MSU Heads to OSU, Maryland for Big Ten Week Two

Friday, October 4

Columbus, Ohio

7 pm

Michigan State University

Ohio State

10/2/2019 12:35:00 PM | Volleyball

2019 Volleyball Week Six/ Big Ten Week Two:
MSU at Ohio State, Maryland
at Ohio State	Friday, Oct. 4, 7 pm \| C ovelli Center \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
at Maryland	Saturday, Oct. 5, 7 pm \| XFinity Center \| Tickets
	Webstream (BTN+) \| Live Stats
Radio	SpartanSportsNetwork.com (download the SSN24/7 app)
Game Notes	Michigan State \| Ohio State \| Maryland
Press Conference	Watch This Week's Volleyball Press Conference
Social Media	Facebook Twitter Instagram

The Fine Print

• MSU continues its challenging start to the Big Ten season with matches at Ohio State (Friday) and Maryland (Saturday). The Spartans are in a stretch of five of six Big Ten matches on the road and eight of nine matches overall away from Jenison Field House.

• Both matches will have a live video webstream via BTN+. Visit the volleyball schedule page on MSUSpartans.com or click above for direct links to video and live statistics.

• John Kreger returns behind the mic to call the action for Michigan State volleyball on the Spartan Sports Network. All games - home and away - will be carried live for the remainder of the season.

• MSU and Ohio State meet for the 61st time on Friday in the new Covelli Center on the Buckeye campus. The teams split the 2018 meetings, each winning on their home floor. The Spartans own six wins in the last 10 meetings, with their last road win in the series coming in the 2015 season.

• The Buckeyes are 8-6 and 1-1 in Big Ten play, defeating Maryland (3-1) and falling to Michigan (3-0). Sunday's loss to the Wolverines snapped a five-match winning streak. Geoff Carlston is in his 12th season as the head coach at Ohio State.

• Ohio State earned a 3-0 decision (23-25, 19-25, 28-26) on the Buckeyes' home floor in the first meeting of the teams in 2018. Alyssa Chronowski had eight third-set kills to compile a team-best 12 in the match, adding four digs and two blocks. Naya Gros had nine kills and four blocks, while setter Elena Shklyar led the team with five blocks and 29 assists, adding four digs. Bia Franklin led OSU with 14 kills and 12 digs while Madison Smeathers had 13.
   In the rematch, Maddie Haggerty led MSU with 18 kills, 11 digs and four blocks to help MSU to a 3-1 win. Both Chronowski and Rebecka Poljan had eight kills, with Poljan also posting seven blocks and an ace. For the OSU, Bukilic had 17 kills and four service aces, and Lauren Witte had eight terminations.

• Maryland and MSU met just days ago in East Lansing, with the Spartans earning the 3-0 sweep. MSU is a perfect 11-0 against the Terrapins all-time, which includes a 7-0 mark since the school joined the Big Ten Conference. Adam Hughes is in his second season as the head coach of the Terps, and guided his charges to an 8-6 mark (0-2 B1G).

• The Spartans swept Maryland last Saturday (25-17, 25-18, 25-19). Naya Gros had 10 kills (.417) and added a pair of blocks, while Rebecka Poljan had nine kills, hit .533, and had four blocks and a dig. Rebekah Rath led Maryland with 10 kills and a pair of blocks, while Erika Pritchard had nine kills and 10 digs.


Team Notes

• MSU opened Big Ten play with a split last week, falling 3-0 (24-26, 21-25, 18-25) at No. 5 Penn State before returning home with a 3-0 sweep of Maryland.

• MSU's 3-0 sweep of the Terrapins was the first for the Spartans of a Big Ten opponent since Nov. 18, 2017 against Indiana.

• The Spartans wrapped up non-conference action with a league-best 9-1 record, and had won five straight matches entering league play.

• MSU and Nebraska are tied for second with 10 wins overall in the Big Ten, and Indiana owns 11.

• The Spartans are averaging 2.79 blocks per set - good for second in the Big Ten (behind Purdue, 2.88) and 12th nationally.

• The Spartans have limited opponents to a .141 hitting percentage, which leads the Conference and ranks ninth nationally. Offensively, MSU ranks fifth in the league (24th nationally) in hitting percentage (.267).

• Penn State hit .258 in last Wednesday's meeting of the teams, the second-highest hitting percentage for an MSU opponent this season (Tennessee hit .276). Those are MSU's only two losses of the season.

• MSU held Maryland to a .097 hitting percentage in Saturday's match, one of five matches that the Spartans have held their opponent under .100. In MSU's 10 victories, two have hit over .200 (but below .209), and three others have hit between .110- .159.

• MSU's largest blocking discrepancy in a match this season happened at Penn State, as the Nittany Lions had nine to MSU's six. MSU was out-blocked in just two other matches: vs. Oakland (7-6) and Tennessee (11-10).

• MSU not only straightened out some service woes against Maryland (six service errors, compared to 12 at Penn State), but also held the Terps without an ace of their own. Maryland leads the Big Ten with 1.81 aces per frame.

• In its nine set losses this season (25-point sets), MSU has been held under 20 points just once, a 25-18 loss in the third set at Penn State. The Spartans are averaging 22.0 points in their set losses, which includes two sets that went to extra points.

