As the cold weather sweeps in from outside, the MSU volleyball team has begun to heat up inside gyms around the Big Ten.
The Spartans (17-7 overall, 9-5 Big Ten) continued their winning ways on the road, beating Wisconsin, 30-26, 21-30, 22-30, 30-25 and 15-8. The Spartans now have won four in a row and six of their last seven matches.
The road win was MSU's third in its last four tries outside of East Lansing, with its only loss coming at Minnesota. The Spartans won at Iowa two weeks ago and beat Michigan last Wednesday. It was also MSU's first win at Wisconsin (18-7, 10-4) and its first sweep of the Badgers since 1996.
"I felt we were the better and more physical team," head coach Chuck Erbe said. "It was just a matter of managing the crowd of 5,600 people and staying focused."
After battling to a 2-2 tie, the Spartans took over game five with blocking. MSU had 5.5 blocks in the final game, "roofing" the Badgers' chances to win the match.
The Spartans were led by junior outside hitter Sara Villwock, senior middle Jenny Rood and senior setter and co-captain Nikki Colson. Villwock hit .357 with 19 kills while adding seven digs and four block assists.
"Sara Villwock had the best match of her career at MSU," Erbe said.
Rood had another solid match as she led MSU in hitting with a .417 percentage. She had 13 kills, five block assists and three digs.
Colson entered the match needing only seven assists to break MSU's all-time assists record. It didn't take her long, as she easily recorded more than that in the first game of the match.
"Nikki has been a great setter," Erbe said. "Her durability has allowed her to set in every match since her sophomore year."
Colson finished the night with 65 assists and now has 4,214 for her career - a new MSU record. The career assists record will undoubtedly continue to grow as the season comes to a close, but Colson isn't done yet. She is on pace to break her own record of 1,577 assists in a season, a record she set last year.
The five-game win over Wisconsin was MSU's fourth of the season and second in as many matches. The Spartans also beat U-M, Tennessee and Santa Clara last Wednesday. Their only five-game loss was to Penn State.
With only six matches left, MSU seems to have hit its stride. Erbe credits the new substitution pattern created by associate head coach Todd Dagenais and the reduced amount of practice as major reasons for the team's recent success.
The Spartans now are 2-0 on their four-match road trip. They finish the road trip this weekend when they travel to Ohio State and first-place Penn State.
