Though the sun wasn’t shining outside, the No. 21 Spartans were shining bright inside Jenison Field House on Friday night, defeating Northern Illinois in three games 30-20, 30-25 and 30-19.
The Spartans (8-2) who had their killing-percentage troubles in the South Florida Adidas Invitational last weekend cured enough of their problems to defeat the Huskies (7-4).
For the match the Spartans had a killing percentage .352, mounting a total of 53 kills.
“When we were playing in system, everything was flowing together,” junior middle Jenny Rood said. “When your team plays in system, you frustrate the other team and you run the other team into the floor.”
The game featured another noteworthy stat - head coach Chuck Erbe racked up his 200th win at the helm of the MSU volleyball team. Though the win came against an opponent arguably not at the same level as MSU, Erbe was pleased with the feat nonetheless.
The historic feat began with a seesaw game one until MSU broke the game open. Up 12-11, the Spartans went on to score 10 of the next 13 points to take a 22-14 lead.
Despite the scrappy desire of the Huskies, MSU kept the game out of reach, picking up the 30-20 win.
During the match, senior outside hitter Kyla Smith tallied four kills, but none more important than the last one. The fourth, a kill that a couple of Huskies couldn’t handle, gave the senior 500 for her career.
In game two, neither team looked impressive through out. The Spartans hit a dismal .140, but the Huskies made that look like an all-star number by hitting .025.
Despite the sluggish effort, the Spartans picked up the 30-25 win, and went into the 12-minute intermission with a 2-0 lead.
“I told them in timeout that I bet without looking at the statistics they were hitting at least 200 points below what they hit in game one,” Erbe said. “I told them they won that game because they were just more talented, not because they played better.
“And I said that’s got to stop and play with emotional intensity and compete with purpose.”
That’s exactly what the Spartans did in game three. Despite the Huskies coming out with a lot of fire knowing match was on the line, MSU was too much.
Northern Illinois kept the score close until the Spartans broke a 8-8 tie on a couple of Huskie net violations.
From their on out, the momentum was on the side of the green and white. With nearly all 893 fans in Jenison Field House cheering on the Spartans, MSU never relinquished the lead, and running away with game three, 30-19.
“We definitely had a good, emotional level,” Smith said of game three. “I’m very pleased to end the match on a high note.”
