Ashley Schatzle had a season-high 19 kills Saturday night, helping the MSU volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep of the Toledo Rockets at Jenison Field House.
The win brought the Spartans' record to 9-1, which is the best start for the program since 1995, when MSU won the Big Ten Championship.
"I'm looking forward to winning the Big Ten," Schatzle said. "I think we can definitely be a contender for that."
MSU was leading 17-9 in the first set Saturday, when Toledo went on a 6-2 run to pull the score to within four at 19-15. The Spartans then racked up four straight points to bring the score to 23-15.
The Rockets continued beating on the door, scoring five of the next seven points before the Spartans went on a 6-4 run to put the game away.
The second set was just as challenging. With the score tied at 17, the two teams went point-for-point to tie the score at 22 before the Spartans closed the game with an 8-1 run.
The third game went point-for-point early on as well, before MSU went on a 7-1 run to take a 16-10 lead. Again, Toledo wouldn't back down, pushing the score to 23-2. But the Spartans went on another 7-1 run to close out the game and match.
In addition to Schatzle's 19 kills, junior outside hitters Jessica Hohl and Katie Johnson each had 14 kills on the night. Senior setter Allison Ianni added 47 assists.
"Toledo did a nice job challenging us. Their serving is always great," MSU head coach Cathy George said. "We just need to get a couple people out and try to get them healthy."
Since dropping their first match of the season on Sept. 8, the Spartans have swept their last three matches.
"I'm just happy we didn't get down on ourselves," Hohl said. "We just need to make sure we focus on one thing at a time and don't focus on our errors. ? We will definitely be contenders in the Big Ten."
The Spartans will play their first conference game of the season Friday against undefeated Purdue.
"Purdue is a quality team," George said. "We've got to be firing on all cylinders next weekend when we play them."
The Spartans are ranked second in the NCAA in kills and assists per game.
