For head coach Chuck Erbe, the start of the Big Ten season could not come soon enough for the MSU volleyball team (5-3).
Heading into this weekend's games at No. 1 Minnesota (11-1) and Iowa (8-3), MSU needs to find the heart and confidence of its first weeks of play, Erbe said.
"We had great consistency out of the first weekend," Erbe said. "Our team was relaxed and had a lot of confidence then."
During the weeks, the team has faced tough competition in progressively more difficult matches every weekend. MSU went 0-2 in last weekend's Gamecock Invitational against Notre Dame and South Carolina.
But that was only a taste of what is ahead this season. Four Big Ten teams are ranked in the USA Today/CSTV Coaches Poll including Minnesota, No. 4 Penn State, No. 13 Illinois and No. 20 Ohio State.
Erbe said this means that the Big Ten will be a force to be reckoned with this year.
MSU is not ranked but had been pegged fourth in the Big Ten, but now are ninth.
The key to successful games is good preparation in practice, something the Spartans did not have going into the Gamecock Invitational, Erbe said. Ready or not, the players are itching to start conference play.
"Once the Big Ten season starts, it seems like it's official," senior outside hitter Diana Steplyk said. "Preseason seems like you have things to work out and work through, but the Big Ten season is your real season. That is what you work for."
The tough preseason, with matches against No. 3 Washington and Witchita State, has taught MSU about tough competition, freshman setter Maggie Griffin said.
"We've had a lot of good preparation in preseason," Griffin said. "We're definitely ready mentally and physically now."
Minnesota enters the conference games with its only loss to then-No. 1 Southern Cal. This season, Minnesota has defeated three ranked teams - No. 5 Florida, No. 19 Kansas State and then-No. 20 Loyola Marymount.
"Minnesota is going to be a tough call for us. I have to be realistic about that," Erbe said. "I'm not conceding anything, but it is a formidable opponent with a lot of confidence right now."
With new coach Cindy Fredrick, Iowa has already beaten its last season record of six wins. Iowa has an attack percentage of .188. This season, the Spartans have beaten all of their opponents in statistics, averaging 15.3 kills, 13.8 assists, 1.8 aces and 14.1 digs per game. Senior outside hitter Kim Schram has led MSU in kills (105) and service aces (11).
The Big Ten comes to Jenison Field House on Oct. 1-2 where the Spartans will battle Indiana at 7 p.m. Friday and Purdue at 7 p.m. Saturday. They will take to the road in the following weeks, including a mid-week trip to Ann Arbor on Oct. 6 to contest the Wolverines.
With the Big Ten schedule looming ahead of them and the tournament last weekend, the largest battle for the Spartans was "competitive anxieties," Erbe said. Only confidence can fix that, and there is no easy answer as to if the Spartans will be able to bolster that it time.
"We're going to find out," Erbe said. "There's no more nonconference season now."
