“We’re pretty excited about that obviously,” redshirt senior outside hitter Brooke Kranda said. “It’s a great start to the conference for us. We just hope to keep that going.”

The team defeated Ohio State in three sets (25-13, 25-18, 25-17) in a competitive match. Ohio State began to push in the third and final set of the match, keeping the game tie for the beginning of the set only to fall to the Spartans after they lost to U-M the night before. 

“They came at us and Ohio State has always been known to be very aggressive and feisty,” head coach Cathy George said. “I thought they were pushing the pace a little bit. I thought after a while our team just stayed the course and did what we did.”

Kranda lead the team on Saturday night with a total of 14 kills with 11 of those kills coming from the third set of the match. Fellow redshirt senior outside hitter Autumn Bailey followed behind her with 13 kills. Bailey lead the team with nine digs. 

On Friday night, the team defeated Maryland University with senior outside hitter Holly Toliver lead the team with 12 kills. 

For redshirt senior middle Megan Tompkins, she feels that being more positive coming into games helped the team to their victory on Friday. 

“We've made it a thing to stay positive at all times on the court,” Tompkins said. “We always come in, so nothing what happens we always stay together.”

The last time the Spartans played on their home court was back on Sept. 2 during the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational where they swept the whole tournament. Coming back to Jenison gives the players more momentum in their play. 

“It’s always great to have fans on your side when you get the point and the gym roaring,” senior setter Rachel Minarick said. “It’s a great atmosphere.”

George described her team building off of last seasons play to help gain their mentality for this season on why they have been playing so well. When the team took their trip to Italy this past summer is where is all began. 

“We went on a trip to Italy and really got our team together and the team has been really focused on being the best that they can and a very driven team,” George said. “Just have them understanding that the league is still tough and you gotta be there every night.”

On Wednesday at 8 p.m., the team will travel to play No. 8 Nebraska. The game will be aired on the Big Ten Network. 

“Nebraska is the top team in our league,” Bailey said. “We’re really going to have to look at what they do well and follow our study plan and practice that and practice on Monday and Tuesday and head out there.”