The Spartans (17-1 overall, 6-0 Big Ten) became the last undefeated team in the Big Ten conference by overcoming Nebraska (12-3 overall, 5-1 Big Ten) in four sets (25-20, 26-24, 20-25, 25-19) on Saturday night.

“(Nebraska is) an unbelievable team,” senior setter Kristen Kelsay said. “They’re a very good team. We knew we had work to do and so it was a little tough this week because we don’t want to look past Iowa, but we knew it was going to be a battle.”

A key matchup took place between this week’s Co-Big Ten Player of the Week honorees: senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski and Nebraska senior outside hitter Kelsey Robinson. Wicinski finished with 20 kills, nine digs and three assists. Robinson had a similar game with 20 kills, 12 digs and two assists.

Robinson has history with Wicinski and Kelsay, which added extra mustard to the matchup.

“She’s actually from my area, so I played against her growing up,” Wicinski said. “She’s a great, great player. We knew that was going to be the bulk of their offense.”

Kelsay described Robinson as one of her best friends. They were teammates from fifth grade through high school. They hadn’t talked during the week before the game, but Robinson gave Kelsay a hug before the match began.

“We went to the coin toss, and she just jumped on me, gave me a good hug,” Kelsay said. “I didn’t talk to her all week, we’re very competitive people. We hadn’t talked all week so it was good to see her before, give her a hug and then it was business. She’s an excellent player so we scouted against and we knew how we had to stop her.”

Freshman middle blocker Allyssah Fitterer had a career-high 10 kills. Head coach Cathy George said Fitterer does a great job at listening and following directions, a big reason why she has had a huge impact on the team in her first year.

“She really does what we ask her right away,” George said. “She made the adjustments she needed to make. She ran her offense really well, changed her offense, changed where she was coming from. I thought she did a nice job. She did a spectacular job.”

Freshman outside hitter Chloe Reinig tied her career-best in kills, with 13, and senior middle blocker Alexis Mathews added seven kills and five blocks.

MSU controlled the game early in the first set, taking a 13-6 lead over Nebraska. Nebraska fought back however, going on a 7-2 run to cut MSU’s lead to two, 15-13.

Both teams would exchange blows, but MSU sealed the win with a five-point run to take a 24-17 lead. Robinson scored one last kill for Nebraska before Mathews and Fitterer finished the set with a double-block.

Nebraska took an early 7-3 lead in the second set, spurring Cathy George to call a timeout. MSU scored three straight out of the timeout, cutting the lead to 6-7. The streak was broken when Moster committed a service error, and Fitterer failed to return the ball to further push Nebraska’s lead.

However, MSU continued to fight and eventually took a 10-9 lead. The Big Ten powerhouses exchanged blows for much of the rest of the set, tying each other numerous times. Nebraska pulled ahead 20-19 on a Ryian Hubbard service error, but Wicinski would go on score a couple kills to keep the game tied.

Fitterer later scored a kill to tie the game, 23-23. Nebraska scored a kill to reach set point, 24-23, but committed an error after to tie the game. Wicinski scored her tenth kill of the night to give MSU a 25-24 lead, and a block from Mathews won the hard-fought second set for MSU.

The Spartans entered the third set cold. Nebraska overwhelmed MSU and won the third set, 25-20.

“In set three they started tipping and rolling and we didn’t handle that real well,” George said. “We had to make adjustments. We did, came back in game four and followed the game plan.”

Taylor Galloway got the third set going with a kill, but Nebraska responded with three scores to take an early 3-1 lead. Nebraska continued to control the set in the early going, pushing the lead to 9-4 before George called a timeout.

Nebraska continued to score. A double block increased their lead to 13-5 and they continued to roll, causing George to call another timeout with her team down 17-8 in the third set. Nebraska pushed the score to 19-11. Timeout MSU.

The Spartans continued to fight. Wicinski scored two straight kills during a run to cut Nebraska’s lead to five, 20-15. A couple of Nebraska errors trimmed their lead to three, leading to a Nebraska timeout.

Nebraska scored two points out of the timeout to increase their lead to 23-18. MSU continued to fight, but Robinson sealed the set three win for Nebraska with a kill, 25-20.

Though the comeback fell short, Kelsay said the momentum carried over into the fourth set that MSU won the game in.

“They tested us,” Kelsay said. “Game three, they came out with nothing to lose. The way that we fought back that second half and caught up and got that momentum for game four, it meant a lot to us and and I think that was really important. To come out in game four and take that win was sweet.”

The fourth set started with both teams tying the game multiple times. MSU increased their lead to two, 10-8, on a hard Reinig kill.

Nebraska later gave MSU a 13-10 lead after a service error, and Wicinski followed with a kill to give MSU a 14-10 lead, prompting a Nebraska timeout.

MSU continued to roll after the timeout. Wicinski scored two kills, and a few blocks put the lead at 18-14. Nebraska scored the next two points, including one following an impressive array of saves on both sides of the net. Both teams proceeded to commit service errors, and MSU had a 19-17 lead.

MSU went on a 4-1 run to increase their lead to 23-18. Kelsay Robinson scored her 20th kill to prolong the match, but it was too late. Wicinski scored her 20th kill to increase MSU’s lead to 24-19, and Nebraska committed a bad set to seal the match for MSU.

There’s still a lot of Big Ten season to play. But with a perfect start, the pressure is on for the Spartans.

“To go 6-0 so far, it’s been a showing of our work ethic and where we’ve come,” Kelsay said. “It’s important to have confidence in our record, but know that we’ve got a lot road ahead of us.”