For the fifth straight weekend, the No. 22 MSU volleyball team split its weekend matches.
The Spartans (13-7 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) beat the worst team in the conference, Iowa (5-15, 0-10), 30-14, 30-21, 27-30 and 30-21, on Friday night before losing to No. 25 Minnesota on Saturday, 30-27, 15-30, 15-30, and 25-30.
It was the first time MSU had opened a Big Ten weekend with a win this season.
The Spartans previously were 0-4.
"I was pleased with how we played against Iowa," head coach Chuck Erbe said. "Iowa was a match we were supposed to win, and we did."
The MSU offensive attack was led by junior outside hitter Kim Schram. Schram led MSU in the match with 23 kills on .353 hitting while adding two service aces, eight digs and a block solo.
The middles, senior Jenny Rood and sophomore Megan Wallin, each contributed 10 kills in the match with attack percentages of .444 and .348, respectively.
Junior outside hitter Sarah Villwock was the other Spartans player to register double-digit kills with 16.
Senior co-captain and libero Emmy Miller led the defense, posting a career-best 23 digs in the match. The other co-captain, senior setter Nikki Colson, had 57 assists, nine digs, two kills and a service ace.
After taking care of business against the Hawkeyes on Friday, MSU traveled north to face off against conference leader, No. 25 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers beat Michigan the previous night and were riding high on a seven-match win streak.
The Spartans played well, beating the Gophers in game one of the match but were unable to sustain their level of play, falling to Minnesota (15-7, 8-2) in four games.
"Our offense was too fast for them in game one," Erbe said. "They changed their strategy - started serving short. We didn't adjust."
MSU dropped games two and three in an ugly fashion, getting doubled up in both, 30-15. Erbe was frustrated with his team and made some lineup changes to try and stop the Gophers' dominance.
He brought in sophomore defensive specialist Marley Bellwood and junior outside hitter Diana Steplyk as well as switching Rood and Wallin to different middle positions. The tactic worked for nearly all of game four as MSU led by as many as three late in the match. However, Minnesota went on a 7-3 run to close out the game and the match.
Schram led the offense for the second straight night with 20 kills in the match and 11 digs to go along with two blocks. Colson also had another solid night, with 49 assists and 14 digs as well as two block assists.
"I like the way we played, but the inconsistency was there again," Erbe said.
"It is a challenge for us to sustain a high level of play against good teams, especially the teams with a good block, like Minnesota."
The challenge now for MSU is to make a run at the NCAA Tournament. The Spartans have 10 matches left on their schedule and have some work to do if they want to make it into the tournament.
MSU again will look to break the 1-1 weekend trend when it hosts Indiana at 7 p.m. Friday and Purdue at 8 p.m. Saturday.
