Northwestern's 22. Johnson and Schatzle posted five and four kills, respectively, while Colaluca tallied six digs for the Spartan defense.
Northwestern used its final timeout of game three trailing 16-7 and scored three straight out of the break to pull within six of the Spartan lead at 16-10. State scored seven of the next 10, but the Wildcats answered with a 9-1 run to pull within two at 24-22. Following a Michigan State timeout late in the set, Johnson connected on two Ianni assists to close the 30-27 game-three victory. Johnson and Schatzle combined for 12 kills in game three, while King added five kills and three block assists at the net.
The Spartans trailed 19-15 in game four and scored three of the next four points to pull within two of the Wildcat lead at 20-18. Northwestern scored four of the next six, and finished the set on a 6-4 run to force a deciding fifth game, 30-26. Northwestern out-hit the Spartans .381-.205, as Michigan State committed eight hitting errors, against 21 kills and five errors by the Wildcat offense.
Michigan State continues Big Ten play in a mid-week match, traveling to face Michigan on Wednesday. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Cliff Keen Arena in Ann Arbor.
