Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
9-4, 1-1B1G
Purdue
11-2, 2-0B1G
Spartan Streak Snapped at Six With Loss to Purdue
9/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State had its six-match winning streak snapped with a four-set loss to No. 20 Purdue (25-18, 14-25, 24-26, 23-25) on Saturday night at Jenison Field House. MSU lost a three-point advantage at set point in the third, and Purdue used the momentum from the rally to take the fourth set and improve to 2-0 in Big Ten play and 11-2 overall. MSU loses for the first time since Sept. 5 and falls to 9-4 overall and evens its record at 1-1 in Conference games.
WATCH: Highlights vs. Purdue
- SET ONE: MSU jumped out to a very quick 5-1 lead, forcing the visitors into an early timeout. The Spartans never trailed in the set, but the last tie came at 9-9 before MSU started pulling away. With an 18-15 lead, a 6-1 run brought MSU its largest lead, and set point. Despite a shot out of bounds MSU closed out the set with a kill from Fitterer. Megan Tompkins dominated at the net, having a hand on three of MSU's blocks and adding three kills. Brooke Kranda and Fitterer each had four of MSU's kills, while Rachel Minarick had nine assists.
- SET TWO: Purdue came out sharp in the second set, pulling ahead 7-2 and maintaining the five-point advantage at 11-5. The visitors pushed their lead to as many as eight, and then with a 20-13 lead, ripped of a 5-1 run to close out the set. Boilers turning the tables on MSU in the frane, with a 22-14 lead and four blocks to MSU's zero. Purdue hit .542 in the frame with 15 kills against two errors, while limiting MSU to just .100 (10-7-30). Kranda had six of the Spartans' 10 kills in the frame, while Toliver had three kills and three of MSU's seven digs.
- SET THREE: The two teams battled through the early part of the set, with MSU taking the largesst early lead at 9-6. The visitors tied it at 10-10, but a pair of Purdue service errors and an ace by freshman Sarah Washegesic helped MSU retake the three-point lead at 14-11. After a Sam Epensa kill brought the Boilers within one at 18-17, but a 3-0 run pushed MSU's lead to four, and after the Purdue timeout, the visitors came back with a kill and a block to trim the lead to two. Trading blows, MSU got to set point (24-21), with Toliver's lefty shot off the block, and after the second Boiler timeout, four points in a row erased the three-point MSU lead, and a kill shot by Drews gave the Boilers the 26-24 win in the third set. Toliver was a force for MSU with seven kills and three digs, but MSU hit just .140 (13-7-43).
- SET FOUR: After MSU took an 8-6 lead, a 6-2 Boiler run gave the visitors a 12-10 advantage, and they pushed it out to four points a 20-16. MSU kept clawing into the lead, but could not get closer than two points, and down four (24-20), the Spartans got a cross-court kill then a block from Garvelink to pull within two. Fitterer and Toliver combined on a block of Danielle Cuttino to bring MSU within one, 24-23, and Purdue called a timeout in an effort to halt MSU's momentum. A swing off the block by Azriah Stahl sealed the win for Purdue.
QUOTABLE:
"We knew that we were going to have our hands full with Purdue, and we got what we expected there. We had the early momentum, and they stormed back at us in the second set. Losing that third set when we had it won was a big, big momentum swing for them, and even though we did do some nice things in that fourth set to almost come back ourselves, we had dug ourselves too deep a hole. We know that we've got a really quick turnaround here before we host Michigan on Wednesday, so we have to get right back to work and re-focus."
- Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
- Brooke Kranda led MSU with a match-high19 kills on a career-high 58 attempts, and added four blocks.
- Holly Toliver's 16 kills on 32 attempts was a career best in kills. She also added a career-best six digs and a block.
- Megan Tompkins led MSU's effort at the net for the fourth time in the last five matches, tying for a match-high four blocks alongside eight kills and a .571 hitting percentage. Kranda and Fitterer also each had four blocks of the Spartans' eight total.
- Rachel Minarick had 32 assists, her most since MSU moved to a 6-2 , while Halle Peterson recorded 15 and also had four digs. Minarick had six digs and a pair of service aces, half of MSU's four.
- Abby Monson had double-digit digs for the eighth straight match (17), and also added four assists.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- Holly Toliver's 16 kills bettered her 14 vs. Southeastern Louisiana in Aug 2014, early in her freshman season.
- All-American outside hitter Chloe Reinig missed her third straight weekend and seventh straight match overall with injury.
- The Spartans move to 29-51 all-time against the Boilermakers. Each team won on its home floor last season.
- This was MSU's first loss this season when winning the first set. MSU is now 9-1 when taking a first-set victory this season.
- The Spartans wrap up a three-game homestand on Wednesday with the annual Jam Jenison event, a 7 p.m. match time vs. Michigan.
