Michigan State University
6-0,0-0Big Ten
Kennesaw State
4-2,0-0CUSA
Spartans Move to 6-0 With Win at Kennesaw State
9/11/2025 11:37:00 PM | Volleyball
KENNESAW, Ga. - Michigan State volleyball moved to 6-0 with a 3-1 win (28-26, 16-25, 25-21, 25-16) over Kennesaw State Thursday night at KSU's VyStar Arena.Â
MSU is unbeaten through its first six matches for the first time since 2022 and has dropped only three sets, the fewest through its first six matches since dropping one set in 2012. Kennesaw State fell to 4-2 with the loss. Â
The Spartans hit .234 for the match and held the Owls to .192 hitting, including .139 hitting in the third set and .091 hitting in the final set. MSU led KSU in kills (52-to-49) and digs (48-42) and out-blocked the Owls, 13 to 11, setting a new team season-high in blocks. KSU held a 6-4 advantage in service aces.Â
Junior outside hitter Taylah Holdem tallied a team-high 14 kills for her fifth-straight match with double-digit kills and added six digs. Junior outsite hitter Karolina Staniszewska and senior opposite Evie Doezema also each had double-digit kills for the second-straight match, with Staniszewska posting 13 on .367 hitting and Doezema adding 11. Sophomore middle blocker Breccan Scheck recorded a team-high six blocks and matched a season-high seven kills. In their Georgia homecoming, sophomore middle blocker Mia Hood tallied a career-high six kills on .500 hitting and a career-high four blocks.Â
For the third-consecutive match, redshirt freshman setter Malayah Long posted a double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs. She also matched Scheck with a career and team-high six blocks and led the team in service aces with two. Junior libero Lia Schneider led the Spartans in digs with 11 and junior defensive specialist Ky Clayton posted a career-high nine.Â
KSU led early in the first set and took a four-point lead at 10-6 before kills from Long, Holdem and Hood and a service ace from Long tied the set at 10-10. MSU took its first lead of the night after an Owl attack error and a second ace from Long made it 12-10. Kennesaw got within one after a Spartan attack error, but back-to-back kills from Doezema and kills from Staniszewska and Hood helped the Spartans to a four-point swing to make it 16-10. After the Owls stormed back with a 5-1 run to take a 17-16 lead, the teams traded points back-and-forth with neither team able to take more than a one-point lead.Â
The Owls were the first to set point at 24-23, but a kill from Doezema followed by a block from Scheck and Staniszewska fought off the Owls and got the Spartans to their first set point at 25-24. Another kill from Doezema helped the Spartans to set point again at 26-25 following a KSU kill, but another kill from the Owls tied the match again at 26-26. Scheck put the Spartans up 27-26 for the Spartans' final set point of the frame and Holdem put the set away with her sixth kill of the set following a successful challenge, 28-26. MSU recorded 20 kills in the first set, the most from the Spartans in a single set so far this season.Â
MSU started the second set on a 4-0 run and got out to a 9-3 lead before the Owls went on a 7-1 run to tie the set at 10-10 and force an MSU timeout. KSU then scored six-straight points out of the timeout to take a 16-10 lead. The Spartans could not get any closer than six points throughout the remainder of the set as the Owls closed the frame with a kill and MSU attacking error to take the set, 25-16.Â
KSU led 7-4 early in the third set until a kill and solo block from Scheck and a kill from Holdem tied the set at 8-8. In her first match since suffering a season-ending injury in September 2024, graduate outside hitter Danyle Courtley gave the Spartans their first lead of the set at 9-8 with a service ace. After the Spartans took a 16-12 lead, KSU tied the match again at 16-16 and again at 20-20. Kills from Doezema and Holdem put the Spartans up 22-20 before a KSU kill got the Owls within one again, but a kill from Staniszewska followed by a block from Doezema and Scheck got the Spartans to set point before a set-leading fifth kill from Staniszewska put the set away, 25-21.Â
MSU hit a match-best .333 and never trailed in the fourth set, getting out to a 10-3 lead after a KSU service error. The Owls got as close as 11-6 but never got any closer and were forced into a timeout after the Spartans took a nine-point lead following an error at 18-9. KSU went on a 5-0 run to make it 20-14, but a 5-2 run from the Spartans, including three straight points to end the match capped off by Holdem's 14th kill of the night put the match away, 25-16.Â
Up next, the Spartans return to VyStar Arena on Friday, Sept. 12 to take on Appalachian State in a neutral-site match at 2 p.m. There will not be a live stream for the match.Â
