Friday, November 6
Minneapolis, Minn.
8:00 PM
Michigan State University
14-10, 6-7Big Ten
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Minnesota
20-3, 12-1Big Ten
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Michigan State
21
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Minnesota
25
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Spartans Fall In Road Battle at Minnesota, 3-0
11/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Nov. 6, 2015 
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State fell to No. 4 Minnesota on the road on Friday night, 3-0, (21-25, 13-25, , 21-25). MSU dropped its fourth straight match to fall to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten. The Gophers are now 20-3, 12-1 in Conference play.
MSU got a good look at a big net presence from the Gophers, who out-blocked MSU by a 12-8 margin and hit .330 on the night, compared to just .140 for the Spartans.
- SET ONE: The home team opened up a 8-3 edge in the opening set behind an early .600 hitting percentage, and MSU used a 7-3 run to cut it down to two at 12-10, using a trio of kills by Kranda to help trim the deficit. The Gophers got it back to a four-point ballgame at 15-11, but the resilient Spartans pulled within one with a three-point rally and stayed within one or two points until Minnesota pulled ahead 20-17 on a Daly Santana sharp-angle shot. With Minnesota maintaining its three-point edge at 22-19, the Spartans called their second and final timeout. The Gophers went up by four out of the break, and held on for a 25-21 win in the first set. MSU was led by Kranda's six kills, while Reinig had four and Fitterer had a pair of blocks and three kills.
- SET TWO: With a slim 6-5 lead, the Gophers blew open a tight early game with a 7-0 run during which MSU had to burn both timeouts, and pulled ahead 13-5. A Kranda kill stopped the run, but the home team kept its foot on the gas, pushing its lead to 10 (17-7) before a pair of errors. Trailing 20-10 on the strength of the home team hitting .533 (12-0-23) in the frame, MSU got back-to-back points from Kranda on a kill and a block before Minnesota got the sideout with a Spartan service error. A 6-1 edge in blocks for the Gophers helped them close out the Spartans by a 25-13 edge in the second set. Kranda added four more kills to push her match total into double digits.
- SET THREE: The Gophers did their best to open strong in the third frame with an eye on a sweep. With the home team holding a 15-9 lead, MSU ripped off four straight points to trim it to 15-13, using a kill and a block by Garvelink and a kill and an ace by Minarick. Out of a Gopher timeout, Reinig cut it to one with MSU's fifth straight point, but the Gophers went to the go-to Santana to stop the Spartan run, and countered MSU's run with a five-point rally of their own, with two big blocks by Molly Lohman, to make it 20-14.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Brooke Kranda had 15 kills and hit a team-best .296 in her second consecutive double-digit kill match.
- Chloe Reinig had 10 kills to lead the Spartans, and added four blocks.
- Rachel Minarick recorded 29 assists, four digs, and added two each aces, blocks, and kills.
- Alyssa Garvelink had a team-best five blocks, and added four kills.
- Kristen Muir had nine digs to lead MSU, while Abby Monson added six and Holly Toliver five.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- MSU is now 17-52 all-time against Minnesota. MSU has not won in Minneapolis since a 3-0 win on Nov. 3, 2001.
- Kranda's 15 terminations was her most kills since posting 15 kills vs. Michigan on Oct. 3
- MSU was out-blocked for the fifth straight match (12-9), while the Gophers hit .330, the highest hitting percecntage for an MSU opponent this season.
- The Spartans next compete in a matinee at Wisconsin on Sunday that will air on ESPN2.
Team Stats
MSU
MINN
Kills
37
41
Errors
23
11
Attempts
100
91
Hitting %
.140
.330
Points
48.0
57.0
Assists
36
39
Aces
2
4
Blocks
9.0
12.0
Game Leaders
Kills
15
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Kills
4
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Players Mentioned
MB
/ VolleyballMB/OPP
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
DS
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
OH
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