Valeria Leon Tops Dig Mark as #19 Ohio State Sweeps #11 Michigan State

  0 Emma LeGault | October 23rd, 2016 | Big Ten, College - Women's Indoor, News

Match Stats

After a close match that saw 16 tie scores and eight lead changes, the No. 19 Ohio State Buckeyes pulled ahead to sweep the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans (25-21, 25-19, 25-19) on Saturday night in Columbus — their third win over a ranked opponent this season.

Ohio State’s Valeria Leon shined defensively in the match — she had 14 digs, surpassing the school’s record to become the all-time leader in digs with 1,586.

Luisa Schirmer led the Buckeyes with 13 kills, while Taylor Sandbothe added 12 and Audra Appold notched 10. Taylor Hughes recorded 37 assists and seven kills.

For the Spartans, Autumn Bailey had nine kills, two blocks, and five digs. Rachel Minarick led with 30 assists while adding two aces, three kills, and six digs. Brooke Kranda hit .500 on the night, with seven kills and two aces.

The Spartans were held to only a .190 hitting average and three block total on the night. Ohio State recorded a .347 average and eight blocks.

Ohio State (14-8, 4-6 Big Ten) travels to Maryland for a matchup on Wednesday. Michigan State (17-5, 6-4 Big Ten) hits the road this weekend with a game at Indiana on Friday and Purdue on Saturday.

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Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The No. 19 Ohio State women’s volleyball team defeated the No. 11 Michigan State Spartans 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, and 25-19) on Saturday night in front of 2,969 fans at St. John Arena. The Buckeyes dominated from the first serve of the match. The Buckeyes improved to 14-8 overall and 4-6 in Big Ten play. The Spartans fell to 17-5 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten.

The win was Ohio State‘s third over a ranked opponents this season. It previously topped Texas A&M, 3-2, at the North Texas Challenge on Aug. 27 and No. 1 Nebraska, 3-1, on Oct. 1.

A trio of players led the Buckeyes on the offensive side of attack. Luisa Schirmer led the team on the night with a total of 13 kills while hitting .417. Taylor Sandbothe contributed 12 kills and hit .450 on the night. Audra Appold added 10 kills and seven digs for the Buckeyes. Setter Taylor Hughes tallied seven kills on the night and had 37 assists to help the Scarlet and Gray to victory.

Valeria León dominated the defensive side of the ball. Leon had 14 digs for the Buckeyes. In the first set of the match, she became Ohio State‘s all-time career leader in digs with 1,573. Leon added to the total making her school record at 1,586 and counting. Camry Halm tallied 8 digs for the Bucks. Appold added seven digs for the Buckeyes to help fend off the Spartans. Six other Buckeyes had at least one dig on the night.

Set 1: Ohio State jumped out to an early lead in the first set 3-1 over the Spartans. The set went back and forth for the next points to reach an 8-9 deficit for the Buckeyes. Ohio State then scored four points in a row to make it 12-9. Ohio State would go on to win the set 25-21 in an up and down first set.

Set 2: Ohio State started out the second slowly falling to a 0-3 deficit. The Buckeyes then turned up the heat to win the next six out of seven points to take the lead at 6-4. The Buckeyes fell to a 16-19 score after a back and forth battle. The Scarlet and Gray went on to win the next nine straight points to take the set 25-19.

Set 3: In the third, the Buckeyes jumped out to an 11-6 lead after a huge kill from Madison Smeathers. The Spartans cut the deficit to four making the score 14-10. The Bucks would win the next 4 out of 6 points to extend the lead to 18-12. The Scarlet and Gray never looked back in the set and won 25-19.

Ohio State takes on Maryland next for a Big Ten Network matchup on Wednesday (Oct. 26) at 6 p.m. ET in College Park, Maryland.

Courtesy of Michigan State Athletics:

SPARTAN SYNOPSIS

No. 11 Michigan State fell on the road on Saturday night in Columbus, dropping a 3-0 decision to No. 19 Ohio State (21-25, 19-25, 19-25). The Buckeyes improve to 14-8, and 4-6 in Big Ten play, while the Spartans are 17-5, 6-4 Big Ten.

