Volleyball Finishes Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week 2-0 with Sweep of South Carolina

Wednesday, September 2

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4 PM

Michigan State University

4-0,0-0Big Ten

South Carolina

3-1,0-0SEC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
South Carolina	14	12	13	0
Michigan St.	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Ynhi Le

Volleyball Finishes Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week 2-0 with Sweep of South Carolina

9/2/2026 6:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score MSU 3, South Carolina 0

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Michigan State volleyball swept South Carolina (25-14, 25-12, 25-13) in its final Allstate Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week match Wednesday afternoon inside the Crisler Center.

MSU moved to 4-0 (0-0 B1G) with the win, while South Carolina dropped to 3-1 (0-0 SEC). MSU is 4-0 to open the season in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2011-12.

The Spartans hit .463 and held USC to .048 hitting. MSU led in kills (43-to-23), total blocks (11-to-3), digs (36-to-28) and service aces (8-to-3). MSU's .463 hitting efficiency was its best in a match since hitting .475 against Oakland on Sept. 16, 2022.

Senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston led MSU in kills with a career-high 18, smashing her previous best of 10, and hit an impressive .548 on the afternoon. Junior middle blocker Carmen Waye put down 11 kills on .688 hitting without an error and tied senior middle Zora Hardison and redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long with a team-best five blocks. Long also dished out a team-best 35 assists and tied a career-high and team-leading five service aces.

Senior outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska posted a team-best 19 digs, while redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Vellucci had eight.

South Carolina called timeout after the Spartans used three-straight Bankston kills, a block from Long and Waye, a Waye kill and USC attack error to take a 6-1 lead with a 5-0 run. MSU extended its lead to 7-1 with a Schneider ace out of the timeout and again at 8-1 with a kill from Long. The Gamecocks used a 7-5 run to cut MSU's lead to four at 14-10, but a Hardison kill took MSU to the media timeout with a five-point, 15-10 lead. MSU fired off three-straight points with kills from Bankston and Waye and a Schneider ace to force another USC timeout at 18-10. The Spartans used a 4-0 capped off by a Long service ace to reach set point and ended the set with Waye's sixth kill, 25-14, to take a 1-0 lead.

MSU opened the second set on 3-0 run and used a 4-1 run with back-to-back Long aces and a block from Long and Waye to take a 7-1 lead. The Gamecocks cut the MSU lead to five with a 4-2 run before three kills from Bankston and a block from Hardison and Long forced a USC timeout at a 14-6 MSU advantage. A 12th kill from Bankston took the teams to the media timeout out at a 15-7, six-point Spartan lead. The Gamecocks called another timeout at 20-8 after a 5-1 MSU run with a pair of Long service aces and kills from Waye, Bankston and Ogden. A Staniszewska kill got MSU to set point at 24-12 before Bankston used her 16th kill of the match to end the second set, 25-12.

After a back-and-forth start to the third set, MSU took a three-point lead at 9-6 with a Staniszewska kill and Hardison and Staniszewska block. USC got within a point with back-to-back kills at 9-8, but a kill from Bankston and Staniszewska service ace pushed the MSU lead back to three at 11-8. A kill from Waye gave MSU a four-point, 15-11 lead at the media timeout. The Spartans scored back-to-back points out of the timeout with a Bankston ace and Staniszewska kill to force a Gamecock timeout at 17-11. The Gamecocks then called another timeout after MSU extended its lead to 20-11 with a Waye kill and back-to-back Gamecock errors. A 4-0 run from MSU with a Ky Clayton service ace, block from Hardison and Ogden and Hardison kill got MSU to match point at 24-12 and a USC service error after a block ended the set and match, 25-13.

Up next, MSU travels to Central Michigan to face the Chippewas on Saturday, Sept. 5 at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.