Michigan State Prevails in State Rivalry

MATCH STATS

• Michigan State defeats Michigan, 3-1 (25-19, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16)
• Michigan State improves to 14-4; Michigan drops to 13-8
• East Lansing, Michigan
• Attendance: 4900
• Box Score

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Spartans move to 7-2 in Big 10 play after defeating Michigan on Wednesday. They had 4 double-figure kill performances on the night.

Michigan State hit .310 on the night, with a .382 hitting percentage in the first set, as they held the Wolverines to a .204 clip. The Spartans and Michigan had 8 blocks a piece.

Michigan State setter Rachel Minarick totaled a career-high 58 assists, 11 digs, and two block assists. On the other side of the net, Mackenzi Welsh tabbed for 42 assists and ten digs for a double-double.

Four Michigan State players posted double-figure kills with Autumn Bailey leading the pack at 16 kills and 10 digs for a double-double on a .300 clip. Alyssa Garvelink had 14 kills with zero errors on a .560 hitting percentage. Brooke Kranda and Holly Toliver had 13 and 11 kills, respectively.

Michigan’s offense was led by Carly Skjodt, who had 24 kills with ten digs on a .370 hitting percentage. She now has four career 20+ kill games. Claire Kieffer-Wright posted 13 kills on a .385 clip.

Both teams will continue with Big 10 play as Michigan State takes on Maryland and Michigan travels to Ohio State.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Michigan State Athletics

No. 10 Michigan State earned a 3-1 victory (25-19, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16) over rival Michigan on Wednesday evening behind four double-digit kill performances and a career-best 58 assists from senior Rachel Minarick. The Spartans improved to 14-4 overall and stand at 7-2 in the Big Ten, while the Wolverines are 13-8, 3-6 in Conference play.

The first of two battles for the State Pride Flag went to the Spartans, who had a capacity crowd of 4,900 fans for the annual Jam Jenison event. The teams will meet again on Nov. 15 in Ann Arbor.

Minarick established a new career best, posting 58 assists and recording the double-double with 11 digs. Spartan middle Alyssa Garvelink hit .560, recording 14 kills on 25 swings without an error and adding a match-high seven blocks.

In addition to Minarick, Two others had double-doubles as well – Autumn Bailey had 16 kills and 10 digs, and Holly Toliver had 11 terminations and 10 digs, adding two blocks (one solo).

For the Wolverines, Carly Skjodt had 24 kills to lead the match, while Claire Kieffer Wright had double-digits with 13 kills. Kiara Shannon contributed five blocks.

The Spartan starters were impressive top to bottom – Megan Tompkins hit .312 with nine kills and four digs, while Brooke Kranda had 13 kills, three blocks, and three service aces on the night.

MSU took the first set 25-19, but the second set went to the Wolverines in a battle that went to extra points , 27-25. MSU, which had lost the third set in extra points last Friday at Penn State (30-28) and struggled to get going in the fourth set, refused to repeat history – the Spartans took the third 25-21 and then closed it out with a nine-point advantage in the final frame, 25-16. Senior Abby Monson delivered a service ace on match point to seal the victory over the Wolverines.

Michigan State heads to Maryland on Saturday for a rematch with the Terps. Match time at the XFinity Center is 5:30 pm.

QUOTABLE
“Records really mean nothing when these two teams take the court. These matches are so much fun for our players – the crowd gets into it, the atmosphere is electric, and our fans always give us a tremendous home-court advantage. This rivalry means a ton on both sides of the net – you can see it as the match unfolds. Our team has a really good tone set by our seniors, and they really wanted to come away with the win in their final time playing Michigan in this building. It’s a satisfying win for sure, because you could tell how much it meant to all of our players.”

