Match Info
- #10 Michigan St at Northwestern
- Evanston, Illinois
- Michigan St. improves to 17-6 (10-4) ; Northwestern drops to 13-13 (3-11)
- Attendance: 1112
- Box Score
Behind the strong play of Autumn Bailey, the #10 ranked Michigan State Spartans rolled to an easy straight set victory over the host Northwestern Wildcats. Set scores were 25-13, 25-19, and 25-18. Bailey finished the match 18 kills on a .536 hitting efficiency while adding 5 digs. Rachel Minarick dished out 35 assists and Jamye Cox tallied 16 digs for the Spartans who improved to 17-6 (10-4 Big Ten).
Michigan State dominated the match across the board, leading in kills 45-29, aces 7-2, assists 40-26, blocks 7-3, and digs 24-23. They out-hit the Wildcats .379 to .208. The Spartans will return to action on Friday, November 10th to host Illinois.
Symone Abbott led the Wildcats with 11 kills while Nia Robinson added 8. Taylor Tashima dished out 22 assists to go along with 5 digs which tied for a team high with Robinson, Abbott, and Lexi Pitsas. Tashima crossed the 4,000 mark for career assists. Overall, it’s been a tough year for Northwestern who has now lost eight of their last nine matches. The Wildcats will return to the court on Friday, November 10th when they travel to face Michigan.
Press Release:
Courtesy of Northwestern Athletics
EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern volleyball returned home on Saturday night for Lymphoma Awareness Night, in support of redshirt sophomore Kaitlin Tavarez, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in August, and played host to No. 9 Michigan State.
The Northwestern Volleyball program joined forces with the HEADstrong Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to providing essential services to improve lives affected by cancer. The Wildcat community is invited to visit the HEADstrong fundraising page.
Senior Taylor Tashima continued to stamp her name in the Big Ten history book as she recorded 22 assists on the night to reach 4,000 assists on her career, becoming one of only 46 players in the conference’s history and the fourth player in program history to do so.
On her Senior Spotlight night, Symone Abbott finished with a team-high 11 kills at a .474 clip while adding five digs as well. The .474 hitting percentage was her second highest output of the season, trailing only her great match against Rutgers
Michigan State (17-6, 10-4 Big Ten) won the match in straight-sets at historic Beardsley Gym in Evanston Township High School.
After dropping the first set, the #B1GCats came out strong to start the second set. Sophomore Allie Lindroth recorded two kills early on, while first-year Alana Walker recorded back-to-back kills to give Northwestern an 8-7 advantage. Walker finished the set hitting for a .500 percentage along with four kills. A late 5-1 run helped cut the Wildcats’ deficit to five, but Michigan State closed out the set 25-19 to take a 2-0 advantage in the match.
The Wildcats fell behind early in the third set but were given a jolt of momentum thanks to five consecutive kills by Abbott to cut the ‘Cats’ deficit to 12-8. Abbott finished the set with six kills on seven attempts, while first-year Nia Robinson added five kills of her own. Despite the ‘Cats efforts, however, the Spartans took the set 25-18 to finish off the match.
Northwestern continue to see strong performances turned in by its first-year players as Robinson finished with eight kills on the night while Walker added six kills while hitting for a .357 clip.
Chicago’s Big Ten team will be back in action next Friday as they travel to Michigan for a two game road trip. The Wildcats will head to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines on Friday before traveling to East Lansing for a rematch against the Spartans on Saturday.
Press Release:
Courtesy of Michigan State Athletics
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State went on the road and took a 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-18) win at Northwestern on Saturday evening to split its action on the week. With the win, the No. 9 Spartans improve to 17-6 overall and 10-4 in Big Ten play. Northwestern drops its second match of the week and is now 13-13, 3-11 in Conference games.
The Spartans held large leads in all three sets, but had to hold off a surging Wildcats squad who battled back from a 10-2 deficit to cut the MSU lead down to two points in the third frame before the Spartans closed it out.
The Spartans got a big night from senior Autumn Bailey, who had a season-best 18 kills and hit .536 (18-3-28), adding five digs, a block, and a service ace. Alyssa Garvelink added eight kills, hit .429, and had four blocks, and Holly Toliver had seven kills, seven digs, and three blocks.
Rachel Minarick had 35 assists in the winning effort, pushing her career total to 4,179 and into second place in the all-time MSU record book. She now trails just Nikki Colson (2000-03) who sits atop the MSU career assists list with 4,563
For the home team, Symone Abbott had 11 kills, hit .474 (11-2-19), while Nia Robinson added eight kills
Michigan State has a home weekend on tap for its next action – the Spartans welcome Illinois to town on Friday and then will host the rematch with the Wildcats at Jenison Field House on Saturday.. QUOTABLE
“Winning on the road is never an easy proposition for any team in the Big Ten, and how we came out tonight after a disappointing loss on Wednesday was pretty important. We obviously got a big night from Autumn Bailey, but I thought our entire team had good energy and was focused on gettitng the job done. Now, we’ll be able to have a full week to prepare for a couple of home matches next Friday and Saturday .”
– Head Coach Cathy George
TOP PERFORMERS
Autumn Bailey had 18 kills and five digs, hitting .536
Alysssa Garvelink had eight kills and four blocks, and hit .429 on the night
Holly Toliver had seven kills, three blocks, and seven digs to go along with one service ace.
STATS AND STORYLINES
Bailey had a season-best 18 kills
Megan Tompkins delivered three service aces, a career best, in addition to posting four kills and a block, hitting .500
MSU hit .379, just short of their season-best .398 set vs Ohio State.
GAME REPLAY
SET ONE: The home team took a two-point lead early, but a 7-0 MSU run (which included two service aces for Megan Tompkins) gave MSU a four-point edge. Up 14-11, the Spartans finished off the set on a 9-2 run, as Autumn Bailey recorded seven kills on seven swings and added a pair of digs; MSU hit .429 (16-4-28) as a team, which included four kills for Holly Toliver and two for Rachel Minarick. MSU held the hosts to just five kills on 20 attempts (.100).
SET TWO: The early part of the match was a back-and-forth affair, as the teams were tied at 8-8. MSU put a little distance from their hosts when they went up 12-9, and held a three-point edge until pulling ahead 16-12 on a Bailey kill and error by the Wildcats that forced the NU bench to call its second time out. The Spartans were relentless from the break, pulling ahead 22-14 after a NU service error and Tompkins’ career-best third ace of the match. Northwestern made a late surge, pulling back within 24-19 aided by a pair of Spartan errors, but Garvelink closed it out with her fourth kill of the match to give MSU a 2-0 match lead going into the locker room. Bailey added six kills to her total on 13 swings and added a pair of digs and an ace, while Kranda had a pair of blocks, Garvelink had a block and three kills. Alana Walker countered with four kills for the home team, which improved its hitting percentage to .172 in the second set, while MSU hit .242.
SET THREE: MSU had the hot hand out of the locker room from the set break, racing out to a 10-2 lead during which NU took both of its time outs. Northwestern went on a 6-2 run fueled by three kills from Symone Abbott, pushing her set total to five. MSU called time out with a 12-8 lead to regroup, but the rekindled fire of the home team allowed them to pull back within two at 13-11. MSU got big at the net, as Garvelink teamed up with Kranda on the left and Toliver on the right for back-to-back blocks that gave MSU a 17-12 lead and a bit more of a comfortable lead. MSU closed it out and won the set by a 25-18 score. The Spartans hit .379 on the night.
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