After a month of nonconference games to start the season, the MSU volleyball team is getting ready for the real season.
The No. 21 Spartans (8-2) will begin Big Ten competition this weekend against No. 8 Minnesota (13-2) and Iowa (6-4). To make the opening weekend of conference play even more difficult, the Spartans will be on the road.
“Everyone is just so excited to start what we’ve been working for all summer,” junior defensive specialist Emmy Miller said. “Everyone is just ready to start playing Big Ten teams and begin making our dreams happen.”
The Spartans are hoping last year repeats itself in one respect. But in another, they are hoping to do the opposite.
MSU started the 2001 Big Ten season on the road, but the results weren’t flattering. MSU dropped both games, a 3-1 loss to Wisconsin followed by a 3-0 loss to Northwestern. By starting away from Jenison Field House again this year, their first opponent makes all the difference.
Though the Golden Gophers weren’t a national powerhouse last year, the Spartans won both season meetings 3-0, and they look to continue the trend this year.
“They are going to be really good, but we beat them last year both at their place and ours,” Miller said. “We know how to win there, we’ve done it before.
“Obviously, it’s a bit intimidating knowing they’re ranked eighth. But we’ve been scouting them, and if we go in there and beat them, it’s going to say a lot about our team.”
Despite Minnesota only having one senior, their underclassmen have picked up the slack.
Led by junior outside hitter Cassie Busse, the Gophers look like an experienced team. Busse leads Minnesota with 201 kills. She also has landed 37 service aces this year.
Sophomore setter Lindsey Vander Well has been a part of most of those kills, accounting for 626 setting assists. Dealing with Vander Well and Busse will be even more difficult with The Sports Pavilion crowd.
“They have such an awesome environment,” MSU junior setter Nikki Colson said. “And I know all the girls are excited to get the Big Ten kicked off, especially against Minnesota.”
The other leg of MSU’s road trip stops in Iowa where MSU plays the Hawkeyes. Iowa is arguably the exact opposite of Minnesota in all areas.
Carver-Hawkeye Arena is a large arena that goes unfilled for volleyball games. MSU head coach Chuck Erbe said he’d be surprised if 50 people showed up to the arena Saturday night.
“The motivation and energy has to come within our team more than ever when we play at Iowa,” Colson said. “In front of a crowd like Minnesota, it’s there. But in a place like Iowa, you have to try 50 times harder.”
But many Spartans don’t mind the ghost-like atmosphere. In fact, senior outside hitter Kyla Smith has her single game highs in kills and hitting percentage at Iowa, smacking 20 kills hitting at .586.
“Some people, like Kyla, love playing at Iowa,” Miller said. “I guess the atmosphere doesn’t matter to us. We just go out and play our game.”
The Spartans play has been inconsistent as of late. But when asked if his team was prepared for the weekend, Erbe wasn’t bashful.
“This is what we’ve been waiting for all season,” Erbe said. “We’re ready.”