The teams traded two-and-three point runs throughout the match, which led to 16 tie scores and eight lead changes. After OSU took the first set, the Spartans were building to a second-set victory with a four-point lead before the Buckeyes finished out the frame on a 10-1 run (featuring six kills and two blocks) to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 match lead. OSU hit .347 on the night and out-blocked the Spartans by a 8-3 margin, and avenged a 3-0 sweep by MSU earlier this season in East Lansing.

Autumn Bailey led the Spartans with nine kills and two blocks, while Allyssah Fitterer had six kills and also had a pair of stuffs. Brooke Kranda hit .500, compiling seven kills. Luisa Shirmer had 13 kills, hit .417, and added six digs and a pair of blocks, while setter Taylor Hughes had 37 assists, seven kills (7-0-9, .778) and a pair of blocks to go with four digs. Taylor Sandbothe (12) and Audra Appold (10) rounded out OSU’s trio with double-digit kills.

MSU has a pair of road games next week at Indiana (Friday) and Purdue (Saturday) to begin the second half of Big Ten play.

SET ONE: Trailing 6-3, MSU roared back with a 5-0 run, featuring kills from Kranda, Bailey (2) and Fitterer to force Ohio State into a time out. Out of the break, the Buckeyes scored five of the next seven points to go up by two (12-10), but MSU rallied back to take a lead at 15-15. To that point of the frame, MSU was hitting .350 to Ohio State‘s .143. The teams traded two-and-three point rallies and therefore the lead, with OSU establishing a 22-19 edge with a kill off the block; MSU chipped away and trailed 23-21, but a kill by Taylor Hughes got the home team to set point. Garvelink fended it off with a kill from the right side, but a termination by Sandbothe gave the Buckeyes a 25-21 win in set one. Bailey had five kills to lead MSU (5-0-7), and Sandbothe and Schirmer shared the OSU lead with five each.

SET TWO: MSU opened the frame with a 3-0 lead, but the home team stormed back with four straight before a kill by Reinig knotted the score at 4-4. The fight between two-and-three point runs continued into the second set, and MSU took its largest lead at 12-8 thanks to a pair of hitting errors by the home team and kills from Bailey and Reinig. Appold halted the MSU run with a kill out of the Buckeye time out, and then trimmed it to two at 14-12 with kills by Schirmer and Sandbothe. Ohio State trimmed it to a one-point MSU lead at 19-18 on a kill by Schirmer, and after an OSU time out, they scored three straight points – two from Luisa Schirmer to get her to 10 kills on the night – to regain the lead and take a 21-19 advantage. Consecutive blocks for the Buckeyes gave them a four-point edge, and pushed their run to 8-1. An MSU miscue followed by a kill from Schirmer closed it out for the Buckeyes, who took a 2-0 match lead. Schirmer had seven kills in the frame, as the hosts used a 10-1 run — featuring six kills and two blocks — to come from behind in the set.

SET THREE: Ohio State took an early 11-6 lead, hitting .417 (6-1-12) while MSU committed four errors against three early kills. OSu’s largest lead was six (18-12), but MSU came back with a pair of kills from Minarick and one from Kranda to trim it to four, 19-15. OSU pushed it back out to seven points at 23-16, but the Spartans kept fighting — a Kranda kill got it back to six, and when the Buckeyes got to set point at 24-17, Bailey held off match point twice — once with a kill, once with a block — to bring MSU back within five. Bailey’s next attempt was blocked by the setter Hughes, and the Buckeyes took the 25-19 win in set three.

TOP PERFORMERS 

  • Autumn Bailey posted a team-high nine kills and five digs, and led the Spartans with two blocks.
  • Brooke Kranda hit .500 (7-0-14), and added a pair of aces.
  • Allyssah Fitterer had six kills, a dig, and shared the team lead of two blocks.

STATS AND STORYLINES 

  • Ohio State hit .347 in the match. In MSU’s five losses this season, each of those opponents has hit .300 or better — and are the only opponents to do so. The Spartans were held to .191 hitting.
  • MSU is now 13-4 in three-set matches, with 17 three-set affairs in 22 matches overall.
  • The Spartans were out-blocked 8-3 in the match. That ties MSU’s season low in team blocks, also set vs. Morgan State and Notre Dame. MSU’s Big Ten low had been four team blocks, at Rutgers (Oct. 1).
  • Rachel Minarick recorded 30 assists, six digs, two aces, and three kills.

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