MSU VOLLEYBALL: Spartans Fall 3-0 to No. 4 Minnesota.
SPARTAN SYNOPSIS
Michigan State fell to No. 4 Minnesota on the road on Friday night, 3-0, (21-25, 13-25, 21-25). MSU dropped its fourth straight match to fall to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten. The Gophers are now 20-3, 12-1 in Conference play.
MSU got a good look at a big net presence from the Gophers, who out-blocked MSU by a 12-8 margin and hit .330 on the night, compared to just .140 for the Spartans.
SET ONE:Â The home team opened up a 8-3 edge in the opening set behind an early .600 hitting percentage, and MSU used a 7-3 run to cut it down to two at 12-10, using a trio of kills by Kranda to help trim the deficit. The Gophers got it back to a four-point ballgame at 15-11, but the resilient Spartans pulled within one with a three-point rally and stayed within one or two points until Minnesota pulled ahead 20-17 on a Daly Santana sharp-angle shot. With Minnesota maintaining its three-point edge at 22-19, the Spartans called their second and final timeout. The Gophers went up by four out of the break, and held on for a 25-21 win in the first set. MSU was led by Kranda's six kills, while Reinig had four and Fitterer had a pair of blocks and three kills.
SET TWO:Â With a slim 6-5 lead, the Gophers blew open a tight early game with a 7-0 run during which MSU had to burn both timeouts, and pulled ahead 13-5. A Kranda kill stopped the run, but the home team kept its foot on the gas, pushing its lead to 10 (17-7) before a pair of errors. Trailing 20-10 on the strength of the home team hitting .533 (12-0-23) in the frame, MSU got back-to-back points from Kranda on a kill and a block before Minnesota got the sideout with a Spartan service error. A 6-1 edge in blocks for the Gophers helped them close out the Spartans by a 25-13 edge in the second set. Kranda added four more kills to push her match total into double digits.
SET THREE:Â The Gophers did their best to open strong in the third frame with an eye on a sweep. With the home team holding a 15-9 lead, MSU ripped off four straight points to trim it to 15-13, using a kill and a block by Garvelink and a kill and an ace by Minarick. Out of a Gopher timeout, Reinig cut it to one with MSU's fifth straight point, but the Gophers went to the go-to Santana to stop the Spartan run, and countered MSU's run with a five-point rally of their own, with two big blocks by Molly Lohman, to make it 20-14.
TOP PERFORMERSÂ
Brooke Kranda had 15 kills and hit a team-best .296 in her second consecutive double-digit kill match.
Chloe Reinig had 10 kills to lead the Spartans, and added four blocks.
Rachel Minarick recorded 29 assists, four digs, and added two each aces, blocks, and kills.
Alyssa Garvelink had a team-best five blocks, and added four kills.
Kristen Muir had nine digs to lead MSU, while Abby Monson added six and Holly Toliver five.
STATS AND STORYLINESÂ
MSU is now 17-52 all-time against Minnesota. MSU has not won in Minneapolis since a 3-0 win on Nov. 3, 2001.
Kranda's 15 terminations was her most kills since posting 15 kills vs. Michigan on Oct. 3
MSU was out-blocked for the fifth straight match (12-9), while the Gophers hit .330, the highest hitting percecntage for an MSU opponent this season.
The Spartans next compete in a matinee at Wisconsin on Sunday that will air live on ESPN2.
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