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Final test for Spartans before Big Ten season

September 19, 2013

In the last weekend before Big Ten play commences, the No. 14 MSU volleyball team (8-1 overall) will host Eastern Michigan, Duquesne and Cincinnati at Jenison Field House at the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational.

It could be a big weekend for senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski, who is 10 kills away from reaching the 2,000 kill career milestone.

She came up short last weekend during her MVP performance at the Butler Invitational, but welcomes the opportunity to accomplish the feat in front of a home crowd.

“It’s just even more special because this is my family, my people,” Wicinski said.

“It’s really exciting that they’re able to be here and witness this and that as a team, I’m able to do this at Jenison.”

The Spartans have won their last six matches and 13 sets.

Despite the hot streak, head coach Cathy George isn’t quite satisfied. Big Ten play is around the corner, and MSU currently stands fifth in the stacked conference.

With the Spartan Invitational the last weekend tournament before Big Ten play, George plans to use the tournament as a final opportunity to tighten up a few loose bolts on offense and defense.

“It’s critical that we’re working on things that we can get better at and that we see the process happening,” George said.

“There’s things that we take from last weekend that I’d say we have to get better at. It’s interesting that before, we were good at some of those things, so we need to be more consistent across the board in some of the areas defensively, from a blocking perspective, and then offensively.”

The Butler Invitational saw contributions from players across the board — from veterans such as Wicinski and senior middle blocker Alexis Mathews to newcomers such as freshman middle blocker Autumn Christenson and freshman middle blocker Allyssah Fitterer.

The Spartans will play Eastern Michigan at 7:00 p.m. Friday, Duquesne at noon Saturday, and Cincinnati at 7:30 p.m Saturday.

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