The MSU volleyball team kicked off its 2003 season Saturday night with the annual Green and White exhibition match at Jenison Field House.
"Tonight was our time to showcase what we've been working on all summer and all preseason," junior outside hitter Kim Schram said.
Without a home tournament this season, Saturday was the only time before the Big Ten opener on Sept. 26 against Penn State that fans could see the team in action.
The teams played four games, two games to 30 and two games to 15, with each side winning two. The green squad won game one 30-22 and game four 15-9, while the white squad won game two 30-20 and game three 15-13.
Energy filled the gym as the team was either high-fiving or screaming with excitement after every point . The team displayed its athleticism with diving digs and high-flying kills.
"I just love going out and playing with these girls," senior middle Jenny Rood said. "When you have people like Diana Steplyk with so much intensity, you can't help but get excited and feed off her energy."
Rood and Schram led the green team with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. The green team had 11.5 blocks and five service aces.
For the white squad, sophomore middle Brooke Langston and junior opposite side hitter Michelle Kopka led the way with a combined 17 kills and only three errors. Kopka nearly had a double-double, adding 11 digs to her eight kills.
Head coach Chuck Erbe had the two setters, senior Nikki Colson and sophomore Mickey Davis, play two games with each squad to allow them a chance to work with all of their teammates.
Saturday turned out to be a confirmation for Erbe.
"We've got good depth and talent in the middle with Brooke, Megan (Wallin) and Jenny," Erbe said. "And our backcourt is in excellent position with Marley (Bellwood), Emmy (Miller) and (Stephanie) Knopp."
He also added that Colson won the competition at that position between her and Davis.
"Colson's maturity really showed," Erbe said "But Mickey Davis has developed into a Big Ten setter and put herself in a position where she is going to get some playing time."
With two solid setters, Erbe feels it will open up a lot of options for him this season doing double substitutions as well as maximizing the rotation.
The overall effort and energy also pleased Erbe, but he felt the team's 48 hitting errors and respective attacking percentages of .115 and .160 would cause them problems against formidable opponents.
One aspect Erbe wants his team to improve on is cutting down on the hitting errors from the outside. He said the way the team manages the out-of-system play will be key - more specifically, how the outside hitters do in those situations.
"A lot of the off plays fall into the hands of the outside hitters," Erbe said. "They're the ones that will make the difference."
MSU is ranked 25th in the nation by the USA Today/AVCA preseason coaches poll. They join four other Big Ten teams in the top 25: No. 6 MInnesota, No. 11 Penn State, No. 17 Wisconsin and No. 18 Ohio State. Only the PAC-10 conference has more ranked teams with six.
"I'm glad we're ranked," Erbe said. "If you ask me, I think that we're higher than 25th, but that's OK."
The team opens play 5 p.m. Friday against Villanova at the Maryland Invitational in College Park, Md.
