Los Angeles, Calif. - The Spartans defeated the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in the first round of the 2000 Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship on Saturday.
MSU needed four games to defeat the Panthers (15-5, 15-4, 7-15, 19-17) despite taking a 2-0 lead.
“We let them back into the match and got ourselves into a dogfight,” said MSU head coach Chuck Erbe. “All we’re thinking about is tomorrow.”
Tomorrow MSU will play the winner of host No. 3 seed UCLA and Morgan State at 6 p.m.
The Spartans started game one slow, but at 4-3 MSU went on a 6-0 run to blow the game open.
All six points came on freshman setter Nikki Colson’s serve. The Panthers used both their timeouts during the run.
UWM head coach Kathy Litzau said MSU’s run made it difficult for the Panthers to get into a rhythm.
“At that moment it was tough,” she said. “Getting stuck in a rotation always gets you down a bit.”
After Colson’s serve the Spartans cooled down, but still cruised to a 15-4 win.
Game two opened with MSU taking a quick 5-0 lead and never looking back.
The Panthers would never be closer than four points (5-1) as MSU went on to take the game 15-4.
After the break, Erbe benched senior middle hitter Sarah Gustin to give other Spartans playing time.
The Panthers took advantage, scoring the first point of the game for their first lead of the match.
“We didn’t play well after I made the substitutions,” Erbe said. “For whatever reason we didn’t.”
Litzau said MSU’s blocking (18-5 for the match) forced the Panthers to change their style of play after the break. She said UWM was forced to focus more on quickness and hitting accuracy.
The adjustments paid off as the Panthers shocked the Spartans with a 7-15 game three win.
“I thought we were in total control of the match,” Erbe said. “Never in my wildest imagination could I have figured we’d lose game three.”
MSU opened game four 3-0, and the Spartans looked to in control until the Panthers rallied to tie the game at three.
Game four proved to be a marathon. The Panthers had four point game opportunities before the Spartans finally closed the match with a 19-17 game four win.
Gustin said how the Spartans won doesn’t matter. She said MSU must be prepared to play tomorrow.
“We have to be ready,” she said. “We don’t have a choice. I think we're going to be as ready as we can be because we've been preparing for it.”