– Head Coach Cathy George

TOP PERFORMERS

• Rachel Minarick had 58 kills, 11 digs, a pair of blocks, and a service ace.
• Alyssa Garvelink had seven blocks, 14 kills, and hit .560 (14-0-25) .
• Autumn Bailey had a team-best 16 kills and had a double-double with 10 digs while hitting .300.
• Jamye Cox put up 20 digs, her high in a Big Ten match this season.STATS AND STORYLINES
• Minarick’s 58 assists established a new career best. Her previous high was 55 against Oregon State in September of 2014 during her freshman season.
• Autumn Bailey recorded her sixth double-double of the Big Ten season with 16 kills and 10 digs. Tonight’s match was the ninth B1G game for MSU.
• MSU posted a season-best 64 kills and added eight blocks and seven aces to account for 79 points of the 100 MSU scored on the night. MSUs high was 19 kills in the third set.
• The Spartans hit .310, their fifth match hitting .300 or better in Big Ten play and eighth overall.
• MSU had five players in double-digit digs: Cox (20), Minarick (11) Bailey (10), Toliver (10) and DS Samantha McLean (10)
• Brooke Kranda had three aces on the night to go with 13 kills and three blocks. She now leads the team with 23 aces.
• Holly Toliver rounded out MSU’s three with double-doubles, posting 11 kills and 10 digs, adding a pair of blocks (two solo)
• Megan Tompkins matched her season high with nine kills, hitting .412 (9-2-17). She also added four digs and an ace.GAME REPLAY

   

• SET ONE: MSU held five-point leads at 7-2 and 9-4, recording kills on seven of its first 13 swings. A Brooke Kranda ace gave the Spartans a 14-8 edge, and at 17-10 Michigan called its second time out of the set. MSU went up by eight at 21-13 on a Garvelink termination, and Michigan kept fighting their way back into it, pulling within six (23-17) before Autumn Bailey got a tool off the block to get the Spartans to set point. The Wolverines fended it off with consecutive kills, but Bailey closed it out for a 25-19 victory. Both teams hit better than .300 for the set with 15 kills each – MSU had just two errors to Michigan’s four, but the Wolverines were victimized by four service errors and a pair of Spartan aces. Garvelink had five kills on nine swing and added a block, while Kranda had both Spartan aces in the frame.
• SET TWO: The Wolverines put together a strong start to the second frame, getting seven kills to build a 9-6 lead – and MSU called its first timeout of the evening. The visitors took their largest lead to that point of the night at 12-8, but served up an error to give the Spartans the side out. MSU got back into it with back to back points from Kranda on a kill and her third ace of the night to make it 13-12, but a service error made it a two-point affair again. Trailing 15-13, MSU went on a 4-0 run to go up by two, but Michigan battled back with a 5-0 run of its own to go back up 20-17. After a Spartan time out, Bailey came back with a big swing to trim it to two. After a huge termination on the slide by Tompkins, she stepped to the service line and delivered an ace, and Garvelink threw up a big block to tie the match at 21-21. A hitting error by UM’s Carly Skjodt extended MSU’s run to 5-1 and gave MSU back the lead, at which point the Wolverines called time out to regroup. The Wolverines scored two straight to regain the lead, but Garvelink was there to put up a fourth block of the night and the teams continued to battle, tied at 23-23. The teams traded body blows, as UM got to set point at 24, 25, and 26, and closed the deal with a sharp-angle shot from Skjodt. Toliver and Bailey each had four kills in the frame, while Jayme Cox had eight digs and Alyssa Garvelink had three blocks.
• SET THREE: MSU repeated its early success from the first set and took a 7-2 lead in the third set, then pushed it to 10-7 before Michigan got back-to-back kills to make it a five-point game. The Wolverines called time out trailing 14-6, but came back within five at 15-11 with a 5-1 run. MSU halted the UM surge with back-to-back kills from Garvelink and Toliver that made it 17-11,. The visitors kept chipping away – with MSU up 19-14, the Wolverines used a 4-1 run to trim the Spartan lead down to three, 20-17 – and the Spartans called time out. Bailey got the kill MSU needed out of the break to halt the UM run, and Kranda followed up with two straight kills to re-establish a six-point edge., 24-18. The Wolverines three times fended off set points, so the Spartans called timeout to get a breather. Kranda delivered a fourth straight kill for MSU to close it out, 25-21. Garvelink had six kills and a pair of blocks to lead MSU in the frame, while both Kranda and Bailey had five kills. MSU helped itself with two blocks, two aces, and 19 kills in earning the third-set victory. Michigan put up six blocks in the frame to account for six of MSU’s seven hitting erors, while MSU hit .308.
• SET FOUR: The fourth set, as one would expect, was a dogfight early – MSU held a lead no larger than three points as the two rivals fought, challenged calls, and battled for every point on the floor. MSU was hitting .308 as they held a 16-13 edge, and built their lead to 20-13 on a service run by Jamye Cox, getting three kills from Tompkins and one from Toliver. Michigan was able to trim it down to a five-point game (20-15) on a Sydney Wetterstrom kill followed by a Spartan service error, but the home team turned up the heat and closed out the match on a 5-1 run, capped by an Abby Monson service ace that sealed the victory for MSU. Kranda led MSU with five kills in the frame, followed by the four from Tompkins. MSU had 16 kills on 37 swings, marred by just two hitting errors (.378).

