A couple months from now, last weekend might be considered the moment when the MSU volleyball team proved themselves a national powerhouse. Prior to Friday, their 11-1 preseason record wasn’t good enough to top a historically competitive Big Ten.
With the overall strong preseason performance of the Big Ten conference, it’s been questioned just how good the No. 15 Spartans (11-1 overall) actually are. A clearer picture will come to focus this weekend as the Spartans travel to take on No. 1 Penn State Friday and No. 13 Ohio State Sunday.
After an 11-game preseason, it’s finally here. The Big Ten volleyball season has arrived, and it’ll start off with a bang. No. 15 MSU will take on No. 1 Penn State Friday and No. 13 Ohio State on Sunday.
In addition to winning MVP honors in MSU’s 3-0 sweep of the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational, senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski reached a major milestone.
Another week, another sweep. The Spartans (11-1 overall) won the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational last weekend. The wins over Eastern Michigan, Duquesne and Cincinnati come a week after sweeping the Butler Invitational.
After a shaky win against Duquesne earlier in the day, MSU (11-1 overall) bounced back to beat Cincinnati, 3-0 (25-11, 25-14, 25-19) to take the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational title.
Duquesne ended MSU’s run of 17 undefeated sets, but with the help of freshman outside hitter Chloe Reinig’s promising debut, the Spartans ultimately prevailed.
Sixteen straight home non-conference wins, 16 straight undefeated sets, 16 kills from senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski. It’s a night of victory — and a night of 16’s — for the streaking Spartans.
In the last weekend before Big Ten play commences, the No. 14 MSU volleyball team (8-1 overall) will host Eastern Michigan, Duquesne and Cincinnati at Jenison Field House at the Auto-Owners Insurance Spartan Invitational. It could be a big weekend for senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski, who is 10 kills away from reaching the 2,000 kill career milestone.
The volleyball team continues to rely on their nationally seventh-ranked freshman class, and the class continues to deliver. Though early injuries have forced head coach Cathy George to give freshman middle blocker Allyssah Fitterer and freshman middle blocker Autumn Christenson, who has played outside hitter thus far, larger roles than what was initially expected, the talented recruits have handled the grind of the season with grace.
A No. 14 ranking certainly isn’t anything to be ashamed of. But for volleyball head coach Cathy George, MSU’s No. 14 ranking only highlights the amount of work that needs to be done before Big Ten play begins Sept. 27. Despite the strong start, MSU (8-1 overall) is only ranked fifth in a stacked Big Ten conference as of Sept. 14.
With a tournament-winning performance, Big Ten honors and a major milestone approaching, it’s safe to say that senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski is enjoying her week. Fresh off of an MVP performance at the Butler Invitational, Wicinski has been named Big Ten Player of the Week for the second time in her career.
Senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski fell short of hitting the 2,000 kill mark over the weekend, but it didn’t matter as the Spartans (8-1 overall) won the Butler Invitational behind her MVP performance. Wicinski’s 45 kills led the Spartans to 3-0 sweeps over IPFW on Friday and Illinois State and Butler on Sunday.
As a freshman, MSU volleyball great Jenna Wrobel was immediately plugged into a starting lineup burgeoning with potential. The head coach at the time, Chuck Erbe, was in the midst of compiling a team stocked with significant talent. Current head coach Cathy George described Wrobel as the missing link to that team.
A week after a 2-0 weekend homestand, the volleyball team (5-1 overall) will hit the road to Indianapolis as they take on IPWF, Illinois State and Butler at the Butler Invitational. Illinois State in particular will be an interesting matchup. Besides MSU having a 5-8 series record against the Red Birds, head coach Cathy George is a 1985 Illinois State graduate.
Two thousand kills — it’s an exclusive sorority. Former volleyball player Jenna Wrobel, who will be inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame today, reached the 2,000 career kills almost two decades ago. She currently stands as the all-time MSU leader in career kills with 2,292, and is 18th overall on the NCAA all-time career kills list.
Last Friday’s win against Oregon was an exposition of intensity for the No. 15 MSU volleyball team. Led by the aggressive play of senior middle blocker Alexis Mathews and senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski, MSU snuffed Oregon — last season’s national championship runner-up — in a close 3-1 victory.
At the eve of the 2013 volleyball season, junior libero and co-captain Kori Moster made it abundantly clear — the Spartans are striving for more. Following a successful 2012 season, it only fits that the bar has been raised. After a Sweet 16 exit last year, MSU’s appetite for success has grown. The Spartans yearn for a Final Four appearance. A national championship berth would be even better.
The momentum from Friday’s win over national championship-runner up Oregon carried over for MSU as they rolled to a 3-0 sweep over Oregon State Saturday night (25-12, 25-16, 25-17).
It was a huge victory for the Spartans, and the two-headed monster of senior middle blocker Alexis Mathews and senior outside hitter Lauren Wicinski enabled it to happen.