Following a season where they finished 25-10 and had a Sweet 16 exit in the NCAA Tournament, the Spartans hope to start strong this weekend.

Head coach Cathy George will use information gathered from the weekend to help finalize her rotation. George currently has senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski, junior outside hitter Taylor Galloway, senior middle blocker Kelsey Kuipers, senior middle blocker Alexis Mathews, senior setter Kristen Kelsay and junior libero Kori Moster penned as starters.

Freshman outside hitter Chloe Reinig, the No. 4 recruit in the nation for the class of 2013, initially was slated to line up alongside last year’s returning starting cast. However, an undisclosed injury casts doubt on whether she will be game-ready.

“She’s questionable out, we don’t know if she’s going to play or not,” George said at Wednesday’s practice.

“We won’t start her in game one, just letting her get a little healthy as the weekend goes on. She’s sick right now.”

With a spot on the floor open for competition, the injury gives the other four freshman recruits, along with mainstays from last year, an opportunity to vie for the job.

The Hokie Invitational will be a challenge for the Spartans, as MSU has never played St. Francis or Towson. The Green and White have not played Pacific since November 1979, and Virginia Tech since October 1976.

Without a proper scouting report, the Spartans will do their own scouting as game play progresses.

“All four of these teams are very competitive teams, so it’s important for us as we go into the first weekend to play smart,” George said.

“We’re going in from anything that we know from the team from the year before, but it really isn’t easy because you don’t have any game film …We’ll just go in there and play pure volleyball and make sure we’re learning about our matchups and making adjustments as the match goes on.”