Northwestern
Michigan State
Women's Volleyball Falls in Four to Michigan State
10/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 14, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern volleyball team dropped its seventh Big Ten match of the season, 3-1, to Michigan State Saturday night in Evanston. NU, led by freshman Erika Lange, could not forge a comeback to defeat the Spartans.
NU falls to 4-13 overall and 1-6 in the Big Ten, while MSU improves to 12-5 on the season and 3-4 in the conference.
NU opened the match with a 3-0 lead, then the teams traded several points before NU took a 10-7 lead. The Wildcats never looked back, sailing past the Spartans for the 15-7 win. NU hit .421 in game one, holding the Spartans to .214.
The Spartans got off to the early start and kept the momentum in Game 2, taking the win 15-10. The 'Cats came from behind to tie the game at 7-7, 8-8 and 9-9, but that would be as close as they would come before MSU rallied.
Michigan State opened Game 3 with the first six points before Northwestern called timeout. Out of the huddle, the 'Cats got their first sideout of the game, but were unable to convert. The teams traded side outs seven more times before MSU scored three more points to lead 10-0. The 'Cats got a spark from a Lindsay Pavlik kill and scored four consecutive points to narrow the lead at 10-4. Michigan State answered, siding out on a Sarah Gustin kill. Spartan Angela Morley would get the next kill to make the score 11-4. NU's Erica Knavel stepped back to serve, and the 'Cats would inch to within two points at 11-9. MSU rallied and made the score 12-9. NU would only score one more point, as MSU took the final four to win game three, 15-10.
After barely pulling out game three, MSU controlled game four. The Spartans took a 10-6 lead before the 'Cats rallied to get within two at 10-8. After siding out eight times, MSU scored the remaining five points to win the match.
Lange led the 'Cats with 17 kills, hitting .313 (17-7-32) on the night, and recorded one block solo and seven block assists. Pavlik and Carmen Burbach both hit in double figures, tallying 15 and 10 kills, respectively. Burbach fell two digs shy of reaching the 1,000 dig plateau for her career, recording nine. As a team, the 'Cats recorded 22 blocks.
MSU's Sarah Gustin lead all hitters with 21 kills on the night.
NU is back in action next weekend as they travel to Illinois and Purdue to close out the first half of the Big Ten round-robin schedule. The 'Cats will play Illinois on Friday, Oct. 20, and Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 21. FOX Sports Chicago will present a tape-delayed broadcast of the match at Purdue. The match is set to air on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. (CDT).
