Michigan State University
10-1,0-1Big Ten
Minnesota
11-1,1-0Big Ten
Spartans Drop B1G Opener at No. 12 Minnesota
9/25/2025 10:39:00 PM | Volleyball
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -Â Michigan State volleyball fell to 12th-ranked Minnesota in three sets (25-16, 26-24, 25-18) Thursday night in the Spartans' Big Ten opener at Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion.Â
Suffering just its first loss of the season, MSU falls to 10-1 (0-1 B1G) with the result, while Minnesota moves to 11-1 (1-0 B1G).Â
The Spartans were out-hit .389 to .211 in the match. MSU led the Golden Gophers in total kills, 45 to 40, and digs, 39 to 37. Minnesota out-blocked MSU 8-1 and held a narrow 4-3 advantage in service aces.Â
MSU was led in hitting percentage by senior opposite Evie Doezema, who totaled a match and team-high 13 kills on .345 hitting. Junior outside hitter Karolina added 11 kills, while freshman outside hitter Bianca Mumcular added eight and sophomore middle blocker Carmen Waye had seven.Â
Redshirt freshman setter Malayah Long posted her fifth-career double-double with a team-leading 35 assists and 11 digs. Junior libero Lia Schneider led MSU in digs with 12, while junior defensive specialist Ky Clayton added a pair of service aces. Â
Minnesota used a 7-2 run, including three-straight, to take a seven-point lead at the media timeout at 15-8. The Gophers scored two straight points out of the timeout to extend their lead to nine at 17-8 before kills from Doezema and Waye got the Spartans back within eight, but a pair of Spartan errors to increase the deficit to 10 forced an MSU timeout at 20-10. Back-to-back kills from Staniszewska and Kulig and a Minnesota attack error helped the Spartans to a three-point swing to force a Minnesota timeout at 22-14, but a Minnesota kill and Spartan service error sealed the first set for the Gophers, 25-16.Â
The Spartans went on a 3-0 run with a Minnesota error, Staniszewska kill and Ky Clayton ace after Minnesota got the first point to take a 3-1 lead early in the second set. Minnesota scored three straight to take a 5-4 lead before the Spartans tied the set at 6-6 with kills from Waye and Mumcular and again at 7-7 with a kill from Kulig. Minnesota took the lead again at 8-7 with a kill before MSU went on a 6-1 run with a pair of kills from Doezema, a kill from Waye and two attacking errors from the Gophers forced a Minnesota timeout at 13-9. A 4-1 Spartan run out of the timeout with a block from Doezema and Waye, a Staniszewksa kill and a Gopher error gave the Spartans their largest lead of the set at 17-10 before a 5-0 Gopher run shrunk the MSU lead to two at 17-15. MSU responded with a kills from Long and Mumcular to extend the lead back to four at 19-15, but a 5-1 Gopher run to follow tied the set at 20-20. Â A Mumcular kill gave MSU the lead again at 21-20 before the Gophers used back-to-back kills to take a 22-21 lead. The Spartans responded with back-to-back kills of their own, both from Doezema, to force a Minnesota timeout at a 23-22 MSU lead. An MSU service error tied the set at 23-23, but another kill from Doezema got the Spartans to set point at 24-23. Minnesota followed with a kill, block and wrapped the set with a kill to end the second frame on a 3-0 run and take the set, 26-24.Â
After Minnesota took a 2-0 lead to start the third set, the Spartans used a 4-0 run with two kills each from Doezema and Staniszewska to take a two-point lead at 4-2. A Clayton service ace gave MSU an 7-6 lead before a Waye kill gave MSU a one-point lead again at 8-7, but four-straight points from Minnesota forced an MSU timeout at 11-8, Gophers. Mumcular capped a 4-2 Spartan run with a service ace to get the Spartans within one at 13-12 before MSU got within one again three more times with kills from Staniszewska and Mumcular, but Minnesota ended the third on a 9-3 run to take the set and match, 25-18.Â
Up next, MSU returns to the Breslin Center to host Michigan for the Battle at Breslin on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. on Big Ten Network.Â