• The Spartans return 14 letterwinners from the 2018 squad, and all but one starter - 2018 Team MVP Maddie Haggerty is now serving the team as a fifth-year student coach as she finishes her final semester of work toward her degree. MSU's 2019 squad features 18 players, as head coach Cathy George enters the season with three seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores, and three freshmen.

• The Spartans were selected ninth in the pre-season Big Ten coaches poll, which was announced on Aug. 19. Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Penn State, and Illinois are the top five. Purdue (6), Michigan (7), and Ohio State (8) are also in front of the Spartans, while Maryland, Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa, and Rutgers are in spots 10-14.

• MSU is not currently in the AVCA National Poll. Six teams from the Big Ten are among the national top 20, with three appearing in the top seven. Michigan is now receiving votes.

• MSU has gone 141-27 (.844) in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-19), and has never lost more than four games prior to the beginning of the Big Ten season.

• MSU ranked eighth nationally in 2018 in average attendance, welcoming an average of 3,069 patrons to Jenison Field House per match. It was MSU's fourth straight season in the national top 10 for average attendance, and 11th consecutive in the top 20. Meanwhile, the Spartans finished 12th in overall attendance (39.901), the 11th season that MSU has finished 16th in that category or higher.

• MSU welcomed a new associate head coach in the off-season, bringing Kimi Olson to East Lansing after four seasons as the head coach at Eastern Michigan. Jesse Ortiz is in his third season on the Spartan sideline, and Vlad Frenc joins the staff in 2019 as the volunteer assistant.

• 2018 was a learning year for MSU, which fielded the youngest team in the Big Ten after graduating seven seniors (all starters) from its 2017 Elite Eight squad. The team was essentially all first-year Big Ten players a year ago, the staff was encouraged by the consistent improvement from game to game and knows that a more seasoned squad is starting the 2019 campaign.

• Cathy George is one of four Big Ten head coaches to enter the season with 600+ career wins (638), along with Penn State's Russ Rose (1,271), Nebraska's John Cook (721), and Michigan's Mark Rosen (617). She ranks 15th among active coaches in coaching victories with a 638-414 overall record. She also ranks in the top 80 all-time in head coaching victories.

Player Notes
• Naya Gros and Becka Poljan were big standouts for the Spartans in the first week of Big Ten play. Poljan hit .481 and averaged 2.67 kills and 1.33 blocks per set with an ace and a pair of digs, while Gros averaged 2.0 kills and 0.67 blocks per set.

• In last Saturday's sweep of Maryland, the duo hit a combined .469 with 19 kills. Gros had 10 kills on 17 swings (.417) and added a pair of blocks, while Poljan had nine kills, hit .533, and had four blocks and a dig.

• Poljan boasts a .367 hitting percentage (T-9th, B1G, 61st nationally) and averages 2.00 kills per set, while ranking fourth in the Big Ten and 45th nationally with 1.26 blocks per frame.

• Gros ranks 11th in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.342), and sixth in blocks (1.24), which is 49th among Division I players.

• The Spartans have averaged nearly a block better than their opponents through 12 matches (2.79-1.98). MSU has five players who average between 0.67 and 1.26 blocks per set, led by Gros and Poljan; Alyssa Chronowski is third with 0.70, Molly Johnson is at 0.69, and Lauren Swartz is at 0.67. Gros leads the way with 11 solo blocks, Chronowski five, and Swartz four.

• Meredith Norris averaged 2.83 kills and 2.50 digs per frame in the first two Big Ten matches last week, with 16 kills and 15 digs.

• Norris ranks 14th in the Big Ten in kills per set (3.35), and second in aces per set (0.44), which falls 57th nationally. She's also contributing 2.29 digs per set as a six-rotation player.

• Chronowski ranks second on the team with 2.48 kills per set, and adds 0.70 blocks and 0.42 digs per set.

• Molly Johnson averaged a block per set in the two matches vs. Maryland and Ohio State, and added eight kills between the two matches. She's averaging 1.79 kills and 0.69 blocks per frame, and hitting .270, the best among MSU's regular outsides.

• Freshman Biamba Kabengele played an expanded role in the WMU tournament with the injuries altering the Spartan lineup. She earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team and was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Sept. 23.

• Kabengele is averaging 2.57 kills per set and hitting .274 overall on the season in 21 sets played (of 42 overall played by the team). She has contributed eight blocks (two solo) and averages 0.43 digs per set.

• OH Lauren Swartz is averaging 1.28 kills per frame to go with her 0.67 blocks, 0.89 digs, and .184 hitting percentage.

• Junior libero Jamye Cox averages 3.90 digs per frame, good for seventh in the Big Ten. Cox had double-digit dig efforts in each of the 10 matches this season, including 28 vs. Duke in the season opener - one shy of her career best.

• Cox has 971 career digs, and needs 150 to climb into MSU's all-time career top 10 in that category. Judy Doles holds down the No. 10 spot with 1121 career digs.

• The Spartans run a 6-2 offense, with senior Maggie Midgette, sophomore Elena Shklyar and graduate transfer Audrey Alford all seeing action. They average 4.53, 4.71, and 4.81 assists per set, respectively.

• Shklyar led the Spartans against Maryland with 20 assists, five digs, and a pair of aces. She averages 0.97 digs and 0.23 aces per frame. Alford posted seven digs and 12 assists in the same match, and averages 1.50 digs per frame on the season.

• Senior captain Samantha McLean is averaging 1.70 digs/s on the season as MSU's first DS. She had a team-best 10 digs against Maryland last Saturday.