After their success at home, the MSU volleyball team will kick off its six-game road trip at the Jayhawk Invitational, where the Spartans will compete against nonconference foes Temple Virginia Commonwealth and host Kansas for the Invitational title
MSU head coach Cathy George is calling this "international flavor weekend" and believes it's going to be one of MSU's toughest tests of the young season, as the Spartans (4-0) face a wide variety of talent.
"We play Temple first, and Temple is a team that has a lot of Chinese players on it," George said.
"Chinese players have a lot of experience and they have a different style. It's important that we get used to their style and be able to play against their system."
"Then we turn around that evening and play Kansas, who has plenty of Brazilian players. So they're a little bit different and their style is very quick and aggressive."
Temple (3-3) is coming off a three game losing streak, dropping its last match to Miami at the Hofstra Invitational.
They are led by middle blocker Zhen Jia Liu and outside hitter Yue Liu, both from China. The Spartans lead the all-time series against the Owls 3-1.
Sophomore outside hitter Katie Johnson said the team is looking to improve on the little mistakes.
"We know we have to keep working harder. We're starting to learn more on what we need to work on," Johnson said.
"We're just pretty much working on blocking strategies and learning different stuff. We know that as the weeks go on, our tournaments are going to keep getting harder."
This past weekend was a victorious one for Virginia Commonwealth (5-1) after capturing the VCU/Third Degree Sportswear Invitational and extending their winning streak to four games.
Under new head coach James Finley, the Rams are holding opponents under a .157 hitting percentage and only allowing 1.7 blocks per game.
The Jayhawks enter the tournament currently undefeated at home and will be looking to extend that record at the Invitational.
Leading the Jayhawks this year is middle blocker Josi Lima, who has been voted to the All-Big 12 First Team for the past three years.
Third-year starter outside hitter Jana Correa leads the team with 83 kills and a hitting percentage of .320.
The last time the Spartans had a victory over Kansas was on Sept. 18, 1987, where MSU won 3-2.
After watching some video footage of Kansas, senior setter Mickey Davis said this is one match the team is looking forward to.
George knows Kansas (4-1) is a tough place to play and she's going in there with the same game plan she used in the Spartan Invite - taking each game one at a time.
