With each team winning their home match by scores of 3-1, the Spartans edged the Wolverines on total points 181-179, giving them State Pride series bragging rights for the second consecutive year.

“We want to keep the State Pride here for as long as we possibly can,” head coach Cathy George said. “But I’d rather do it with a win, and we need to put ourselves in a position to win games.”
Senior outside hitters Jenilee Rathje and Kyndra Abron led the Spartans offensively, recording 15 kills each. Freshman libero Kori Moster recorded 23 digs for the Green and White, while sophomore setter Kristen Kelsay had 23 assists.

Set one began on an even keel, with the Spartans and Wolverines going back and forth for the first half. But when Michigan State gained a 15-14 lead, it took off, finishing on a 10-5 run to take the first set. Abron had five kills in the set and a .571 hitting percentage, leading Michigan State on the offensive side of the net. As a whole, the Spartan unit outblocked the Wolverines four to 1.5.

After set one, the Spartans also had trouble forcing the ball through Michigan’s blockers at the net, getting outblocked 8.5 to six in the last three sets.

“They were blocking well because they were serving tough, and we weren’t passing well,” Abron said. “If we had passed better, it would have opened up our hitters a lot more.”

Michigan was able to rebound in set two and after the Wolverines took a 5-4 lead, they didn’t look back, going on a 14-6 tear that left the Spartans trailing by 18-9. Michigan’s success was A couple late rallies by Michigan State came up short and the Spartans fell, 25-20 in set two.

Set three played out much like the first, marked by back and forth play, but this time saw the Wolverines pull out a 25-19 victory, going up 2-1 in the match. In the fourth and final set, the Spartans once again were forced to play from behind throughout, eventually wearing down and dropping the set and the match, 25-19.

“(Assistant coach Mike Gawlik) said in the locker room that we played reactive instead of proactive,” Moster said. “We knew game one we had control, and once we lost that, it gave Michigan a lot more confidence.”

MSU will return home Saturday night for its final home game of the regular season against No. 9 Penn State. The Spartans haven’t beaten the Nittany Lions since 2002.

“(Now) it’s about rebounding and getting our focus for this next game,” George said. “We’ve got to play a more aggressive game throughout, understand that Penn State is a physical team and we have to execute better.”