Spartans Win Green & White Classic With Win Over CMU

GAME CAPSULE

Michigan State won its own Green & White Classic tournament title with a 3-1 win over Central Michigan on Saturday evening (17-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-15 ) to cap a perfect 3-0 weekend to complete non-conference play.

Sarah Franklin led the way with a double-double, putting down 21 kills, adding 10 digs, two blocks, and hitting .422. Naya Gros led all blockers with seven, and also contributed a season-best 11 kills and hit .533.

MSU had a slow start in set one and the visitors used a 7-0 run midway through the frame to build to a big lead and hold on to take the first set from the Spartans. MSU returned the favor with a lopsided win in the second, and MSU was clicking on all cylinders in the third with 18 kills – half of that total from Franklin – to take over from there. MSU won the final two frames by six and 10 points to close out non-conference play on a high note.

Franklin surpassed her previous career best of 20 kills, set twice last season before an injury derailed her freshman year.

MSU has gone 148-30 in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-21), and has never lost more than four matches prior to the Big Ten season. The Spartans are 7-2 through non-conference action.

Michigan State opens Big Ten Conference play next weekend on the road, starting in Bloomington on Friday evening against Indiana.

PLAYER HIGHS

Sarah Franklin had a career-best 21 kills, 10 digs, added two blocks, and hit .533
Naya Gros had seven blocks, and a season-best 11 kills and hit .533.
Celia Cullen contributed a season-best 42 assists to go with six digs and four blocks.

STATS AND STORYLINES

MSU won the blocking battle 10-4, and also had an edge in digs, 63-58.
Three Spartans had double-digit digs, led by 17 from libero Talia Edmonds.
MSU hit .500 in the final set and .305 for the match.
MSU has gone 148-30 in non-conference action in Cathy George's tenure (2005-21), and has never lost more than four matches prior to the Big Ten season. The Spartans are 7-2 this year.
Rebecka Poljan had eight kils, a pair of aces, and had three blocks.

SET SYNOPSIS

SET ONE: Back-to-back blocks by Cullen and Gros at the right pin followed by a CMU error turned a tie ballgame into a 7-4 Spartan lead, but the Chips got two right back on a Spartan miscue and pair of kills to tie things at 7-all. CMU scored eight of its first 10 points on kills, and took an 11-9 lead. It was MSU's turn for a mini-run to tie things up at 12 on a pair of Johnson terminations. CMU ran off three straight points to take its largest lead at 15-12, hitting .276 (11-3-29), with two of those errors early Spartan blocks; MSU was hitting .217 with seven kills on 23 swings. A Spartan time out did not halt the Chippewa momentum, as the visitors put up four straight points out of the break to extend it to a 19-12 lead, and then reached 20 on a sharp-angle shot that forced MSU to take another time out. Central coasted to the 25-17 opening-seet win on the strength of 15 kills and a .306 kitting percentage. Both Sarah Franklin and Naya Gros had three kills, while Gros added those two early blocks.

SET TWO: The Spartans raced out to a 6-0 lead in the second with some help from three CMU errors, but the Chips pulled back within a pair at 11-9 to keep the Spartans honest. MSU kept coming – going to Poljan and Franklin to terminate – and hitting a much-improved .278 (7-2-18) to build a 16-11 advantage. MSU's lead grew to seven at 19-12 capped with a hammer from Franklin out of the back row, triggering a CMU time out. Out of the break, MSU scored three straight to lead 22-12, and held off the Chippewas as they tried to claw back into it with kills by Sierra Gray. MSU closed out the frame with a 25-16 win, turning the tables on the visitors from the opening frame by hitting .333 (10-2-24) and adding three blocks, three from Gros. Both Franklin and Poljan put down four kills, and Franklin also had four digs in the set. CMU hit .049, with four kills coming from Thompson.

SET THREE: CMU came out swinging in the third frame and built a 4-2 lead, but MSU had found its groove and methodically built a four-point edge at 15-11, as Franklin was mixing up her shots and becoming nearly unstoppable from the front or back row. MSU had 12 kills in its first 15 points and was hitting .310. MSU won the race to 20 (20-15) with back-to-back efforts from Franklin and Gros, and maintain that lead to 23-18. Max-Brown got MSU to set point and a block by Poljan sealed it for a 2-1 match lead for MSU. Franklin had nine of MSU's 18 kills in the third set, and hit 9-2-15 with two blocks and three digs. Gros had a block and four kills, while both Max-Brown and Edwards corralled seven digs.

SET FOUR: Michigan State raced out with six kills in its first nine swings to take a 10-4 edge in the fourth, forcing a Chippewa time out. The set was dominated by the home team, as the Spartans hit .500 in the frame (15-2-26), and MSU never trailed as they posted a 25-15 victory. Franklin had five kills on seven swings, upping her hitting percentage in the match to .422 with just two hitting errors. Both Gros and Max-Brown added three kills to their coffers, and Poljan had a solo stuff and a kill. Freshman Eleanor Stothoff got her first collegiate kill on match point.

Next Event

Team Stats

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Rebecka Poljan

Cecilee Max-Brown

Players Mentioned

Celia Cullen

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Rebecka Poljan

Eleanor Stothoff

Players Mentioned

Celia Cullen

Talia Edmonds

Sarah Franklin

Naya Gros

Rebecka Poljan

Eleanor Stothoff