Spartans Down Miami in Thrilling Five-Setter to Open 2026 Season

Friday, August 28

East Lansing, Mich.

6 PM

Michigan State University

1-0,0-0Big Ten

Miami

0-1,0-0ACC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Miami (FL)	19	26	25	19	6	2
Michigan St.	25	24	23	25	15	3

Photo by: Kelly Branigan

Spartans Down Miami in Thrilling Five-Setter to Open 2026 Season

8/28/2026 10:24:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score MSU 3, Miami 2

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State volleyball opened the 2026 season with a thrilling five-set win over Miami Friday evening in the Breslin Center.

MSU moves to 1-0 (0-0 B1G) with the victory, while Miami falls to 0-1 (0-0 ACC). The Spartans improved to 36-18 in season openers all-time and earned their 15th-straight season opening win at home.

Both MSU and Miami received votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll.

The Spartans hit an impressive .352 in the match and led the Hurricanes in kills (69-to-49), total blocks (9-to-8) and service aces (10-to-4). Miami held a slight 46-44 edge in digs.

An All-Big Ten and all-region selection last season, senior Karolina Staniszewska picked up where she left off in 2025 with a team-leading and career-high-tying 23 kills on .320 hitting Friday night. She just missed a double-double with nine digs and tallied a pair of blocks while adding one service ace. Junior opposite Hayley Ogden had a spectacular debut in the Green and White, posting 14 kills on 22 swings with just one error to hit .591 on the night.

Senior middle blocker Zora Hardison, who also made her debut in an MSU jersey Friday, led MSU with six total blocks and put down nine kills on .444 hitting. Junior middle blocker Carmen Waye had eight kills on a .615 clip and tallied five blocks.

Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long provided a team-best 52 assists, surpassing 50 assists in a match for the third time in her career, and eclipsed 1,000 career assists in the match. She also led MSU with three service aces.

Senior libero Lia Schneider and senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston each posted a team-best 10 digs.

Fueled by a Long service ace to start the match, MSU used a pair of Miami service errors, two kills from Staniszewska and an ace from Waye to take an early 6-2 lead in the first set. Four-straight points from the Spartans forced a Hurricane timeout at a 15-6 MSU lead with a Staniszewska kill, block from Waye and Bankston, service ace from Schneider and dump from Long. The Hurricanes got as close as within five points at 21-16, but a Bankston kill and block from Waye and Long extended the MSU lead to seven to force another Miami timeout at 23-16. Bankston put down a kill to get the Spartans to set point at 24-18 and a service error from Miami ended the first set, 25-19.

MSU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set after a kill from Bankston and pair of Miami attacking errors. Miami followed with three points of its own to tie the set at 3-3, but back-to-back blocks from Ogden and Waye and a solo block from Hardison put the Spartans back up by a pair. The Hurricanes got back within two at 13-11, but a kill from Hardison and another dump from Long helped the Spartans to a three-point, 15-12 advantage at the media timeout. The Spartans extended their lead out of the timeout to 16-14 with a Bankston kill. Back-to-back MSU errors got the Hurricanes back within one, but a Waye kill and Miami error extended the Spartan lead back to four to force a Miami timeout at 20-16. Three-straight points from the Hurricanes then forced an MSU timeout at 21-20 before back-to-back points from MSU from a Hardison kill and Ogden ace forced the Hurricanes into a timeout of their own at 23-20. A Staniszewska kill got the Spartans to set point at 24-21, but five-straight points from the Hurricanes helped Miami take the second set in extra points and even the match, 26-24.

The teams traded points back-and-forth in the third set with neither team taking more than a two-point lead early. A 4-1 MSU run sparked by back-to-back Ogden kills put the Spartans up 12-11 before the Hurricanes used a kill and MSU service error to tie the set back up at 14-14. Another Ogden kill gave the Spartans a 15-14 lead at the media timeout. After back-and-forth points through 19-19, another kill from Ogden and a Staniszewska kill put the Spartans up 21-20 to force a Miami timeout. MSU extended its lead to 23-21 with kills from Hardison and Staniszewska, but three-straight Hurricane points put Miami up by a pair to force MSU into a timeout at a 24-23 Miami lead. Miami took the third set, 25-23, after an MSU attacking error out of the timeout to take a 2-1 lead.

Miami took a 6-4 lead in the fourth set before a 4-0 run from the Spartans capped off by a Bankston kill gave MSU an 8-6 lead. Miami then called a timeout after a huge four-point swing from the Spartans with kills from Ogden and Staniszewska, a block from Staniszewska and Hardison and a service ace from Waye put MSU up 14-9. A Staniszewska kill and block from Long and Hardison helped the Spartans to a 17-12 before a pair of Hurricane errors extended MSU's lead to six at 19-13. A successful Miami challenge got the Hurricanes within two at 21-19, but kills from Staniszewska and Ogden followed by a Sarah Vellucci ace helped MSU to a 3-0 to reach set point at 24-19. Staniszewska put down her eighth kill of the set and 20th of the night to help the Spartans tie the match and take the fourth set, 25-19.

The Spartans came out firing in the final set, using two kills each from Hardison and Staniszewska and an ace from Ky Clayton to force a Miami timeout at 5-1. MSU continued to dominate after the timeout, using a 4-0 run with a Hardison solo block and Staniszewska kill to force another Hurricane timeout at 9-1. MSU continued to hold Miami to just one point in the final set until back-to-back Hurricane points cut the Spartan lead to nine at 12-3. The Hurricanes fought off a pair of MSU match points before a Waye kill secured the final set and match for the Spartans, 15-6.

Up next, MSU hosts LIU on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. inside the Breslin Center on B1G+. The match will serve as the team's Hometown Heroes Match presented by Rocket, with complimentary admission available through VetTix and 1stTix for veterans or active military, retired and current law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses, and 911 dispatchers.