The Spartans struggled against the Bulldogs in the first set, though. They trailed by as many as five and didn't take the lead until it turned 19-18 by way of a Drake hitting error. MSU then pulled away to 25. 

Service errors plagued MSU and contributed to its slow start; MSU had six in the first set alone. Head coach Kristen Kelsay said the errors begin to matter a lot more when they pile up.

“What we are finding is that they happen in strings,” Kelsay said. “Where it is like three errors in a row for you or back-to-back missed serves. That is where we have to won the moment a little bit, take your deep breath, hit your serve, regardless of the person. Hit your serve. I sent some kids in to serve who I knew had great serves that haven’t gotten an opportunity. That is going to be a teaching moment for us going forward. I am going to put our six best servers out there as well as our six best kids.”​

It was a completely different story in the second and third sets: two dominant 25-13 set wins. 

Michigan State will wrap up non-conference play against Wright State at 3 p.m. Saturday. The game will stream on Big Ten Plus.

MSU dominated the following two sets, both 25-13. Michigan State settled in and put together an efficient second and third set, winning the kill battle 29-14 and leading 7-2 in aces. Kelsay said cleaning up the errors was key to the back-to-back 12-point wins.

“In the first set when it was 18-18, and we had given them 9 errors,” Kelsay said. “It was like, ‘Guys, if you cut that in half, this is a much different game.’ I think every volleyball team right now is trying to find that. This is two matches in a row where we started that way; now we cleaned it up, which is why the second and third set felt the way that they did.”

The Spartans saw senior outside hitter Alanna Bankston back in the lineup after missing the win against Oakland. Bankston had a career-high-tying 18 kills, nine more than the next closest player.

After a season-low hitting percentage of .247 against Oakland, MSU’s offense responded with a .442 clip. 

Kelsay was glad to see the offense getting back on track in the victory and saw the work they put in since Oakland come to life.​

“It was nice to have [Bankston's] 18 kills, so that was very much helpful,” Kelsay said. “I think for us it was just seeing the picture and making sure we knew what the defense was doing. We learned from the Oakland match that they forced us into shots that we were not comfortable with. Instead of us taking those shots, we were hitting to right where their defenders were. So we did a lot of film and a lot of work on that in the last 72 hours, and we were able to see a better result tonight.”

Prior to the game, DeBoer, the namesake of the yearly invitational former and MSU volleyball star from 1975-78, was honored with a game ball. The MSU athletics hall of famer also shared stories with the MSU team at Thursday's practice.

Kelsay holds high praise for DeBoer and is grateful for the culture that MSU volleyball provides, honoring one of its most influential players.

“Kathy DeBoer is on the Mount Rushmore for women’s volleyball and maybe even women’s athletics,” Kelsay said. “To have her here, she’s going to talk to our team again tomorrow. One of our values is Spartan family and so it just allows us to live that value of welcoming our alumni back, welcoming someone who we are so privileged to call an alumna and a champion of our sport. It is always a special reminder for us, for that value to bring that home.”