“We had a great crowd of 4,300 people and this is a wonderful place to play,” head coach Cathy George said. “It was a great event except for the outcome.”

Down 24-19 in the first set against their in-state rivals, the Spartans put on a relentless 5-0 scoring run to prolong the match and survived six more U-M match points before falling 33-31.

Middle blockers Vanessa King and Kyndra Abron opened the game with back-to-back kills as the Spartans appeared up for the challenge, but good play from the visitors helped U-M take a 21-19 lead.

After U-M scored the next three to put MSU on the brink, the home team dug in and refused to fall easily.

Good defensive efforts and a few U-M miscues helped MSU rally to tie the game at 24, and after the Wolverines took a one-point advantage, Abron smashed the ball through the Wolverine defense to tie it up. The Wolverines responded to every MSU rally, however, to win the set.

“It’s Michigan, and we were determined to win,” junior outside hitter Megan Schatzle said. “When you put your mind to it, you can come back from anything.”

In the second set, the Spartans appeared in command as they took a 20-16 lead, but the Wolverines clawed back with a 6-0 run and delivered a backbreaking 25-22 set win to take a 2-0 lead.

Michigan dominated the third set early, then survived another Spartan rally to win the third and final set 26-24.

For MSU, the loss marks the fifth straight as it has struggled against good Big Ten competition.

After hustling to a 12-0 start in the nonconference, MSU has fallen to 14-7 and 2-7 in the Big Ten.

But for falling short in another Big Ten match, the Spartans looked far from defeated during the night, staying with the Wolverines the whole way but not quite getting the key points they needed to get the win.

Now, the Spartans will have to regain their edge on the road, where they face No. 9 Minnesota on Friday.

“We know we can hang with the top rated teams and we know that we’re a top rated team, we’ll take the second half of the season to see what we can do,” Schatzle said.

Schatzle led the team with nine kills, while Abron and sophomore outside hitter Becca Zlabis each chipped in eight.

The Spartans had defeated two top 15 teams at home this season and were hoping to do it again against U-M, whom the Spartans defeated last year at Breslin Center.

They also defeated Ohio State at Breslin Center last season, and sported a 4-0 all-time record at the venue heading into Wednesday’s match.

In the three sets, the Spartans lost only by seven total points, but just couldn’t take advantage of their opportunities.

“I don’t think we played poorly, we just made a few critical errors that hurt us,” King said. “The fans were really great, and it’s kind of disappointing not to get the win, but we played here twice last year and it wasn’t anything unfamiliar for us.”