Michigan State University
3-3
Miami (Ohio)
3-4
Miami Sweeps Spartans To Close Tournament
9/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
No. 19 Michigan State fell to 3-3 on the season, falling to Miami 3-0 (22-25, 23-25, 23-25) on Saturday evening in the finale of the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational. The Redhawks go 2-1 on the weekend to finish second in the tournament behind champion Virginia Tech. Miami is now 3-4 on the year
- Set One: The RedHawks took an eight-point lead at 19-11, as MSU opened the match hitting just .032. MSU used a four-point run, off of two Kranda kills and back-to-back aces by Holly Toliver, to make it 21-17. MSU overall closed out the set on an 11-6 run, but ultimately had to come back from too large a deficit and fell, 25-22. Reinig had a set-best six kills, and Kranda contributed five and hit .625 on eight swings.
- Set Two: Neither team could build anything larger than a two point lead until MSU committed back-to-back errors that gave Miami a 21-18 edge late in the frame. MSU battled back to within a pair at 23-21, as Reinig polished off an extended rally, finally terminating her fifth attempt in the rally. The teams traded points, with Toliver bringing MSU within a point at 23-24, but a Spartan error finished off the set for the Redhawks and sent the visitors into the break with a 2-0 lead.
- Set Three: The third set was tight like the second, as the early three-point lead by the Spartans turned out to be the largest advantage for either team until Miami used a 3-0 run to pull in front 20-17 late in the set. MSU pulled back within one with a Fitterer kill and Kranda solo stuff at 20-19; after the RedHawks pushed it back to a three-point advantage at 23-20, the Spartans gain fought back down within a point at 24-23, but Stela Kukoc closed it out to seal the sweep for Miami.
TOP PERFORMERS
- Chloe Reinig led MSU with 15 kills, hitting .303.
- Brooke Kranda had another double-digit kill effort, posting 11 and hitting .308. Allyssah Fitterer led MSU hitting .333, finishing with eight kills.
- Rachel Minarick finished with 22 assists, and also had seven digs. MSU ran a 6-2 for the first game this season, and Halle Peterson added 17 assists and had nine digs.
QUOTABLE
"Obviously we're pretty disappointed with the outcome of our weekend, as we expected to perform and execute better in front of our home fans. We're still working on learning some new roles to compensate for our injuries, but we're not going to use that as an excuse. We need to just get back to work and concentrate on cleaning up some things before we head to New Hampshire next weekend. "
-- Head Coach Cathy George.
STATS AND STORYLINES
- For the second straight match, the Spartans were out-blocked by a significant margin. Miami held the edge, 8-3, holding MSU to its fewest blocks in a match this season. Virginia Tech held a 14-7 edge in blocks in Friday night's match.
- The All-Tournament Team consisted of Brianna Lilly, Butler; Maeve McDonald, Miami; Maris Below, Miami; Brooke Kranda, Michigan State; and Kenedy McGrath and Amanda McKinzie from tournament champion Virginia Tech. Lindsey Owens (Virginia Tech) earned tournament MVP honors.
- MSU plays its third weekend of pre-Big Ten action at the New Hampshire Invitational next weekend, taking on Boston College, Delaware, and the host Wildcats.
