“I think we just tried to keep up to our game,” sophomore outside hitter Chloe Reinig said. “They were playing at a slower pace and we didn’t want to fall down to that level, we just tried to stay intense and tried to stay positive.”

The win extended MSU’s win streak to three games and bought their conference record back to .500.

MSU defeated Northwestern, 3-1 (25-15, 25-27, 25-9, 25-13) Wednesday night in Evanston, Illinois.

Reinig, who had nine kills, didn’t post her usual gaudy numbers against the Scarlet Knights but that was because freshman middle blocker Alyssa Garvelink stole the show.

Garvelink tied her career high with 12 kills Saturday and hit at a .667 clip, which was a career-high for the Holland, Michigan, native.

“(Alyssa) was killing it,” Reinig said. “We just kept giving her the ball and she just kept putting it down, when people are on fire like that you just gotta keep feeding them.”

Garvelink was scorching hot to start the game off, converting all five of her attacks in the first set to kills.

“I think the past couple of games I’ve been doing really well and that has gave me confidence,” Garvelink said. “It carried over into tonight.”

Garvelink has had at least nine kills in three of her last four games.

“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” George said. “She showed that tonight with some versatility, we look forward to her continuing on for us years to come as well.”

The Spartans are off until Wednesday night, when they host No. 16 Purdue (22-8 overall, 12-6 Big Ten) at Jenison Field House in the team’s final home matchup of the regular season.

Purdue will come to East Lansing trying to bounce back from a shocking loss Saturday night.

The Boilermakers had been on a three-game win streak before losing to Minnesota (18-11 overall, 8-10 Big Ten), 0-3 (21-25, 17-25, 16-25).

Purdue already has the advantage in the season series. MSU lost to the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana, on Sept. 27, 1-3 (22-25, 22-25, 28-26, 23-25).