“There were times where we were executing well,” head coach Cathy George said. “There were other points we got a little sloppy on and just needed to draw our attention back.”

It was the third straight win for MSU.

The Spartans wasted little time taking care of the Scarlet Knights, MSU started the contest with a 10-3 run.

Freshman middle blocker Alyssa Garvelink was perfect in the first set, scoring five kills on all five of her attacks in the first set.

“(Garvelink)’s been slowly but surely getting better and better,” George said.

Garvelink led the team with 12 kills on a .667 hitting percentage.

“She was killing it,” sophomore outside hitter Chloe Reinig said. “We just kept giving her the ball and she just kept putting it down.”

Reinig also had a solid game. She finished second on the team behind Garvelink with 9 kills.

The Spartans won the first set, 25-15.

The second set was much tighter. MSU and Rutgers traded points before a kill by Reinig ignited a 6-0 run, giving the Spartans a 17-10 lead.

From there, MSU would take care of business. The Spartans came up victorious in the second set, 25-17.

The third set was MSU’s most dominant.

The Spartans hit at an 81 percent clip and never trailed or tied in the period.

The Spartans took the third set, 25-16.

Besides two tied scores in the first and second period, MSU led throughout the contest.

“I think that we started out really strong,” Garvelink said. “We stuck to the game plan.”

The Spartans will return to Jenison Field House on Wednesday night to take on No. 16 Purdue (22-7 overall, 12-5 Big Ten), in the team’s final home game of the season.

MSU lost to Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. on Sept. 27, 1-3 (22-25, 22-25, 28-26, 23-25).

Game notes

The win against Rutgers marked the 550th for Cathy George.

George won a combined 365 games at North Dakota State, Texas-Arlington and Western Michigan.

It was George's 185th win as MSU’s head coach.