Sunday, March 16, 2025

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Sports

SPORTS

Gustin injury third straight for spiker starters

Senior outside hitter Sarah Gustin just recovered from an abdominal strain and was leading the team in kills per game, but then she sprained her right foot in Thursday’s practice.“I was starting to finally feel like I was back,” Gustin said.

SPORTS

Spikers recover from injuries

The MSU volleyball team spent the past week preparing for life without senior middle hitter and co-captain Jessica Sanborn and this weekend’s home stand will unveil the results. The Spartans face No.

SPORTS

Rivals not taking gridders for granted after previous loss

Apparently, the Michigan Wolverines (5-2 overall, 3-1 in the Big Ten) subscribe to Dick Vitale’s “You can throw out the records, baby!” theory on rivalry games. The in-your-face college basketball analyst believes that in contests between intense rivals, previous records hardly matter.Michigan appears to be buying into this exact approach.Despite MSU’s 3-3, 0-3 record, Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr and his players believe the Spartans will present a tough challenge for the Wolverines.“All I know is what I see on film, and Michigan State is the number one rated defense in the Big Ten Conference,” Carr said.

SPORTS

Kickers must strive for tournament victory

As both the MSU men’s and women’s soccer teams near the Big Ten tournament, they are not depending on other teams losing to give them a boost in the standings. The women head out West to northern California on Friday to take on St.

SPORTS

The great divide? Columnist wants no part of it

On the banks of the Red Cedar, there’s a school that’s known to all. Or at least most. I disregard my out-of-state friends who, until they went off to school, “only thought there was one college in Michigan.” Because to me, those banks - and that school - were always very well known. Perhaps this is confession therapy, but it’s time for me to come clean.

SPORTS

U graduate enjoys taking a plunge into his future

East Lansing resident Luther Kurtz can do something no class at MSU could teach him - he can fly.Kurtz, who graduated from MSU in the two-year electrical technician program in 1997, is an avid skydiver, and this month he won second place as part of a 10-way skydiving team at a national competition in California.After completing 550 dives, Kurtz said jumping out of a plane isn’t scary at all.“Initially, I liked the rush of jumping out of an airplane,” he said.

SPORTS

Students seek B-ball tickets

Expecting an overwhelming demand for tickets to see the men’s basketball team defend its national championship, the MSU Athletic Ticket Office announced they might have to split student season tickets into two packages. This would not affect students in the Izzone cheering section. The deadline to apply for student season tickets is Friday, and if more than 3,000 students apply, the season will be split into Green and White packages, said Chris Besanceney, assistant ticket manager. Approximately 560 seats in the lower bowl of Breslin Student Events Center and 2,440 in the upper deck are available to students not in the Izzone. Last year more than 3,500 students requested season tickets and Besanceney expects more applications this season. “We’re taking orders from everyone for a full season (of basketball tickets),” Besanceney said.

SPORTS

Breslin Student Events Center to welcome former cagers, Pistons

Five days after MSU’s Homecoming, Mateen Cleaves and Antonio Smith will return to their old stomping ground Thursday night.The two former Spartan basketball players will return to Breslin Student Events Center with their new team, the Detroit Pistons, for an NBA exhibition game against the Utah Jazz.After leading MSU to its first national championship in 21 years last season, the Pistons drafted Cleaves with the 14th pick in the first round of June’s NBA draft.

SPORTS

Fans will get chance to purchase Izzone tickets

If you have a tarp, $132 and a whole lot of determination, by Sunday you could also have a ticket to sit in the largest student basketball fan section in the nation. On Saturday morning, MSU students who dream of watching sophomore guard Jason Richardson dunk and senior guard Charlie Bell speed down the court from the Izzone can begin roughing it out to claim tickets, Izzone co-director Brad Johanson said. The 250-odd remaining tickets - a $132 package that includes courtside seating at all 12 home games, a T-shirt, traveling options and other perks - go on sale at 1 p.m.

SPORTS

Even mediocre athletes can get thrills from running 26.2 miles

He’s an elite athlete from Kenya; I’m a beer-drinking college kid from the Midwest. But for some reason, I knew how he felt cruising past me on the Ambassador Bridge in the opposite direction - six miles ahead of me. Joseph Maina, who won Sunday’s 23rd annual Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank International Marathon with a career-best time of 2:24:47 trotted past me like a gazelle, and I could only look on. Many sports journalists think they have athletics all figured out. They believe they provide “insight” even though they might have never played a competitive sport in their lives.

SPORTS

Star spiker out with injury

EVANSTON, Ill. - Co-captain and preseason All-Big Ten senior middle Jessica Sanborn suffered a broken left foot Saturday at Northwestern.Sanborn told MSU trainers she felt a pain when she pushed off during warm-up before the volleyball team’s match against the Wildcats.MSU athletic trainer Lianna Lee said the severity of the injury won’t be known until further tests today.“We know it’s a break, but that’s all we know right now,” she said.

SPORTS

Spikers struggle with injuries, mistakes

Injuries and inconsistent play have forced MSU volleyball head coach Chuck Erbe to make unexpected lineup changes the last two weeks.Two starters have been sidelined with injuries and an abundance of serving errors have prompted Erbe to make substitutions, including substituting players only to serve.Erbe said a positive note the last two weeks is the play of freshman outside hitter Jenny Rood.