Michigan State University
15-6,5-6Big Ten
Purdue
18-3,9-2Big Ten
Volleyball Battles in Five-Set Loss to No. 10 Purdue
10/31/2025 11:03:00 PM | Volleyball
EAST LANSING, Mich. - In a Halloween night thriller, Michigan State volleyball fell just short of a reverse sweep of No. 10 Purdue in a five-set loss (22-25, 16-25, 27-25, 25-23, 12-15) Friday night at the Breslin Center.
MSU falls to 15-6 overall and 5-6 in the B1G, while Purdue moves to 18-3 and 9-2.
The Spartans hit .202 for the match to Purdue's .306 clip. MSU led in total digs (77-to-74) and service aces (9-4), while Purdue held the advantage in kills (68-63) and total blocks (19-4).
Freshman outside hitter Bianca Mumcular led the Spartans in kills with a career-high 19 and hit .295 for the match. Sophomore middle blocker Carmen Waye hit a team-best .478 and tallied 12 kills, while junior outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 11 kills and a career-high 19 digs.
Splitting time in a 6-2 system, setters Malayah Long and Cam Berger tallied 27 and 24 assists, respectively. Long joined Staniszewska as the second Spartan to post a double-double Friday night, adding 14 digs alongside her 27 assists, for her eight double-double of 2025. Junior libero Lia Schneider led MSU in digs with a season-high 25, surpassing her previous season high by nine digs.
Staniszewska provided a team-high four service aces. Schneider added three and Berger and Mumcular each tallied one. Waye, junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig and senior opposite Evie Doezema each totaled two blocks.
The teams traded points back-and-forth early in the first set with neither team taking more than a one-point lead until Purdue used a four-point swing to take a three-point lead and force an MSU timeout at 13-10. The Boilermakers extended their lead to six with three-straight points out of the timeout, but the Spartans responded with a 6-3 run, using kills from Waye, Kulig and Mumcular and a Kulig solo block, to get back within three at 19-16. After calling a timeout at 23-19, a Waye kill and Schneider service ace out of the break got the Spartans within a pair at 23-21, but an MSU attacking error after fighting off Purdue's first set point gave the Boilermakers the first set, 25-22.
MSU called a timeout after Purdue took a 9-4 lead to start the second frame. A Boilermaker service error then cut the Spartan deficit to four at 9-5 out of the timeout. Purdue maintained a four-point lead in the following points until it used a 4-1 run to take a seven-point advantage at 21-14, forcing an MSU timeout. A Doezema kill made it 23-16 in favor of the Boilermakers, but Purdue followed with back-to-back points to take the second set, 25-16.
Purdue got out to a 4-0 lead in the third set before MSU used kills from Waye and Kulig to shrink the Boilermakers' lead to two at 5-3. A Mumcular kill, pair of Purdue attack errors and Staniszewska ace then helped the Spartans to a 4-0 run to cut the Purdue lead to one at 7-6. Purdue responded with a 3-1 run to extend its lead back to three, but kills from Waye and Doezema got the Spartans back within a point at 10-9 before a 4-2 MSU run with kills from Waye, Staniszewska and a block from Doezema and Waye gave MSU its first lead of the set at 13-12. The Boilermakers responded with a 5-0 run to take a 17-13 lead at the media timeout, but MSU followed with two points out of the timeout from a Purdue service error and Kulig kill to get back within a pair at 17-15. The Boilermakers followed with two points of their own to take back their four-point edge, but the Spartans responded again with a kill from Mumcular and back-to-back Staniszewska service aces to make it 19-18 and force a Purdue timeout. Purdue took a two-point lead out of the timeout with an MSU service error before the Spartans tied the set again at 20-20 with kills from Danyle Courtley and Mumcular. The Boilermakers used a kill to take a one-point lead at 23-22 before a kill from Waye and Purdue attack error got the Spartans to their first set point at 24-23. A Spartan attack error tied the set again at 24-24 before a Purdue service error got the Spartans to their second set point at 25-24. A Boilermaker kill stopped the Spartan set point again, but back-to-back kills from Mumcular to follow helped the Spartans force a fourth set in extras, 27-25.
After a 4-4 start to the fourth set, Purdue used a 3-0 run to take a three-point lead and force an MSU timeout at 7-4. Purdue rattled off three-straight points out of the timeout to extend its lead to six at 10-4, but MSU followed with a Staniszewska kill, Kulig kill and Staniszewska ace to cut the deficit to three at 10-7. The Boilermakers followed with three points of their own again before MSU responded with another 3-0 run with a Courtley kill and two Purdue errors to stay within three again at 13-10. MSU took a timeout at 18-12, but responded out of the break with a 3-1 run with a Doezema kill, Schneider ace and Purdue service error to get within four at 19-15. Purdue followed with a kill to take back a five-point lead, but MSU forced a Boilermaker timeout after getting within a pair at 20-18 with kills from Staniszewska and Kulig and a Purdue attack error. MSU put down three-straight kills, including back-to-back kills from Doezema to get the Spartans to set point and finish off the set after Purdue tied the set at 23, to send the match to fifth set at 25-23.
Purdue earned the first two points of the final set, but MSU fired off a 7-1 run to force a Boilermaker timeout at a 7-3 MSU lead. Purdue got within two at 8-6 to force an MSU timeout, but a kill from Courtley and Mumcular's career-high 19th kill extended the lead back to three at 10-7. The Boilermakers took the lead back at 11-10 to force an MSU timeout before Doezema and Staniszewska kills gave the Spartans a one-point lead at 12-11. Purdue used a kill and service ace to retake the lead and secured the match after back-to-back MSU errors, 15-12.
Up next, MSU hosts Rutgers on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. inside the Breslin Center on B1G+.