Courtesy of Michigan Athletics

Despite 24 kills by junior outside hitter Carly Skjodt and 23 digs by junior libero Jenna Lerg, the University of Michigan volleyball team (13-8, 3-6 B1G) dropped a four-set match (25-19, 25-27, 25-21, 25-16) to the No. 10-ranked Michigan State Spartans on Wednesday night (Oct. 18) inside Jenison Fieldhouse.

Every Wolverines hitter recorded a kill in the effort, and junior outside hitter Carly Skjodt led the charge with 24, which marked her fourth career effort with 20-plus kills. Senior middle blocker Claire Kieffer-Wright also finished in double figures with 13 kills and led Michigan with a .370 attack average.

» Carly Skjodt posted 24 kills in the effort, marking her fourth career effort with 20+ kills.
» Claire Kieffer-Wright led the Wolverines with a .370 attack average.
» Three players finished with digs in double figures, and Jenna Lerg led all players with 23.

Skjodt also posted 10 digs for her 12th career kill-dig double-double. In total, three Wolverines finished with digs in double figures and junior libero Jenna Lerg led all players with 23.

Michigan State jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set and forced a Michigan timeout early on, at which point the Wolverines had not yet recorded a kill. The Spartans continued to work efficiently and extended their lead to 17-10, which forced another Wolverine timeout. Despite the slow start, however, Skjodt led the Wolverines with six kills as Michigan closed the gap to 23-17 and fought off two set points before Michigan State clinched a 25-19 first-set victory.

The Wolverines took their first lead of the match with a 3-2 advantage in set two, but 12 ties and seven lead changes made it difficult for either team to gain momentum. Despite the back and forth play, Kieffer-Wright and Skjodt led the Wolverines to 19 kills with seven kills apiece and were both clutch late in the set. With the score tied at 25, Kieffer-Wright and Skjodt came up with big back-to-back kills and led Michigan to a 27-25 second-set win and tie the match at 1.

Following the intermission, the Spartans came out swinging in set three for a quick 5-0 lead and a Wolverine timeout. From there, however, Michigan State extended its lead to 14-6 before another Michigan timeout was called. Though the Wolverines used late runs to cut the lead to three at 20-17 and again at 24-21, it was Michigan State who used a .308 team attacking average and took set three, 25-21.

Michigan took the first two points of the fourth set, but Michigan State gained a 6-5 lead and controlled the remainder of the action from there. Holding the Wolverines to just nine kills at a .103 average, the Spartans took set four by a 25-16 score to clinch the victory.

Overall, Michigan finished the day with a .204 team attack average along with eight blocks.