While rain and wind pelted MSU students in East Lansing on Wednesday evening, the Spartan volleyball team created a storm of its own inside Jenison Field House.
The Spartans (12-6, 5-6 Big Ten) wrestled their way to a 3-1 victory against the rival Michigan Wolverines.“We controlled the net, and we won the serve and pass part of the game,” head coach Chuck Erbe said. “Really, we won every part of the game. The finish of the match was two aces - that‘s just unbelievable.”
Leading the way for the Spartan offense was senior outside hitter Erin Hartley, who slammed home a team-high 14 kills without a singe attack error.
“What it really came down to tonight was the team effort,” Hartley said. “It was actually fun tonight, and it really hasn’t been for the last couple of weeks.”
The Spartans dominated in game one, using a variety of weapons to smother the Wolverine offense and overpower the U-M (10-8, 6-5) defense. The end result of the Spartan dominance was a 30-18 game one victory.
The Wolverines never held a lead in game one and committed 10 attack errors with only nine kills.
The Spartan offense rolled to 16 kills, allowing only four attack errors and hitting at a .324 attack percentage. Junior middle blocker Angela Morley and Hartley each reeled off four kills without a single attack error.
Morley set the tone defensively for the Spartans in game one and ended the night with 13 of the team’s 20 total blocks.
The Spartans sustained their dominance in the second game as they downed the Wolverines 30-15.
The game began with quick scoring spurts by both teams, but three aces from junior defensive specialist Emily Engel and kills from freshman outside hitter Kim Schram and Morley broke the game open into a 13-6 MSU lead.
Just as in game one, the Spartans played nearly error-free volleyball, hitting .407 behind 16 kills and only three errors.
U-M continued to struggle offensively, striking only 11 kills and turning over 11 errors for a .000 hitting percentage.
“They did everything they wanted to do in the first two games tonight,” U-M head coach Mark Rosen said.
But the 2-0 lead was frighteningly familiar territory for MSU. In the two teams’ last meeting, the Spartans led 2-0 before dropping three straight games to the Wolverines for the loss.
And, in game three, it began to happen again.
Using a more disciplined attack and a much tougher block, the Wolverines controlled the tempo of game three from start to finish and dropped the Spartans 30-19.
Sophomore Erin Moore led the Wolverines with a match-high 15 kills after being blanked in game one.
They fought back from three different three-point Spartan leads to tie.
That’s when consecutive aces by freshman defensive specialist Diana Steplyk closed out the Wolverines 30-22.
The Spartans regained their early-match blocking form as they sent back eight Wolverine attacks.
The Spartans take the court again 7 p.m. Friday at Jenison Field House against the Purdue Boilermakers (3-15, 1-9).
Dan Woike can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.
