Madison, Wis. - No. 20 MSU was two games away from the end of its season Friday night against No. 25 Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But instead of packing it in and heading back to East Lansing, the Spartans (21-7) rebounded to win three straight games and defeat the Fighting Irish 3-1.
Senior outside hitter Erin Hartley led all Spartans with 16 blocks, upping her career total to 1,500. Junior middle blocker Angela Morley assisted 10 of the Spartans’ 15 blocks on the defensive side of the net.
Freshman outside hitter Kim Schram finished the night with 13 kills, junior outside hitter Kyla Smith added 12 kills and sophomore middle blocker Jenny Rood chipped in 10 kills for the Spartan offense.
Sophomore setter Nikki Colson had her hand in on 52 of the Spartans’ 62 total kills in the match with 47 assists and a career-best five kills.
But, before the Spartans could fight off the Fighting Irish (22-7), they had to battle a significant case of the jitters.
Right from the start, things looked bleak for the Spartans as they quickly fell behind 4-0 in game one, with three unforced errors.
The Irish lead grew to five at 11-6 before the Spartans began to show signs of life.
Consecutive Hartley kills got the Spartans to within three at 13-10 before Irish middle blocker Malinda Goralski, the Big East player of the Year, pounded home one of her six game-one kills to regain the serve for the Irish at 14-10.
Her kill sparked four straight Irish points, capped by Goralski and Kreher’s block on Smith. The series forced Spartan head coach Chuck Erbe to call timeout with the score 17-10.
The Spartans responded with four straight points on two Smith kills, a Rood kill and an ace from sophomore defensive specialist Emmy Miller.
Miller’s ace pushed the Irish to the benches for a timeout with the Spartans gaining momentum at 17-14.
The Spartans continued their uphill climb toward evening the score, but Notre Dame fought back and didn’t let the Spartans get within three points for the remainder of the game.
MSU then settled in - and it showed.
Games two, three, and four belonged to the Spartans, who dictated the tempo of the match and the final outcome.
The Spartans rolled to 30-16, 30-20 and 30-24 victories in the final three games to advance to the second round.
Limited to hitting percentages of -.143, .162 and .063 , the Irish struggled to get either of their go-to players - Goralski and outside hitter Kristy Kreher - clicking after game one. The Notre Dame defense was equally ineffective, as it managed only three blocks in the match.
The Spartans, however, hit at .346 for the match and amassed 15 blocks.
Irish middle blocker Kim Fletcher led her team with 16 kills.
The Spartans move on to face the winner of Wisconsin-Milwaukee vs. No. 6 Wisconsin on at 7 p.m. CST Saturday.
