Keeping momentum was crucial for the Spartans in the match. MSU started out strong, but struggled to stay consistent through sets.

Junior outside hitter Akasha Anderson played an incremental role in the outcome, tallying 17 kills.

"What I loved about Akasha tonight is that she started the match, and they had lined her up pretty well, and we kept talking about that chess match," MSU head coach Leah Johnson said. "What’s the counter strategy? What can you do next? Notice later as this match went on, she started using a throw into the middle of the court and scored three to four times off that. So, I loved how she counter-attacked and started adding some different tools."

In the first set, Michigan State dominated in the beginning, creating space. As the set continued, Loyola began to push back, putting pressure on the Spartans. MSU used back-to-back timeouts to slow down Loyola’s pace and ultimately won the set, 25-19. 

During the second set the Spartans looked like a different team from the first. The Ramblers came out hot and didn’t let MSU overpower them.

Down 8-4, Johnson called a timeout. It gave the Spartans a spark, but Loyola continued to dominate. The Spartans fell short 25-22 to end the set.

"I talked about how this team is going to show up and be good, that we saw it against Western Kentucky the night before," Johnson said. "They’re used to winning, they don’t do anything without a fight. I thought we started getting frustrated with what we weren’t doing instead of confident and poised in what we could do. I thought that was the change from set one to two and then we responded pretty well in in three and four."

Early in the third set, MSU hit the floor with a newfound energy, going on a 5-0 run. The Spartans were back in sync. They carried that momentum for the remainder of the match, taking the third and fourth sets.

 "Anytime you can start with wins on your home court, that’s going to bode well for the season," Johnson said. "It's really important to me that we protect the green and white board here at home. And I thought the team really rallied around each other. We used a lot of different people and to still come up successful and not get rattled by all the change, I thought was positive."

Next week, Michigan State volleyball will take on Western Michigan at the Breslin Center on Wednesday, Sep. 11 at 6 p.m.