Junior transfer outside hitter Autumn Bailey has torn her ACL and will miss the remainder of this season, head coach Cathy George told reporters in a press conference held Tuesday.

Bailey was a highly anticipated transfer student from Marquette University. After being named Big East Player of the Year last season, she decided to transfer to MSU and join the lady Spartans.

Bailey will use a medical redshirt and will still have two more seasons with the Spartans.

This isn’t the first time George and the Spartans have lost depth due to injury, George said. She also added the youth of the Spartan’s roster gives them depth and flexibility.

“We’re older than we were a year ago,” George said. “We played mostly freshman and sophomores a year ago and had the sixth and seventh best recruiting class in the country those two years and now they’re a year older, and we see the maturity in the way our team is playing. I know they are handling things differently and they responded really well to the injury on Friday night.”

For the time being, filling Bailey’s void will be sophomore Brooke Kranda, who has been very versatile for the Spartans this season. Coach George told the media that Kranda has played every position except for center and libero.

It was a tough weekend for the lady Spartans. Following the injury to Bailey, the Spartans had to play two more games and played a total of three matches during a 24 hour period. After losing Bailey in the Kentucky match, the lady Spartans held their own tying the next two contests against University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis.

The Spartan Volleyball squad will look to bounce back at their next tournament at home this weekend in which they will play Butler University, Virginia Tech and Miami University.