Spartans Down No. 14 Penn State in Four Sets

Sunday, September 27

East Lansing, Mich.

2 PM

Michigan State University

11-1,1-1Big Ten

Penn State

9-3,1-1Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Penn St.	19	21	25	19	1
Michigan St.	25	25	22	25	3

Photo by: Matthew Mitchell

9/27/2026 6:02:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score MSU 3, PSU 1

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State volleyball earned its first top-15 win in three seasons with a four-set (25-19, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19) victory over 14th-ranked Penn State Sunday afternoon inside the Breslin Center.

MSU moved to 11-1 (1-1 B1G) with the win, earning its first conference victory of the season, while Penn State dropped to 9-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference. It marked MSU's first win in the series since a five-set victory against the then-No. 13 Nittany Lions in East Lansing on Oct. 28, 2023, which was also the Spartans' last top-15 win.

"I told them on the first day, July 29th, that every match we play this fall you can win, whether you believe that or not," said head coach Kristen Kelsay. "Every match we play, we can win. And Friday night (against Washington) was a tough loss for them. For offense, there were some issues that we hadn't experienced yet, and for them to have the courage and the boldness to come out and play how hard and how resilient they did tonight is an exciting start to this Big Ten season."

MSU out-hit PSU, .191 to .158, and led in kills (55-47), service aces (7-2) and digs (63-53), while the Nittany Lions held a slight 14-12 advantage in total blocks.

The Spartans were led in kills by freshman outside hitter Madi Andrews, who nearly doubled her previous career-best of seven with 13 in her first collegiate start. She just missed a double-double with nine digs. Junior opposite Hayley Ogden also added 13 kills on .400 hitting and posted three total blocks with two service aces. Senior middle blocker Zora Hardison put up a season-high 10 kills, while senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston had eight kills with a career-high 11 digs and junior middle blocker Carmen Waye posted eight kills and a team-best six total blocks, including three solo blocks.

Redshirt sophomore setter Malayah Long provided a team-best 40 assists and posted her first double-double of the season with 11 digs. She also led MSU in service aces with three. Senior libero Lia Schneider had her first 20-digit dig match of the season with a team-best 21.

After a back-and-forth start, MSU opened up a 10-5 lead in the first set using a 4-0 run with kills from Ogden and Bankston, a Long service ace and PSU attack error. The Spartans continued to pressure the Nittany Lions, taking five of the next seven points to take a 15-7 lead at the media timeout with a pair of Ogden kills, kills from Bankston and Andrews and a dump from Long. MSU was forced into a timeout after PSU cut the lead to five with a 6-1 run at 20-15. PSU responded with two more points out of the timeout to cut the advantage to three before a PSU service error and two Bankston kills extended the lead back to four, forcing a Nittany Lion timeout at 23-19. A Ky Clayton service ace out of the timeout got the Spartans to set point before a second ace from Clayton sealed the first set, 25-19.

MSU took a timeout after the Nittany Lions took a three-point lead at 9-6 in the second set. The Spartans fired off back-to-back points from Waye with a kill and solo block to get within one at 9-8 out of the timeout and took a one-point lead at 15-14 with back-to-back Waye kills and a PSU service error into the media timeout. With Long at the service line, MSU extended its run to a 7-0 run with three-straight points with kill from Waye, block from Bankston and Waye and Long service ace to take a 21-14 lead. The Nittany Lions used a 6-2 run to cut the MSU advantage to two before a kill from Andrews and block from Hardison and Ogden got the Spartans to set point at 24-21. The Nittany Lions stopped the first set point with a kill before a Hardison kill ended the set, 25-21.

The Spartans forced PSU into a timeout after starting the third set on a 5-0 and extended their lead to 7-0 out of the timeout. The Nittany Lions used a 6-2 run to cut the MSU lead to two and got within two again after an MSU attack error at 14-12, but MSU responded with a kill from Andrews to take a 15-12 advantage into the media timeout. After a Nittany Lion attack error out of the timeout, PSU fired off four-straight points to tie the set at 16-16 to force an MSU timeout and took a two-point lead at 19-17 with a 3-1 run out of the timeout. MSU tied the set back up at 19-19 with a kill from Long and PSU attack error before two-straight PSU points forced another MSU timeout at 21-19. Three PSU errors out of the timeout then helped the Spartans back to a one-point lead at 22-21 and forced the Nittany Lions into a timeout of their own. PSU finished the set on a 4-0 run to take the third, 25-22.

MSU and PSU traded points back-and-forth in the fourth set until a trio of PSU errors and a kill from Hardison helped MSU to a four-point, 10-6 lead. The Nittany Lions cut the MSU advantage to three with back-to-back kills at 14-11, but a kill from Hardison extended the lead back to four at the media timeout, 15-11. A kill from Long and block from Hardison and Bankston extended MSU's lead to six at 18-12 to force a PSU timeout before a 5-3 PSU run forced the Spartans into a timeout of their own at 21-17. The Nittany Lions cut the MSU advantage to three with a service ace, but a 4-1 MSU run capped off by a Bankston solo block ended the set and match, 25-19.

Up next, MSU travels to Los Angeles to take on UCLA on Friday, Oct. 2 at 10 p.m. ET. The match will stream on B1G+.