Spartans Sweep Terps In B1G Home Opener

Saturday, September 28

East Lansing, Mich.

8 pm

Michigan State University

10-2, 1-1B1G

Maryland

8-6, 0-2B1G

Maryland

Michigan State

11_7_18_MSUVB_OhioState_Photo Credit: Rey Del Rio / MSU Athletic Communications

9/28/2019 10:53:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

East Lansing, Mich. -- Michigan State (10-2) evened its Big Ten record at 1-1 with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Maryland (25-17, 25-18, 25-19) on Saturday evening at Jenison Field House.

MSU's middle blockers were impressive, hitting a combined .469 with 19 kills between the pair. Naya Gros had 10 kills on 17 swings (.417) and added a pair of blocks, while Rebecka Poljan had nine kills, hit .533, and had four blocks and a dig.

The Spartans built sizable leads in each set, setting the pace early to take the 3-0 decision over the Terrapins, who hit .087 on the night. The home team had more digs (44-40), blocks (8-6), and was perfect on serve receive, holding Big Ten leading Maryland without a service ace – the Terps entered the match averaging 1.91 aces per set over their first 12 games.

Rebekah Rath led Maryland with 10 kills and a pair of blocks, while Erika Pritchard had nine kills and 10 digs. For the Spartans, Meredith Norris had nine digs and seven kills, while senior Samantha McLean had 10 digs.

The Spartans play their next four matches on the road, starting with a match at Ohio State on Friday at 7 pm.

PLAYER HIGHS

Rebecka Poljan had nine kills, a match-best four blocks and hit .533
Naya Gros had a team high 10 kills and two blocks.

STATS & STORYLINES

MSU recorded its first 3-0 sweep in Big Ten play since Nov. 18, 2017 against Indiana.
The Spartans had four players between seven and 10 digs, and had 44 in the match.
MSU had just five service errors on the night, its fewest since the Sept. 12 match vs. Oakland.
Elena Shklyar had 20 assists, two aces, and five digs, while Audrey Alford finished with 12 assists and seven digs.
Molly Johnson finished with four kills and shared the team lead with four blocks (one solo).

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: The Spartans came out a determined bunch, racing out to leads of 5-0 and 9-1, hitting .833 with a pair of blocks in the early part of the frame. The Spartans maintained their eight-point lead to 13-5, but the Terps caught their footing and trimmed it to five at 16-11. MSU was once again distributing its offense – with a 21-13 lead, MSU had three players with a set-best three kills – and was holding Maryland to a .032 hitting percentage. With a 22-15 advantage, the Spartans went to Poljan in the middle for a thundering kill, then a block from Poljan and Johnson to reach set point. Maryland fended it off with a kill by Jada Gardner and an MSU error before a swipe by Poljan landed inside the line and gave MSU a 25-17 win. Poljan had five kills, hit .544 , and had a hand on three blocks, and Molly Johnson had three kills and three blocks for the Spartans, who hit .324. Meredith Norris had three kills and five digs in the frame as well.

SET TWO: The Spartans jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the second, but Maryland trimmed it to two at 9-7. MSU responded with a 3-0 run to take the lead back out to five with kills from Johnson and Poljan, forcing the Terps into a time out. Despite holding a five-point edge, the Spartans struggled with five hitting errors (5-5-18). An ace from Shklyar after a Maryland error allowed the Spartans to take a 17-10 lead, and Maryland called its second time out of the set. MSU held a 22-16 lead after an ace by Audrey Alford, which was followed by a kill by Chronowski from the left pin. A pair of blocks for the Terps allowed them to cut it to five, but Poljan stopped them from gaining momentum with her sixth kill for set point at 24-18. A shot wide sealed it for MSU in the set for a 2-0 match lead.

SET THREE: The teams fought out to a 5-5 tie early in the set, as Maryland refused to let MSU run out as they had in the first two sets. MSU used a 4-0 run on a block and a kill by Gros, a kill by Norris, and a Shklyar ace to take a 9-5 lead, and the visitors called a time out. The Terps would pull within a point at 16-15, but MSU used a three-point run - kills by Gros and Chronowski sandwiched around a MD error gives the Spartans back a four-point edge. A kill and block by Lauren Swartz allowed MSU some breathing room with a 22-16 edge, and the Spartans closed out the set with a 25-19 win. Gros had four kills and a block in the frame, while both Norris and Chronowski had three. The Spartans finished out the set with a .303 hitting percentage, and Maryland hit their match-best .148.