Spartans Drop Four-Setter at Indiana

Nov. 14, 2015

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Playing its fifth road game in the last six outings, MSU fell at Indiana on Saturday night, 3-1, (24-26, 25-21, 24-26, 20-25). MSU is now to 14-13 overall and 6-10 in the Big Ten. The Hoosiers are now 15-13, 5-11 in Conference play. MSU hit .254 and out-blocked its hosts 11-8, but the home team used 13 service aces and five solo blocks to help them take the four-set victory, their second straight after a Wednesday win at Rutgers. The IU win snapped a three-match winning streak for MSU in the series.

SET ONE: MSU opened the match with a 6-2 lead, but the home used a 9-2 run to lead 11-8 and force MSU into a timeout. MSU got the lead back with a 4-1 run to make it 13-12, which began a point-for-point battle. Tied at 18, MSU pulled ahead by two on kills by Reinig and Fitterer, forcing the home team to call a timeout to regroup. It worked for the home team, which got a block and a kill, followed by an MSU error when a shot sailed long, to regain the lead at 21-20. the teams continued to trade points, with MSU winning the race to set point on a Toliver kill that gave MSU a 24-23 lead. IU took its second timeout, came out of the break with a Awele Nwaeze kill, got to set point on an MSU hitting error, and then Nwaeze sealed the win with a solo block for the 26-24 win. Holly Toliver had five kills to lead MSU, while Reinig and Fitterer each posted three terminations.

SET TWO: MSU held an early 4-1 lead, but the Hoosiers used an identical 9-2 run to take a 10-6 advantage, their largest lead of the night. MSU countered with a 11-2 run to take a five-point lead at 17-11, at which point IU called its second and final timeout. The teams traded kills out of the break, and Taylor Lebo cut it to four with an ace, and then a block out of bounds allowed the Hoosiers to pull within three., 18-15. MSU opted to use its second timeout , and a Toliver kill stopped an IU run that had allowed the home team back within two at 19-17. With a 23-21 lead, MSU got a pair of kills from Reinig to close it out and take the second set 25-21. Reinig had seven kills in the frame, while Toliver had five.

SET THREE: The teams were engaged in a battle that saw the home team hold a two-point lead through much of the frame until pulling ahead 17-14, when MSU called a timeout. IU got two straight points after that break to take a 19-14 lead, but Toliver stopped the run with a kill off the hands on the left side. MSU continued to push with a block by Tompkins and Minarick, and a shot that sailed long for IU brought MSU back within two, 19-17. With IU leading 22-20, MSU scored the next two with kills from Reinig and Fitterer to knot the set at 22-22, and then with the score tied at 24-24, the Hoosiers got two straight blocks out of bounds to take a 26-24 win and a 2-1 match advantage.

SET FOUR: The teams traded leads, with neither team able to build more than a two-point advantage until MSU took a 16-13 lead, but the home team came back to pull within a point, which forced the Spartans to call their second timeout. Nwaeze and Anderson came out of the break with back-to-back kills to regain the lead, and then a Hammond ace - the 11th of the night for IU - gave the home team a two-point lead at 18-16. A 12th ace made it a three-point edge for the home team, but Fitterer drew MSU back within two (20-18). IU refused to allow MSU within more than one point, and the Hoosiers led 23-20 when a Lebo ace gave IU match point. Chante George capped the win for the Hoosiers, who hit .303 in the fourth set.

QUOTABLE
"It's a disappointment, because I really thought we had turned a corner with the way we had played earlier this week against Nebraska. For whatever reason, we're not establishing any consistency or ability to overcome those lapses we're having. The only thing we can do is continue to work to get better before we bring in Northwestern on Wednesday. "

-- Head Coach Cathy George

TOP PERFORMERS

Holly Toliver posted a career-best 17 kills, hitting .311.
Chloe Reinig recorded 16 kills while hitting a season-best 382. She added four blocks, two solo.
Allyssah Fitterer 13 kills and hit .391.
Rachel Minarick posted 31 assists, eight digs, and two blocks and two kills. Halle Peterson added 12 assists and three digs.
Kristen Muir finished the match with a team-best 18 digs, while sophomore Abby Monson had 11.

STATS AND STORYLINES

MSU is now 48-30 all-time against IU, as the Hoosiers snapped a three-match losing streak to MSU.
MSU dropped its seventh straight match overall, its longest losing streak since 1993.
Four of MSU's last nine sets have gone to extra points.
IU had 13 service aces, the most for any Spartan opponent this season.
The Spartans had four solo blocks, its most since posting six vs. Rutgers (Oct. 17)
Allyssah Fitterer had double-digit kills in back-to-back matches for the first time since the second week of the season vs. Butler (10) and Virginia Tech (11). She posted 11 Wednesday vs. Nebraska and added 13 tonight vs. Indiana.
Chloe Reinig's 16 kills was her most since posting 18 vs. Butler, her season best. Her two solo blocks tied her season best, set against Penn State (Oct. 24). She added two block assists.
Halle Peterson's 12 assists gave her back-to-back double-digit assist performances since the games vs. Michigan on Sept. 30 and Oct. 3
The Spartans have another split weekend next week, hosting Northwestern on Wednesday before heading back on the road to Rutgers next Saturday.

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Team Stats

Holly Toliver

Chloe Reinig

Allyssah Fitterer

Megan Tompkins

Players Mentioned

Allyssah Fitterer

Rachel Minarick

Abby Monson

Kristen Muir

Halle Peterson

Chloe Reinig

Holly Toliver