The MSU volleyball team closed its season with losses to No. 4 Penn State and No. 8 Ohio State this past weekend, as well as losing the chance for a possible NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 10 years.
"I knew finishing the season against Penn State and Ohio State was going to be a daunting challenge," head coach Chuck Erbe said. "These two teams were coming in here fighting for the Big Ten Championship, and we're fighting for pride.
"The motivation is a lot different."
The team's goal to finish out the season was to even out its record if the Spartans wanted a shot at a tournament bid, Erbe said. After splitting two weekends ago, MSU (12-16 overall, 7-13 Big Ten) had to beat both Penn State and Ohio State to even this season's record.
Friday night's match brought disappointment as the Spartans closely contested Penn State (27-2, 18-2) in game one, but fell 30-28.
But the loss of the first game meant everything to the team, Erbe said.
"If we win game one, we have confidence," Erbe said. "If we don't win game one, we get less with each game and the other team just gets stronger.
"They sense the finality."
The Spartans lost in three games against Penn State on Friday, but didn't concede anything heading into Saturday night's match against Ohio State (27-3, 17-3), freshman setter Maggie Griffin said.
"We were very determined," Griffin said. "We had a tough week of practice, and we were going in knowing we had nothing to lose."
The five-time Big Ten player of the week this season, Buckeyes outside hitter Stacy Gordon sent bullets over the net, but MSU senior outside hitter Kim Schram fought to return them.
The crowd went wild Saturday as the Spartans blocked a spike from Gordon and struggled to catch up to Ohio State. But the battle was to no avail as the Buckeyes shut out MSU. Schram had 29 kills, three service aces and 10 digs and Griffin had 80 assists and 13 digs on the weekend.
It was another daunting challenge for the Spartans to battle through their share of challenges this season. The conference season started with the loss of junior middle Megan Wallin for the season to a knee injury in the first Big Ten match of the year.
The team also battled to improve its serve/pass game as the Spartans worked to overcome rotation problems and inexperience. During the first half of the season, the Spartans lost 11 of 12 matches, but fought back during the second half of the season, beating formidable opponents in Illinois and Michigan. Near the end of the season, Erbe said the team had not given up hope that it might receive an NCAA Tournament bid if it was able to turn around the season. Erbe had no comment on the team not having the chance to earn a bid this year.
Griffin said the team was disappointed with not making the tournament, but wasn't going to focus on it.
"It stinks coming in my first year and not making the tournament, but there is always next year," she said.
